De quelque chose apparaître ou quelque chose apparaitre?

Question

According to the dictionary of the French Academy the verb apparaître does not require a preposition, like in the example:

Les difficultés apparaissent déjà.

Yet, in both online and printed sources I have come across sentences like these:

De nouvelles possibilities apparaissent.
De délicats souliers en verre apparaissent à ses pieds menus, elle ressemble à une princesse.

Is it acceptable to use apparaître with a prepositional phrase with DE? Does the verb acquire a new meaning in this case?

Many thanks for providing an answer.

The de here is not a preposition but the partitive article; some delicate glass shoes appear on her small feet. (Not that you would ever use some here in English, but you need it in French.) — Peter Shor, Jun 10 at 20:52
In formal writing, if there is a plural adjective before the noun, the partitive article is simply de. See the answer to this question. (Apparently, this rule is often ignored in speech.) — Peter Shor, Jun 10 at 20:54
De/des is tricky. I would say: de nouvelles possibilités apparaissent, but most probably des possibilités nouvelles sont apparues, for example. — Frank, Jun 10 at 21:13

jlliagre · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-10 22:58:55Z

3

The de here is not a preposition but the partitive article¹:

some delicate glass shoes appear on her small feet.

Not that you would ever use some here in English, but you need it in French.

¹ _{In formal writing, if there is a plural adjective before the noun, the partitive article is simply de. See Partitive before adjective?}

answered Jun 10 at 22:58

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