"A course designed for my specific needs"Articles etc...
Click below to listen to the audio
Articles often are a total mystery for my students. All these little words that look the same, de, du, d’, des… it’s very confusing. The problem is that articles are an essential part of the French language ; they are often the only way of knowing whether something is singular or plural, feminine or masculine, and are the indispensable companion of the noun.
However, you won’t have an article if :
- It’s a proper name:
ex: j’aime Anne.
- You already have a number, a possessive, demonstrative or interrogative adjective:
Ex: j’ai deux maisons (cardinal number)
Ex: c’est ma maison (possessive adjective)
Ex: c’est cette maison (demonstrative adjective)
Ex: quelle maison est-ce ? (interrogative adjective)
A, AN or ONE, SOME, ANY
To translate this notion, the French use a combination of 2 articles ; the indefinite article (un, une, des, negative pas de), and the partitive article (du, de la, de l’, des, negative pas de). Note that these 2 groups of articles have the same form in the plural and the negative : des and pas de. So the problem is only in the singular.
Now, you don’t really need to know what a “partitive” or “indefinite” article is, but you do need to understand this just a question of quantity, and specification of this quantity.
-
One whole item:
When you are talking about a whole item, use un (masculine) une (feminine). Remark: the indefinite article ‘a, an’, and the cardinal number ‘one’ have the same translation in French.
Ex: voici une fille. (a girl, one girl)
Ex: donne-moi une pomme. (an apple, one apple)
Ex: j’ai un Euro. (an Euro, one Euro)
Ex: je cherche un beau livre. (a pretty book)
Ex: j’achète une robe bleue. (a blue dress)
-
A portion of an item, or several items, but without specific quantity (some)
When you are talking about a portion of an item (food), or something that cannot be quantified (ex qualities, like patience), use a partitive article:
du (masculine)
de la (feminine)
de l’ (followed by a vowel or h)
Ex: je voudrais de l’eau, s’il vous plaît. (some water, maybe a glass, or maybe a bottle…)
Ex: le professeur a de la patience. (patience ; unspecified quantity)
Ex: voici du gâteau. (some of it, not the whole cake)
In the plural, use Des (both feminine and masculine)
Ex: j’ai des Euros. (some Euros)
Ex: je voudrais des pommes. (some apples:2, maybe 4, maybe 10)
Ex: elle a des amis formidables (she has (some) great friends)
-
A specific quantity : expression of quantities.
Here, you are not actually using an article, but actually the preposition de or d’ (+ vowel or h), meaning “of”, exactly like in English. This is usually this part that confuses my students.
Ex: un verre de vin (a glass OF wine, NOT DU, you do not say “a glass some wine")
Ex: une bouteille de champagne (a bottle of champagne)
Ex: une carafe d’eau (a pitcher of water – de becomes d’ + vowel)
Ex: un litre de jus de pomme (a liter of apple juice)
Ex: une assiette de charcuterie (a plate of cold cuts)
Ex: un kilo de pommes de terre (a kilo of potatoes)
Ex: une botte de carottes (a bunch of carrots)
Ex: une barquette de fraises (a box of strawberries)
Ex: une part de tarte (a slice of pie).
And do not forget all the adverbs, that also specify quantities :
Ex: un peu de fromage (a bit of cheese)
Ex: beaucoup de lait (a lot of milk).
Ex: quelques morceaux de lard (a few pieces of bacon).
Following the same logic, Pas is a specified quantity ; none. So pas is also followed by de or d’.
Ex: je n’ai pas d’amis. (I don’t have any friends)
Ex: elle n’a pas de patience. (she has no patience)
Ex: Il n’y a pas de livre. (there is no book)
Note that these articles are often used after verbs like vouloir “je voudrais du vin” or avoir “j’ai des chats”.
-
Exercises
Click below to listen to the audio
So, let’s do some exercises to test your understanding: complete using un, une, des, du, de la, de l’, de or d’. Stop the recording, do your exercises then listen to the correction.
1- Je voudrais 2 kilos ____ pommes s’il vous plait.
2- Je n’ai pas ____ chien.
