Breakdown of Il y a eu beaucoup de dommages après l'orage.
il y a
there is / there are
beaucoup de
a lot of / many
l'orage
the storm (m)
après
after
le dommage
the harm; (dommage !) the pity
Questions & Answers about Il y a eu beaucoup de dommages après l'orage.
The lesson is about the conditionnel passé. How would I change this sentence to say 'There would have been a lot of damage'?
You would change the verb a eu to the conditionnel passé form: aurait eu. The phrase becomes Il y aurait eu beaucoup de dommages (There would have been a lot of damage). You might use this to express relief, such as 'If we hadn't prepared, there would have been a lot of damage.'
Why is it Il y a eu (passé composé) instead of Il y avait (imparfait) for 'There was'?
In English, 'damage' is usually singular. Why is dommages plural here?
In French, dommage is countable when referring to physical or material destruction. You will usually see it in the plural (les dommages) when talking about the aftermath of an event like a storm or accident. Keep in mind that c'est dommage is a set phrase meaning 'it's a shame,' which is completely different from physical damage!
Since dommages is plural, why isn't it beaucoup des dommages?
After expressions of quantity like beaucoup (a lot), peu (a little), or trop (too much), you almost always use de (or d' before a vowel) without the definite article. This rule applies regardless of whether the noun following it is singular or plural, so it is always beaucoup de dommages, never beaucoup des dommages.
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