In English, if we ask for something, for example ‘Do you have (any) cheese?’, we just say ‘Do you have (name of item) ?’ Or if we’re talking about what we want, in English we just say ‘I want coffee’ or ‘I would like coffee’ etc.
However I’ve noticed in French you can’t just say ‘Avez-vous fromage ?’ etc…it seems you have to say ‘Avez-vous du/de la/des…?’.
I don’t quite understand what du/de la/des mean here, please could anyone explain what they mean and how/where I need to use them? So is it true you can’t just use a noun on its own in French, it always has to have du/de la/des etc in front of it?
What about asking what someone likes, for example ‘Do you like coffee?’ or ‘Do you like action films etc?’. Can we say ‘J’aime café’ for ‘I like coffee’, or would that be ‘J’aime du café’ ? Do we have to use du/de la/des with the verb ‘aimer’ ?
With ‘Je veux…’, ‘Je voudrais…’ and ‘J’ai besoin de…’, do we need to use de/de la/des when we are expressing what we want, would like, need etc?