In English you can say 'I like music' or 'I'm buying bread' with no article at all. French almost never allows a bare noun. The little word in front of a noun does a lot of work: it tells you whether the noun is masculine or feminine, singular or plural, and whether you mean one specific thing, a thing in general, or just some of it. Because final letters are usually silent, the article is often the only spoken signal of plural: le livre and les livres sound identical apart from le and les. Get the article right and the rest of the sentence — adjectives, pronouns, past participles — falls into place around it.
Gender: every noun is masculine or feminine
| Ending | Usually | Examples | Common exceptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| -tion, -sion | feminine | la nation, la télévision | — |
| -té | feminine | la liberté (freedom), la santé (health) | l'été (summer, m.) |
| -ure | feminine | la voiture (car), la nature | — |
| -ée | feminine | la journée (day), l'idée (idea, f.) | le musée (museum), le lycée (high school) |
| -ence, -ance | feminine | la science, la chance (luck) | le silence |
| -ment | masculine | le moment, l'appartement (m.) | — |
| -age | masculine | le fromage (cheese), le voyage (trip) | la plage (beach), la page, l'image (f.) |
| -eau | masculine | le bureau (desk, office), le gâteau (cake) | l'eau (water, f.), la peau (skin) |
| -isme | masculine | le tourisme, le cyclisme (cycling) | — |
Three kinds of article
| Article | Masculine | Feminine | Before a vowel or silent h | Plural | English idea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definite | le | la | l' | les | the; also things in general |
| Indefinite | un | une | un / une | des | a, an; some (countable) |
| Partitive | du | de la | de l' | des | some, any (an amount of) |
Definite articles point to a specific thing (le livre sur la table, the book on the table) and to things in general: J'aime la musique (I like music), Les chiens sont fidèles (Dogs are loyal). English drops the article for general statements; French keeps it. Indefinite articles introduce one countable thing, or several: un sandwich, une pomme (an apple), des amis (friends). Partitive articles mean 'some' or 'any' of something you take a portion of rather than count: du pain (bread), de la musique, de l'eau (water). English often leaves 'some' out, but French cannot: Je bois de l'eau (I drink water).
- After aimer, adorer, préférer, détester
- J'aime le fromage. (I like cheese — cheese in general)
- Elle adore la pizza. (She loves pizza.)
- Je déteste les tomates. (I hate tomatoes.)
- After manger, boire, prendre, acheter, vouloir, avoir
- Je mange du fromage. (I'm eating some cheese.)
- Elle prend de la pizza. (She's having some pizza.)
- J'achète des tomates. (I'm buying tomatoes.)
When the article shrinks to de
- After a negative (ne… pas, ne… jamais, ne… plus), un, une, des, du, de la and de l' all become de (or d' before a vowel): J'ai un chien → Je n'ai pas de chien (I don't have a dog). Il mange de la viande → Il ne mange jamais de viande (He never eats meat). J'ai de l'argent → Je n'ai pas d'argent (I don't have any money).
- After an expression of quantity, use de alone: beaucoup de devoirs (lots of homework), un peu de lait (a little milk), assez d'argent (enough money), trop de sucre (too much sugar), peu d'amis (few friends), combien de pommes? (how many apples?).
- After a container or measure, the same rule: un verre de lait (a glass of milk), une bouteille d'eau (a bottle of water), un kilo de pommes (a kilo of apples), une tasse de thé (a cup of tea).
- Plurals in writing: most nouns add a silent -s: le livre → les livres.
- Nouns ending in -eau add -x: le gâteau → les gâteaux, le bureau → les bureaux.
- Most nouns ending in -al change to -aux: le journal → les journaux (newspapers), l'animal → les animaux.
- Nouns already ending in -s, -x or -z do not change: le prix → les prix (prices), le nez → les nez (noses).
Translation: My health challenge, day 3. In the morning I eat bread with jam and I drink orange juice. I don't drink coffee. At noon I have a salad, some carrots and lots of water. I love fruit, but I hate broccoli. Tonight my family is making vegetable soup. I don't have any dessert… but I have a little dark chocolate! What to notice: partitives for amounts (du pain, de la confiture, de la soupe), definite articles after adorer and détester, and de after the negatives (pas de café, pas de dessert) and the quantities (beaucoup d'eau, un peu de chocolat).