French Articles And Determiners

While articles are actually a subclass of determiners, and determiners are in turn a subclass of adjectives, they are generally treated separately; thus, they are treated separately here as well.

ARTICLES

French has three articles: a '' Definite Article '', somewhat analogous to English ''the''; an '' Indefinite Article '', somewhat analogous to English ''a'' or ''an'', except that it has a plural form; and a ''partitive article'', somewhat analogous to English ''some''.

The definite article

The French definite article is analogous to the English definite article ''the''. Like ''the'', the French definite article is used with a noun referring to a specific item when both the speaker and the audience know what the item is; so, « J'ai cassé la chaise rouge » ("I broke '''the''' red chair"). Unlike ''the'', the French definite article is also used with an uncountable noun to describe all of it, or with a plural noun to describe all of them; so, « J'aime '''le''' lait » ("I like ''' article ''' milk") or « J'aime '''les''' romans » ("I like ''' article ''' novels").

The definite article takes the following forms:

singular:

--- before a consonant:

-- masculine: ''le''¹

-- feminine: ''la''

--- before a vowel (either gender): ''l''' (see '' Elision '')

plural (either gender): ''les''¹

The indefinite article

The French indefinite article is analogous to the English indefinite article ''a/an''. Like ''a/an'', the French indefinite article is used with a noun referring to a non-specific item, or to a specific item when the speaker and audience don't both know what the item is; so, « J'ai cassé une chaise rouge » ("I broke '''a''' red chair"). Unlike ''a/an'', the French indefinite article has a plural form, often translated as ''some'' but usually simply omitted in English; so, « Il y a '''des''' livres là-bas » ("There are '''some ''or'' article ''' books over there").

The indefinite article takes the following forms:

singular:

--- masculine: ''un''¹

--- feminine: ''une''¹

plural (either gender): ''des''¹

Below

The partitive article

There is no English partitive article; the French partitive article is often translated as ''some'', but often simply omitted in English. It is used to indicate an indefinite portion of something uncountable, or an indefinite number of something countable: « J'ai du café » ("I have '''some ''or'' article ''' coffee").

The partitive article takes the following forms:

singular:

--- before a consonant:

-- masculine: ''du''¹

-- feminine: ''de la''¹

--- before a vowel (either gender): ''de l''' (see '' Elision '')

plural (either gender): ''des''¹

Notice that except after a negative verb, the partitive article is formed by combining the preposition ''de'' (''of'', ''from'') with the definite article. Also note that in the plural, and after a negative verb, the indefinite and partitive articles take the same form; this makes sense, as there is no clear difference in meaning in these cases. (Some grammarians actually classify ''des'' as either exclusively indefinite or exclusively partitive, and say that the other article has no plural form. This does not affect the interpreted meaning of ''des''.)

DETERMINERS

Determiners , like other adjectives, agree in gender and number with the noun they modify (or, in this case, determine).

Possessive determiners

The possessive determiners (also called ''possessive adjectives'' or ''possessive pronouns''; analogous to English "my," "his," etc.) are used to indicate the possessor of the noun they determine. They mark the person and number of the possessor, and are inflected to agree with their noun in gender and number. Like their English counterparts, they do not necessarily indicate true ''possession'', or even ownership, in a non-linguistic sense; for example, ''ma sœur'' means in French the same thing that "my sister" means in English.

Their forms are as follows:
#The forms ''mon'', ''ton'', and ''son'' are used with masculine nouns, or before vowels; the forms ''ma'', ''ta'', and ''sa'' are used before consonants with feminine nouns.

Demonstrative determiners

The demonstrative determiners (or ''demonstrative adjectives'') can mean either ''this'' or ''that'', ''these'' or ''those''. To be more precise or to avoid ambiguity, ''-ci'' or ''-là'' can be inserted after the noun:

cet homme-ci "this man"

cet homme-là "that man"

Interrogative determiners

The interrogative determiner ''quel'' means ''which'' or ''what''. It agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies:

Examples: ''quel train'', ''quelle chaise'', ''quels hommes'', and ''quelles classes''.

''Quel'' can be used as an exclamation.

« Quel film ! » (what a movie!)

« Quelle gentillesse ! » (what kindness!)

Quantifiers

A ''quantifier'' is a determiner that quantifies its noun, like English "some" and "many." In French, as in English, quantifiers constitute Open Word Class , unlike most other kinds of determiners. In French, most quantifiers are formed using a noun or adverb of quantity and the preposition ''de'' (''d''' when before a vowel).

Quantifiers formed with a noun of quantity and the preposition ''de'' include the following:

''des tas de'' ("lots of")

''trois kilogrammes de'' ("three kilograms of")

''une brassée de'' ("a mouthful of")

''une douzaine de'' ("a dozen (of)")

Quantifiers formed with an adverb of quantity and the preposition ''de'' include the following:

''beaucoup de'' ("a lot of")

''un peu de'' ("a little," "a few")

''peu de'' ("little," "few")

''assez de'', ''suffisamment de'' ("enough of")

''pas de'' ("no," "not any")

Other quantifiers include:

''bien'' + the partitive article ("much" or "many")

''quelque(s)'' ("some")

the cardinal numbers (73, 4.2, and so on)

Information About ™

French Articles And Determiners

Information About ^{^™}