Questions regarding French "sunburn"

Question

"So that I don't get sunburnt like last time" is "pour que je ne prenne pas de coups de soleil comme la dernière fois" in this exercise. I have two questions on alternative answers. Can we use avoir instead of prendre as the verb here, and is sunburn always plural or can we use it in the singular? (My answer was "pour que je n'aie pas de coup de soleil comme la dernière fois", but seems I was probably wrong on 2 counts?) Thanks.

Accepted Answer

Hi Paul,
The expression to get sunburnt is 'prendre/attraper des coups de soleil'.
I would have used 'attraper' personally.
You would use coup de soleil in the singular form if you were talking about a particular sunburn that you got on a part of your body -
J'ai attrapé un sacré coup de soleil dans le dos hier = I got really sunburnt on my back yesterday
Hope this helps!

Answer

Hi Paul,Tricky indeed!Have a look here it may help:-https://www.wordreference.com/fren/coup%20de%20soleilJim

Answer

I wrote appliquer creme de solaire, which was counted wrong. I know mettre is more common, but why should appliquer be considered wrong (I crosschecked with word reference later.

Answer

Hi Sujata, 
'Appliquer de la crème solaire' isn't wrong but a little bit formal that's what you would read on the bottle rather than say to a friend.
Hope this helps!