A, AN or ONE, SOME, ANY ā 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 lā, des, negative pas de).
The key to understanding them relies on understanding that it is all a question of specification of quantity.
When building your sentence, itās better if you donāt translate from English but rather understand whether you are talking about a precise quantity or a vague one, and use the corresponding French article.
Click on the link below to hear my audio recording of this free French grammar lesson.
1 ā The French Partitive Articles
When you are talking about a portion of an item (food), or something that cannot be quantified (e.g. qualities, like patience), use a partitive article:
- du (+ masculine word)
- de la (+ feminine word),
- de lā (followed by a vowel),
- des (+ plural word).
2 ā Du, de la, de lā, des = Unspecified Quantity
The French partitive articles express a notion of quantity: a vague one, a non-specific one.
Important: these articles are often used after the verbs vouloir (āJe voudrais du vinā) or avoir (āJāai des chatsā) and with food.
Itās the notion of āsomeā in English, but we donāt always use the word āsomeā. Often, we use nothing at all.
In French, you need to āaccompanyā your word with something.
- Je voudrais de lāeau, sāil vous plait. (some water, maybe a glass, or maybe a bottleā¦)
- Le professeur a de la patience. (patience ; you are not saying how much patience the teacher has, just that he/she has some)
- Voici du gĆ¢teau. (some of it, not the whole cake)
To describe an unspecified plural quantity, use ādesā (both feminine and masculine)āØ. This tells you there is more than one item, but again, itās a vague plural quantity (could be 2, could be 10,000 or more)ā¦ This ādesā usually applies to whole items, that you could count, but decided not to.
- Jāai des Euros. (more than one, but I am not telling exactly how many)
- Je vais acheter des pommes. (Iām going to buy apples. In English, weād probably wonāt use an article there. Maybe some, but not necessarily. In French, you need to use ādesā)
- Elle a des amies formidables (she has (some) great friends)
3 ā More About Translating āSomeā in French
In English, the word āsomeā is used for unspecified quantity (I would like some milk) but also as a derogatory adjective (he went home with some girl).
In French, you would never say āil est rentrĆ© chez lui avec de la filleāā¦He didnāt go home with an unspecified quantity of a girl!! So be careful, translation doesnāt always work.
Same thing goes with one of my example āelle a des amis formidablesā. In English, if you say āshe has some great friendsā youād be strongly implying that her other friends are not so greatā¦ So here, weād use an article when in English youād probably use nothing āshe has great friendsā. You need to use the French logic :āshe has an āunspecified quantity pluralā great friendsā = āelle a des amis formidables
Some food items are usually referred to as singular in English, although they are really plural. Like rice.
There are many grains of rice, but itās rare that you are counting them one by oneā¦
So rice is considered as a single ingredient, singular masculine āle rizā.
If you need to count each grain, then youād use the expression āgrain de rizā ā Il y a 3 grains de riz sur la table. But, more often, youād say something like āJāachĆØte du rizā ( I buy some rice, or I buy rice).
In my beginner and intermediate level French audio books, many chapters talk about food, or take place in a restaurant, and youāll find these articles used in context in each chapters.
4 ā French Indefinite Articles and Numbers
When you are talking about a whole item, use:
- un (+ masculine word)
- une (+ feminine word).
Remark: the indefinite article āa, anā, and the cardinal number āoneā have the same translation in French.
- Voici une fille. (a girl, one girl)
- Donne-moi une pomme. (an apple, one apple)
- Jāai un Euro. (an Euro, one Euro)
- Je cherche un beau livre. (a pretty book)
- JāachĆØte une robe bleue. (a blue dress)
If you have more than one, then youād use numbers : 2, 3, 10ā¦ with numbers, you donāt use any articles. To master French numbers, train with my audio French Numbers and exercises series ā exclusively available on my French Todayās blog.
- Jāai trois chats. I have three cats.
5 ā More Specific Quantity = Expressions of quantity + de or dā
This is usually the part that confuses students.
Even if itās not an article per se, I think it should be studied in this lesson since this is really the key to understanding it all.
When you use an expression of quantity (a kilo ofā¦, a bottle ofā¦, a little bit ofā¦) you are expressing a very specific quantity.
And these are followed by the preposition de or dā (+ vowel or h), meaning āofā, exactly like in English.
You donāt say āa bottle some waterā. You say āa bottle of waterā.