3- Regarde ! ____ maison rose.
4- Je voudrais ____ gâteau s’il vous plaît (a whole one)
5- Je voudrais ____ gâteau s’il vous plaît (a portion of it)
6- Je voudrais ____ part ____ gâteau s’il vous plaît (a slice of cake).
7- Non merci, je ne veux pas____ gâteau.
8- Je voudrais ____ eau, s’il vous plaît.
9- Tu as ____ courage.
10- Achète ____ oranges !
11- Voici ____ glace à la vanille.
Answers : 1- de, 2- de, 3- une, 4- un, 5- du, 6- une…de, 7- de, 8- de l’, 9- du, 10- des, 11- de la.
-
Verbs followed by a specific preposition
Some verbs in French are followed by à or de, and that complicates the matter even more ; these verbs also exist in English, for example “to look at, for, forward, into, down on, over …”.
J’ai besoin de pommes. Avoir besoin is followed by “de”. So, it doesn’t match the English translation. In English, you’d say “I need SOME apples” ; des. But in French, we say “I am in need of apples”. Look at my lesson on verbs and prepositions for more verbs.
THE
Click below to listen to the audio
To describe a specific thing, use the definite article: Le (masculine singular) La (feminine singular) L’ (followed by a vowel or h) Les (plural). A lot of my students mispronounce these, and they blurr into a "lo"... it does not sound good in French, so make sure you train to achieve the correct pronunciation on these very common words.
Ex: Je cherche le téléphone. (I'm looking for the phone)
Ex: Voici la maison de Pierre. (Her is the house of Pierre)
Note the construction definite article + noun + de + noun to show possession ; la maison de Pierre, Pierre's house.
Ex: Où sont les toilettes ? (Where is the bathroom)
Ex: Je travaille à la maison. (I work at home)
The definite article is also used with general concept, where in English you’ll use no article. Try adding “in general” to the end of your sentence. If it works, use the definite article :-)
Ex: je n’aime pas le lait .(I don't like milk, in general)
Ex: les Français sont sympathiques. (French people are nice)
Ex: la patience est une qualité utile. (Patience is a useful quality)
-
Remarks
- English doesn’t use any article in this case, but French does.
- The definite article is often used after verbs like aimer, adorer, admirer, detester, préférer, etc… since these verbs introduce nouns taken in a general sense.
Ex: j’aime le théâtre mais je préfère le cinema.
- the words "le, la, l' and les" are also Direct object pronouns, as in "je l'aime" (I am in love with him), il les achète (He's buying them), and "elle la comprend" (she understands her). It's confusing, I know...
-
Contractions of the definite article
Now, here is what often confuses my students. The definite article contracts with the prepositions à and de to create a “mutant” form:
- à + le = au
Ex: je vais au supermarché (at the supermarket)
- à + les = aux
Ex: je parle aux amis de ma soeur (to the friends of my sister)
- à + l’ and à + la do not contract.
- de + le = du
Ex: je ne reviens pas du concert, je reviens de la bibliothèque (from the concert- from the library)
- de + les = des
Ex: je parle des amis de ma soeur (about my sister’s friends)
de l’ and de la do not contract.
Note: these forms do not change in the negative.
Here again, check my lesson on verbs followed by à or de to train on them.
-
Remark
Now, this is confusing. As you now see, the words “du” and “des” can have different meanings:
Ex: j’ai des amis (some friends = indefinite or partitive article, plural)
Ex: je parle des amis d’Anne (of the friends of Anne = contraction of the definite article)
The difference will show in the negative:
Ex: je n’ai pas d’amis. (the indefinite and partitive articles become de in the negative)
Ex: je ne parle pas des amis d’Anne (no change for the definite article, whether it is contracted or not)
-
Test your understanding, see if you can grasp the differences among:
J’achète un poisson (a whole one)
J’achète du poisson (some fish ; to cook probably, an unspecified amount)
J'achète un filet de poisson (only a portion of the fish)
J’achète le poisson bleu (the blue one, specifically)
Les poissons sont beaux (the fish are pretty, specific ones I am looking at)