Articles in French

► You are  here:   France   › French grammar  › Articles

► Articles belong to the family of "determiners" or "pre-determiners"

French has three forms of the definite article corresponding to the English article "the".
They are Le, La and Les.  There is also the singular l' used before vowels
Usage depends on the gender and number (singular, plural) of the noun.

Le is used with singular masculine nouns.
La is used with singular feminine nouns
Les is used with plural nouns, whatever gender they may be
L' is used in the singular before vowels, irrespective of gender

Usage:
Use of the definite article in French is not always the same as use of the definite article in English.

In simple defining contexts, usage is similar.

However, there are some difficulties to be mastered .......

Difficulty ! Articles, gender and sex

Choice of article depends on the gender of the noun, not necessarily on the sex of the person (or object!)  Thus we have to say une personne, or une vedette (a star) even if referring to a man, as these nouns are feminine. Many bits of machinery are feminine nouns, thus une locomotive.  Consequently, any pronouns that refer back to a noun will (in grammatical French at least) reflect the gender of the noun, not necessarily the sex of the person (though in most cases nouns that denote females are also feminine nouns, so no problem) 

However French is changing, and a growing number of personal nouns are being used in both masculine and feminine forms. Usually a specific feminine form is used, as in le président / la présidente ; but in some cases identical forms are found, as in un professeur / une professeur (or une professeure)  or un / une médecin ( a doctor).  In this last case, one cannot say Une médecine, as that would mean a medicine, not a lady doctor.


Difficulty! Articles with plural count nouns in French
There are two ways of using count nouns (nouns refering to items that can be counted) in the plural: a generalising use (i.e. all the items) and a restrictive use (i.e. some of the items)
When count-nouns are used in a generalising context in the plural, English indicates this generalisation by omitting the article; French marks it by using the definite article.

Thus a plural count noun preceded by a definite article generalises, a plural count-noun preceded by an indefinite article is restrictive.
      Children like sweets : les enfants aiment les bonbons
 but
     She has (some) children : elle a des enfants
The above examples show that the dividing line between the concepts of "generalisation" and "restriction" is not quite the same in French and English.
 
Difficulty! Article usage with singular non-count nouns in French
In French, it is not normally possible to use a noun without a predeterminer of one sort or another. Thus singular non-count-nouns which do not need an article or determiner in English normally require one in French.

French has three forms of the indefinite article corresponding to the English articles "a / an" and "some".
They are Un, une and des.
In addition, there are partitive articles used in the singular with non-count nouns:
They are: du, de la and de l'
Usage depends on the gender and number (singular, plural) of the noun.

Un is used with singular masculine nouns.

Un garcon, un train, un problème, un président, un ami etc.

Une is used with singular feminine nouns

Une fille, une dame, une voiture, une difficulté, une maison

Des is used with plural nouns, whatever gender they may be

Des garçons, des filles, des personnes, des choses, des difficultés, etc.

The partitive forms are used in the singular

Du café, de la bière, de l'eau

Return to French grammar pages : index

Study or learn French in France

Essential French words and phrases for travellers

Copyright © About-France.com