Questions & Answers about J'ai acheté un kilo de petits pois.
Why is it un kilo de and not un kilo des since the peas are plural?
After expressions of quantity like un kilo (a kilo), beaucoup (a lot), or un peu (a little), you always use the preposition de without an article. Even though petits pois is plural, the de is locked in by the quantity phrase.
Why is the word for peas petits pois instead of just pois?
If I just wanted to say "I bought some peas" without a quantity, would it be des petits pois or de petits pois?
While the strict grammar rule says des becomes de before a plural adjective (de petits pois), the phrase petits pois is so common that it is treated as a single compound noun. Because of this, it is perfectly natural and correct to say J'ai acheté des petits pois.
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