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French Articles

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.

👉 Scroll down to watch Jennifer’s video lesson on French articles 👈

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
Example	Je mange du gâteau. Je ne mange pas de gâteau.
Example	Je mange de la tarte. Je ne mange pas de tarte.
Example	Je bois de l’eau. Je ne bois pas d’eau.
Example	Je mange des gâteaux. Je ne mange pas de gâteaux.

Expressions of Quantity

beaucoup	a lot
beaucoup de	a lot of

Je mange beaucoup de gâteaux.	I eat a lot of cakes.
Je mange beaucoup de tartes.	I eat a lot of pies.
Je bois beaucoup d’eau.	I drink a lot of water.

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​RELATED POSTS:

https://atomic-temporary-158445458.wpcomstaging.com/2020/12/16/french-partitive-articles-and-4-ways-to-use-de/

https://atomic-temporary-158445458.wpcomstaging.com/2020/07/02/beginner-french-review-activity/

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