French language question...(beaucoup)?

Question

When do you use "beaucoup" vs. "beaucoup de?"

Thank you

Answer 1

We said

merci beaucoup ( thanks a lot !!!)
Otherwise, we use beaucoup de with a noun
eg : I've got a lot of friends : j'ai beaucoup d'amis

Answer 2

Beaucoup alone when you can not measure

i give you an example

Je vous remercie beaucoup I thank you very much


Il y avait beaucoup de monde There was a lot of people

You have not count the people but it could be possible to count

Answer 3

Beaucoup alone would mean "much" or " a lot". Adding de to it would mean "much of" that would require another word (noun or pronoun) to complete the sense "much of what" or "a lot of what".