Itās the same in French: we say: āUne bouteille dāeauā (of water), not āune bouteille de lāeauā( de lā = some).
Unfortunately, this ādeā or ād'ā looks a lot like āde lā, du, des etcā¦ā hence the confusion.
So, in French, after an expression of quantity, we use ādeā or ād'ā (+ word starting with a vowel).
The notion of partitive articles and quantities is explained in depth and then illustrated with many examples within the context of a fun bilingual story in my intermediate French learning method L3 (with audio of course!).
A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically structured for English speakers.
6 ā Common French Expressions of Quantity
Of course, quantity are going to be very common with food items. So you are likely to use these constructions a lot, since the French are always talking about food!
- Un verre de vin (a glass OF wine, NOT DU, you do not say āa glass some wineā)
- Une bouteille de champagne (a bottle of champagne)
- Une carafe dāeau (a pitcher of water ā de becomes dā + vowel)
- Un litre de jus de pomme (a liter of apple juice)
- Une assiette de charcuterie (a plate of cold cuts)
- Un kilo de pommes de terre (a kilo of potatoes)
- Une botte de carottes (a bunch of carrots)
- Une barquette de fraises (a box of strawberries)
- Une part de tarte (a slice of pie).
And do not forget all the adverbs, that also specify quantities :
- Un peu de fromage (a bit of cheese)
- Beaucoup de lait (a lot of milk).
- Quelques morceaux de lards (a few pieces of bacon).
Note that in spoken French, this ādeā is very much glided, so almost silent (just to make things more difficult!)
7 ā Specific Quantity is Zero, None = Pas + de or dā
Following the same logic, PAS is a specified quantity ; none. So pas is also followed by the preposition de or dā. (Except after the verb āĆŖtreā when the article doesnāt change).
- Jāai des amis BUT Je nāai pas dāamis. (I donāt have any friends)
- Elle a beaucoup de patience BUT Elle nāa pas de patience. (She has no patience)
- Il y a 5 livres BUT Il nāy a pas de livre. (There is no book)
BUT: Cāest un ami, ce nāest pas un ami.
8 ā French Partitive and Indefinite Article Recap
Some things are easy to quantify: one apple. Itās a whole apple. You usually buy, eat, need one, 2, 3 applesā¦
But you may decide to be vague, and say ādes pommesā = more than one, but I donāt know exactly how many.
Now, some things are less easily quantifiableā¦ You donāt buy āone riceā. You buy either āone kilo of riceā (a kilo of, an expression of quantity), or āsome riceā (unspecified quantity of an item which is not easily quantifiable).
So you need to ask yourself Am I talking about:
- a very specific quantity (a number, or an expression of quantity : une pomme, 5 pommes, un kilo de pommes, une bouteille de vin).
- an unspecified quantity of an item (du vin), or an unspecified quantity of something that is not easily quantifiable (du riz, de la patience)
- more than one of an item, but a vague plural quantity (des pommes)
- Ā no item at all (pas de pomme)
Now letās check your understanding of this lesson.
9 ā French Partitive and Indefinite Articles Exercise
So, letās do some exercises to test your understanding: complete using un, une, des, du, de la, de lā, de or dā
1- Je voudrais 2 kilos ____ pommes sāil vous plaĆ®t.
2- Je nāai pas ____ chien.
3- Regarde ! ____ maison rose.
4- Je voudrais ____ gĆ¢teau sāil vous plaĆ®t (a whole one)
5- Je voudrais ____ gĆ¢teau sāil vous plaĆ®t (a portion of it)
6_ je voudrais ____ part ____ gĆ¢teau sāil vous plaĆ®t (a slice of cake).
7- Non merci, je ne veux pas____ gĆ¢teau.
8- Je voudrais ____ eau, sāil vous plaĆ®t.
9- Tu as ____ courage.
10- AchĆØte ____ oranges !
11- Voici ____ glace Ć la vanille.
Answers : 1- de, 2- de, 3- une, 4- un, 5- du, 6- uneā¦de, 7- de, 8- de lā, 9- du, 10- des, 11- une/de la.
VoilĆ , I hope this article made things clearer for you.Ā
Learn about French definite articles le, la, lā, les and their āmutantā forms au, aux and du, des.
What about une glace Ć la fraise et uneĀ confiture de fraises ? Check out my article to figure out why French usesĀ āĆ laā and ādeā there.
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