French Partitive Articles
f you’ve ever ordered food or talked about quantities in French, you’ve probably bumped into words like du, de la, and des. These are called French partitive articles, and they’re used when you’re talking about an unspecified amount of something, like a little bread, some cheese, a bit of water. They don’t always have a direct match in English.
Scroll down to watch my video lesson on French articles. You can download a free PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
French Articles – Don’t forget to use them
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. Each type of article plays a very important role, and it’s important to know how to choose which one to use according to context.
| Definite articles | THE | SPECIFIC | le – la – les |
| Indefinite articles | A / AN | UNSPECIFIC or ONE | un – une |
| Partitive articles | SOME | PORTION OF SOMETHING | du – de la – des – de l’ |
French Partitive Articles – Masculine / Singular Nouns
| du gâteau | some cake |
| Important to remember: de + le form a contraction: du |
| Partitive article | Je mange du gâteau. | I am eating some cake. |
French Partitive Articles – Feminine / Singular Nouns
| de la tarte | some pie |
| Partitive article | Je mange de la tarte. | I am eating some pie. |
French Partitive Articles – Masculine / Feminine Plural Nouns
| des gâteaux | some cakes |
| Important to remember: de + les form a contraction: des |
| Partitive article | Je mange des gâteaux. | I am eating some cakes. |
| Partitive article | Je mange des tartes. | I am eating some pies. |
French Partitive Articles – Masculine / Feminine nouns beginning with a vowel or mute “H”
| de l’eau | some water |
| Partitive article | Je bois de l’eau. | I am drinking (some) water. |
When the partitive article follows negation
| Rule | DU, DE LA, DES, UN, UNE All of these become DE or D’ after negation |
| Example | Je mange du gâteau.I’m eating some cake. Je ne mange pas de gâteau.I’m not eating any cake. |
| Example | Je mange de la tarte.I’m eating some pie. Je ne mange pas de tarte.I’m not eating any pie. |
| Example | Je bois de l’eau.I’m drinking some water. Je ne bois pas d’eau.I’m not drinking any water. |
| Example | Je mange des gâteaux.I’m eating some cakes. Je ne mange pas de gâteaux.I’m not eating any cakes. |
Expressions of Quantity with French Partitive Articles
Expressions of quantity (beaucoup de, assez de, trop de, etc.) are followed by de or d’, not des. It doesn’t matter if the noun that follows is masculine, feminine, singular or plural.
| 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. |
