One more question please.

It sais:
"nous avons besoin DES nombres pour le commerce"
and then a bit later on:
"nous avons besoin DE nombres pour désigner les dates...."

Why once DES and the DE ??
Is it because "le commerce" is a noun and "désigner" a verb???

Well, my opinion isn't expert, but it sounds like a misprint. It should just be "des" both times because the particle "des" is of course "the" and should only apply to the plurality of the word "numbers"

Well, I can tell you are a very astute student! Kara may be correct in that it is a misprint, but usually the partitive (des in this case) is omitted after verbs, adjectives and other expressions (avoir besoin de) that normally take "de." (Nous avons besoin de secours. = We need assistance.) That means that actually "nous avons besoin DES nombres" is breaking that rule!

Mme

Thank you both so very much for your assistance. I really appreciate it.

(Also: sorry about the two typing errors in my question.)

dans ce cas précis, il n'y a pas de faute de français. on pourrait dire "nous avons besoins de nombres pour le commerce" et nous avons besoins des nombres pour désigner les dates'

en fait il vaudrait mieux dire:
"en matière de commerce, nous avons besoin d'utiliser des (ou LES) nombres" on voit bien que DE n'irait pas!

Yes, you are correct. The difference in usage between "DES" and "DE" in these sentences is indeed due to the fact that "le commerce" is a noun and "désigner" is a verb.

In French, the word "des" is a partitive article, used to indicate an indefinite or unspecified quantity of something. It is used with plural countable nouns, such as "nombres" (numbers) in the sentence "nous avons besoin des nombres" (we need numbers). Here, "des" indicates that we need some, but not a specific or known quantity of numbers.

On the other hand, "de" without the article "des" is a preposition used for various purposes, one of which is to express the need or purpose of something. In the phrase "nous avons besoin de nombres pour désigner les dates" (we need numbers to designate dates), "de" is used to indicate the purpose or function of the noun "nombres" (numbers) in relation to the verb "désigner" (to designate). In this case, it is indicating that numbers are required in order to perform the action of designating dates.

So, the usage of "des" in the first sentence is because "le commerce" is a noun, which requires the partitive article, and the usage of "de" in the second sentence is because "désigner" is a verb, which requires the preposition "de" to indicate purpose or need.