French articles and determiners

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In French, articles and determiners are required on almost every common noun; much more so than in English. They are inflected to agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the noun they determine, though most have only one plural form (for masculine and feminine). Many also often change form when the word that follows them begins with a vowel sound.

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.

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[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 mass nouns and plural nouns with generic interpretation, and with abstract nouns. For example:

  • « J'aime le lait. » ("I like milk.")
  • « J'aime les romans. » ("I like novels.")
  • « Le capitalisme a transformé ce pays. » (Capitalism has transformed this country.")

The definite article takes the following forms:

  • singular:
    • before a consonant:
      • masculine: le1
      • feminine: la
    • before a vowel or a mute h (either gender): l' (see Elision (French).)
  • plural (either gender): les1
  1. The prepositions à (to, at) and de (of, from) contract with the articles le and les to form au, du, aux, and des, respectively.

[edit] 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 [no article] books over there").

The indefinite article takes the following forms:

  • singular:
    • masculine: un1
    • feminine: une1
  • plural (either gender): des1
  1. The indefinite article becomes de (or d' if before a vowel) after a negative verb other than être: « Je n'ai pas de livre », "I don't have a or any book." This use is related to expressions of quantity; see below.

[edit] 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 [no article] coffee").

The partitive article takes the following forms:

  • singular:
    • before a consonant:
      • masculine: du1
      • feminine: de la1
    • before a vowel or a mute h (either gender): de l' (see Elision (French))
  • plural (either gender): des1
  1. Like the indefinite article, the partitive article becomes de (or d' if before a vowel) after a negative verb other than être.

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.)

[edit] Determiners

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

[edit] 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. While English distinguishes between masculine and feminine singular possessors (his vs. her), French does not. As in English, possessive determiners do not necessarily express true possession.

Their forms are as follows:

  possessed
singular plural
possessor first person singular mon, ma1 mes
plural notre nos
second person singular ton, ta1 tes
plural votre vos
third person singular son, sa1 ses
plural leur leurs
  1. The forms mon, ton, and son are used with masculine nouns, or before vowels or mute h's; the forms ma, ta, and sa are used before consonants with feminine nouns.

[edit] Demonstrative determiners

  singular plural
masculine ce
cet (before vowel and mute h)		 ces
feminine cette ces

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"

[edit] Interrogative determiners

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

  singular plural
masculine quel quels
feminine quelle quelles

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!)

[edit] Quantifiers

A quantifier is a determiner that quantifies its noun, like English "some" and "many." In French, as in English, quantifiers constitute an 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 bouchée 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)
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