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Lesson 10

Quantifying the Uncountable: Partitive Articles

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Bonjour !

In our last lesson, we focused on making nouns plural and using the article des for countable items, like des livres (books) or des clients (clients). But what happens when you want to talk about something you can't easily count, like coffee, water, or rice? You wouldn't say "one coffee, two coffees" when ordering a cup.

This is where today's topic comes in. Our goal is to use partitive articles (du, de la, des) for uncountable quantities. These are the French equivalents of "some" or "any." Mastering them is the final step in our module on nouns and articles, giving you a complete set of tools to talk about objects and substances accurately.

1. What are Partitive Articles?

Partitive articles are used to express an unknown quantity of something or a part of a whole. Think of it as taking "a part of" something.

  • You take some bread from a loaf: Je prends **du** pain.
  • You pour some water from a bottle: Je verse **de l'**eau.

The key idea is that you're not talking about the whole thing, just a portion of it. The word "partitive" itself comes from "part."

To get a clear grasp of this core concept, let's watch the beginning of a video from the Français Authentique channel.

Du, de la, des… Tu comprendras ENFIN les articles partitifs

The speaker, Johan, gives a very clear and logical explanation of the main idea behind partitive articles: talking about 'une partie de' (a part of) something.

Watch from the beginning to 02:40. Focus on the visual examples he gives with 'pain' (bread) and 'tarte' (tart) to understand the concept of taking a piece of a whole.

2. The Four Forms: du, de la, de l', des

As you've seen with other articles, the form you use depends on the gender and number of the noun it precedes.

Here are the rules:

Article Used Before... Example Translation
du Masculine singular noun Je bois **du** café. I drink (some) coffee.
de la Feminine singular noun Tu veux **de la** salade ? Do you want (some) salad?
de l' Singular noun (m/f) starting with a vowel or silent h Il achète **de l'**huile. He buys (some) oil.
des Plural noun Nous mangeons **des** pâtes. We eat (some) pasta.

A note on des: In the last lesson, des meant multiple countable items (des stylos - pens). Here, with uncountable nouns, it refers to things that are grammatically plural, like pâtes (pasta), épinards (spinach), or lentilles (lentils). The meaning is "some" rather than a specific number. The context makes the meaning clear.

This image provides a great visual summary of these rules.

French Partitive Articles: DU - DE LA - DE L' - DES
This chart shows the four partitive articles and how they are used based on the gender and number of the noun, with clear examples.
Test your understanding!

Fill in the blank with the correct partitive article (du, de la, de l', or des).

  1. Je voudrais ____ sucre, s'il vous plaît. (sucre is masculine)
  2. Elle mange ____ viande. (viande is feminine)
  3. Vous buvez ____ eau ? (eau is feminine and starts with a vowel)
  4. Ils achètent ____ frites. (frites is plural)
Show answer
  1. Je voudrais du sucre, s'il vous plaît.
  2. Elle mange de la viande.
  3. Vous buvez **de l'**eau ?
  4. Ils achètent des frites.

3. The Most Important Rule: When Partitives Become de

In many common situations, the articles du, de la, de l', and des all simplify to just de (or d' before a vowel). It's crucial to learn these situations to avoid common mistakes.

A. In Negative Sentences

When you make a sentence negative with ne...pas, the partitive article becomes de.

  • Positive: Je bois du vin. (I drink some wine.)

  • Negative: Je ne bois pas de vin. (I don't drink wine.)

  • Positive: Elle a de la patience. (She has some patience.)

  • Negative: Elle n'a pas de patience. (She doesn't have any patience.)

B. With Expressions of Quantity

When you specify a quantity (even an inexact one), you use de. This applies to adverbs like beaucoup (a lot), un peu (a little), trop (too much), assez (enough), or specific units like un kilo de, une bouteille de.

  • Il mange beaucoup de pain. (He eats a lot of bread.) - NOT beaucoup du pain
  • J'ai acheté un litre de lait. (I bought a liter of milk.) - NOT un litre du lait

Let's watch a video that explains these two rules very clearly, along with another key distinction.

Du, de la, des… Tu comprendras ENFIN les articles partitifs

Let's return to the 'Français Authentique' video. The next section covers the three most frequent mistakes learners make with partitive articles.

Watch from 04:02 to 07:46. Pay close attention to the three 'traps' he explains: Confusion with negation (the 'ne...pas de' rule). Confusion with expressions of quantity (the 'beaucoup de' rule). Confusion with verbs of taste/opinion (our next topic!).

4. A Key Distinction: Liking vs. Having (le vs. du)

As the video just explained, this is a major point of confusion. The article you use changes depending on the verb.

  • Use definite articles (le, la, les) with verbs of preference like aimer (to like), adorer (to love), préférer (to prefer), détester (to hate). This is because you are talking about the item in general.

    • J'aime **le** café. (I like coffee in general.)
    • Elle déteste **les** épinards. (She hates spinach in general.)

  • Use partitive articles (du, de la, des) with verbs of consumption or acquisition like manger (to eat), boire (to drink), vouloir (to want), acheter (to buy). This is because you are talking about consuming or getting some of it.

    • Je bois **du** café. (I am drinking some coffee right now.)
    • Elle achète **des** épinards. (She is buying some spinach.)

To solidify your understanding, let's read through a concise summary of all these rules.

Partitive Article – du, de la, de l', des

The article 'Partitive Article' from Lawless French provides a good textual reference for everything we've covered.

First, read the sections 'Characteristics of partitive articles' and 'French partitive articles' to review the forms. Then, scroll down to the heading 'In certain constructions, the partitive reverts to simply de' and read the sub-sections on negation and expressions of quantity. This will reinforce the rules from the video.

Final Practice!

Choose the correct article for each sentence. Be careful!

  1. Elle adore ____ chocolat. (adorer is a verb of preference)
    a) du
    b) le
    c) de
  2. Je ne veux pas ____ café. (negative sentence)
    a) du
    b) le
    c) de
  3. Nous achetons ____ fromage. (fromage is masculine)
    a) du
    b) le
    c) de
  4. Il y a trop ____ sel dans la soupe. (expression of quantity)
    a) du
    b) le
    c) de
Show answer
  1. b) le (adorer is a verb of preference, so we talk about 'chocolate' in general using the definite article).
  2. c) de (In a negative sentence with ne...pas, the partitive article du becomes de).
  3. a) du (acheter is a verb of consumption, and fromage is a masculine uncountable noun, so we use the partitive du).
  4. c) de (After an expression of quantity like trop, we use de).

Conclusion

Excellent work today! You have now learned the complete set of basic French articles: definite, indefinite, and partitive. This is a huge step in building a solid grammatical foundation.

Key Takeaways:

  • Partitive articles (du, de la, de l', des) are used to talk about "some" of an uncountable item.
  • The form changes based on the noun's gender and whether it starts with a vowel.
  • In negative sentences (ne...pas...) and after expressions of quantity (beaucoup, un peu, etc.), the partitive article becomes de.
  • With verbs of preference (aimer, préférer), use definite articles (le, la, les) to speak about things in general. With verbs of consumption (manger, boire), use partitive articles to speak about having "some."

This lesson concludes our module on nouns and articles. In our next lesson, we will begin a new module and shift our focus to verbs. We'll start with the essential building blocks: subject pronouns (je, tu, il/elle, etc.).

À bientôt ! (See you soon!)