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Grammaire: 1.5 – Les articles indéfinis
Indefinite articles
1. Forms
In French, few nouns can stand alone. Most need to be introduced or ‘determined’ by an article. As in English, an article is characterized as either definite (‘the’) or indefinite (‘a’, ‘an’). In addition, French articles are also:
- masculine or feminine
- singular or plural
according to the gender and number of the noun they determine.
Here are the indefinite articles in French:
| masculine singular: un | |
| Tex est un tatou. Joe-Bob est un écureuil. |
Tex is an armadillo. Joe-Bob is a squirrel. |
| feminine singular: une | |
| UT est une université | UT is a university. |
| plural: des (pronounced using the [e] sound) | |
| des tatous des écureuils des chats des universités |
(some) armadillos (some) squirrels (some) cats (some) universities |
In the examples above, listen carefully to the difference in pronunciation of des before words beginning with a consonant (des tatous) and before a words beginning with a vowel sound (des écureuils). These are examples of liaison.
2. Usage
As the English ‘a‘ ‘an‘ or ‘some‘, the indefinite articles un, une, des refer to nouns which are non-specific. Un or une may also indicate quantity, ‘a’ or ‘an’ in the sense of ‘one.’ Contrast the use of the indefinite and definite articles in the first two sentences below. The indefinite plural des is always expressed in French, but its English equivalent ‘some’ is often omitted.
| Joe-Bob et Corey ont une chambre dans une résidence universitaire à Austin. | Joe-Bob and Corey have a (one) room in a residence hall in Austin. |
3. Exception
Reminder: professions do no require an article
| Tex est ∅ étudiant. Édouard est ∅ professeur. |
Tex lives in Austin, but he prefers Paris. |
