Breakdown of Il achète beaucoup de sucre et un peu de lait.
il
he
et
and
beaucoup de
a lot of / many
le lait
the milk
Questions & Answers about Il achète beaucoup de sucre et un peu de lait.
Why is it beaucoup de sucre instead of beaucoup du sucre?
In French, expressions of quantity like beaucoup (a lot) and un peu (a little) are followed by just de or d'. Even though you might normally say du sucre (some sugar), the rule changes after a quantity word. That is why it is beaucoup de sucre and un peu de lait.
Is un peu another quantity word like beaucoup?
Why does achète have an accent mark (è) when the dictionary form acheter does not?
The verb acheter (to buy) slightly changes its spelling for pronunciation reasons. For most subjects (like je, tu, il, and elle), you add a grave accent to the 'e' so it becomes è. This tells you to pronounce it clearly as "ah-shet" instead of swallowing the middle vowel.
Do I pronounce the 't' at the end of lait or et?