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Une autre cause accentue le noircissement pour certains cidres: il existe toujours dans le cidre des sels de fer qui, comme on le sait, précipitent le tanin en noir; il en résulte une coloration beaucoup plus foncée que celle qui serait produite par la simple oxydation du tanin.

I'm a bit lost in

  1. It seems "the other cause that brings the ciders darkening" is "the salt of iron"? But how to understand the des in "il existe toujours dans le cidre des sels de fer" ? This shall mean "In the cider there always exists the salt of iron", then the des seems messed the structure up .

  2. How to understand the en in il en résulte une coloration?

  3. I'm also quite lost in the last clause : ... que celle qui serait produite par la simple oxydation du tanin. What does it mean, and what does celle refers to?

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  • You have three different questions here. Please ask one question at a time.
    – None
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 9:04

1 Answer 1

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1) "Des" is a plural so it's "In the cider there is always iron salts"

2/3) "en" is short for "il existe toujours dan le cidre des sels de fer qui, comme on le sait, précipitent le tanin en noir" while "celle" refer to "coloration" : "this leads to a darker coloration than the one that would be produced by the tannins's oxydation alone"

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  • Thank you, now I guess I got it : 1. des means "the", not "of the" ( de les). 2/3: en seems help the il to refer to the clause in front.
    – athos
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 7:13
  • Well "des" is the plural form of "a/un", while "les" is the plural form of "the/le" but "des" have no translation in english. Un chat : a cat, le chat : the cat, les/des chats : cats. More details : languageguide.org/french/grammar/articles
    – Jylo
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 7:25
  • thanks! There's no 1-1 mapping, got it.
    – athos
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 7:34

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