Articles can often be omitted in English, but not in French. There are three types of articles, and they have to agree in number and gender with the nouns they modify. Access a lesson guide on expressing amounts of time in my full course on articles. You must be logged in to your LLL French Academy account to access this course.
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Definite articles mean THE
le – la – les
Indefinite articles mean A / AN
un – une
Partitive articles mean SOME
du – de la – des – de l’
Masculine / Singular Nouns
le gâteau
the cake
un gâteau
a cake
du gâteau
some cake
Important to remember: de + le form a contraction: du
Definite article
J’aime le gâteau.
I like cake.
Definite article
Je mange le gâteau.
I am eating the cake.
Indefinite article
Je mange un gâteau.
I am eating a cake.
Partitive article
Je mange du gâteau.
I am eating some cake.
Feminine / Singular Nouns
la tarte
the pie
une tarte
a pie
de la tarte
some pie
Definite article
J’aime les tartes.
I like pies.
Definite article
Je mange la tarte.
I am eating the pie.
Indefinite article
Je mange une tarte.
I am eating a pie.
Partitive article
Je mange de la tarte.
I am eating some pie.
Masculine / Feminine Plural Nouns
les gâteaux
the cakes
des gâteaux
some cakes
Important to remember: de + les form a contraction: des
Definite article
J’aime les gâteaux.
I like cakes.
Definite article
Je mange les gâteaux.
I am eating the cakes.
Partitive article
Je mange des gâteaux.
I am eating some cakes.
Definite article
J’aime les tartes.
I like pies.
Definite article
Je mange les tartes.
I am eating the pies.
Partitive article
Je mange des tartes.
I am eating some pies.
Masculine / Feminine nouns beginning with a vowel or mute h
l’eau
the water
de l’eau
some water
Definite article
J’aime l’eau.
I like water.
Partitive article
Je bois de l’eau.
I am drinking (some) water.
Negation
Basic negation
To make a verb negative all you have to do is put NE….PAS around the verb.
Example
J’aime l’eau. Je n’aime pas l’eau.
Rule
When the partitive follows negation it becomes DE or D’ DU, DE LA, DES, UN, UNE = All of these become DE or D’ after negation
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