Re: USAGE: Count and mass nouns

PHILIPPE CAQUANT wrote:

>
> True, usually you're asked: which one, except in case you order every
> day the same one. Or in case of a very lousy cafe having only one
> brand available. In fact, "une biere" (I give up the accents) means:
> one glass of beer, or in some cases: one (small) bottle of beer. It's
> also possible to answer to "What will you drink ? - De la biere (du
> vin, de l'eau). This seems not to be a partitive, but have the meaning
> of "such stuff" (I don't know how this is called grammatically).

First, you can say 'I'll have a beer' in English, also.

I suppose 'du, de la, des' translates roughly as 'some'.  Some wine,
some  water, etc.