French Partitif

French Partitif

French II

Articles

• Articles are words that go before nouns in French

• Every noun needs an article or number in front of it.

• I can't say "J'aime football américain." I have to say "J'aime le football américain."

• Le is the article in that sentence.

Types of Articles-Le/La/Les

• These three articles mean the.

• Le is used before masculine things (le football américain)

• La is used before feminine things (la table)

• Les is used before multiple things (les frites)

Types of Articles-Un/Une/

• These three articles mean a .

• Un is used before masculine things (un garçon)

• Une is used before a feminine thing (une fille)

• Des-We used this to mean some. It was used with more than one thing (Des crêpes)

Du/De la/De l'/Des

• These are partitive articles in French.

• They mean some.

• Last year, we used des to mean some but this year we need to be more specific.

• 
  

Du

• Du means some when it is used with a masculine item

• Du beurre-some butter

• Du proc-some pork

• Du jus d'orange-some orange juice

• (I know all of these things are masculine because if I look at my note sheet, they either start with a le or an un.)

De la

• De la is used to mean some with feminine things

• De la salads-some salad

• De la confiture-some jam

• De la tarte-some pie

• (I know all of these things are feminine because they all start with either la or une)

De l'

• De l' is used to mean some with words that start with vowels.

• The only word you will probably use this for is l'eau

• De l'eau-some water

• I know to use this with l'eau because it starts with a vowel

• 
  

Des

• Des means some for more than one thing

• Des raisins-some grapes

• Des biscuits-some cookies

• Des croissants-some croissants

When to use partitive articles (du/de la/de l'/des)

• You will only use these for foods that you want "some" of.

• Je veux du gâteau-I want some cake (yes-this makes sense)

• Je veux un gâteau-I want a cake. (this is weird)

• Usually a cake is something you want some of. Generally speaking, people don't want an entire cake.

When to use partitive articles (du/de la/de l'/des)

• You will only use these for foods that you want "some" of.

• Je veux une pomme-I want an apple (this make sense)

• Je veux de la pomme-I want some apple (this is weird-apples aren't usually something you eat some of. You eat the whole thing)

• 
  

Multiple Choice

Which one of these means, I want an avocado

• Je veux un avocat

• Je veux du avocat

Multiple Choice

Which one of these means, I want some tea

• Je veux le thé

• Je veux du thé

Multiple Choice

Which one means "I want the turkey"?

• Je veux une dinde

• Je veux la dinde

• Je veux de la dinde

Multiple Choice

Which one means "I want some cookies"?

• Je veux les biscuits

• Je veux des biscuits

• Je veux cinq biscuits

Multiple Choice

What does Un/Une mean in English?

• the

• some

• a

Multiple Choice

What does Le/la/les mean in English?

• the

• a

• some

Multiple Choice

What does du/de la/des/de l' mean in English?

• the

• a

• some

How do I know what articles to use?

• When you work on your food vocabulary this chapter, pay attention to the article before it.

• Une pomme is feminine because une tells me it is feminine

• Le poulet is masculine because the le tells me it is masculine

• Unfortunately, there isn't an easy way to tell if things are masculine or feminine in French. You just have to learn them that way.

Multiple Choice

What does Un/Une mean in English?

• the

• some

• a