determiners: partitive articles

forms

There are three partitive articles in French.

uses

Partitive articles are used both in English and in French to express quantities that cannot be counted. While the indefinite article (un, une, des) is used with countable quantities (un oeuf, deux oeufs …), the partitive article is used before mass nouns, nouns that are indivisible or uncountable. In English the article ‘some’ is often omitted.

While the definite article designates something in its totality, or as a whole, the partitive article designates a part of the whole. Note that depending on what you want to say, the same noun may be introduced by a definite, indefinite, or a partitive article. Compare these examples:

after the negative

In negative sentences, du, de la, des, de l’ change to de:

The partitive and indefinite articles may be used in negative sentences, however, to emphasize the contrasting positive noun. For example:

Notice the use of the partitive articles in the following dialogue.

determiners: expressions of quantity

There are many ways of expressing quantity: numbers (deux crêpes), the indefinite article (un tatou, an armadillo), and the partitive article (du lait, some milk). Quantities may also be expressed using adverbs and adverbial expressions, such as assez (enough), beaucoup (a lot), or trop (too much).

When used with nouns, expressions of quantity are always followed by de (d’ if the noun begins with a vowel sound).

Here is a list of common adverbial expressions of quantity:

Note that these expressions of quantity do not change in negative sentences:

One can express quantity by using specific nouns or adverbs of quantity, as well as measures of weight, distance, or volume, especially in reference to food. For example:

The definite article (le, la, les) may be used with these expressions to indicate a quantity of a specific item. Remember that de + le and de + les form the contractions du and des respectively.

Listen to the dialogue:

-ir verbs (regular) present tense

Verbs with infinitives ending in -ir form a second group of regular verbs in French, often called ‘second conjugation’ verbs. To conjugate these verbs, drop the -ir from the infinitive and add the second conjugation present tense endings: -is, -is, -it, -issons, -issez, -issent. The singular and plural forms of the third person are clearly distinguishable (finit vs.finissent). Listen to the difference.

Here is a list of other common -ir verbs:

Not all verbs ending in -ir follow this pattern, however. Irregular -ir verbs include ouvrir, partir, sortir, and dormir.

Listen carefully to the pronunciation of the verbs in the following dialogue. In particular, note the difference in the pronunciation of one s (pronounced as /z/) and two ss (pronounced as /s/) in the verb ‘choisir.‘

Listening Comprehension:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

-re verbs (irregular) like prendre

Verbs like prendre are conjugated like regular -re verbs in the singular, but not in the plural. Note the difference in the stem in the plural forms.

Verbs conjugated like prendre include:

Listening Comprehension

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

boire, croire, voir

The irregular verbs boire, croire, and voir have similar conjugations. Listen carefully to their forms in the present tense.

interrogative words: où, quand, comment ….

Où (where), quand (when), comment (how), pourquoi (why), combien (how much), combien de (how many) may be used to ask questions with subject/verb inversion or with est-ce que. Note that the question word goes before est-ce que.

questions with subject/verb inversion

inversion

Formal questions may be asked by reversing the subject pronoun/verb order and linking the two with a hyphen. You may have already seen inversion in fixed expressions like the following greetings: ‘Comment allez-vous?’, ‘Comment vous appelez-vous?’, ‘Quelle heure est-il?’.

addition of -t- in third person singular

In the third person singular, when the verb ends in a vowel, a -t- is added to make the liaison possible.

addition of a pronoun with a noun or proper name

When the subject is a proper name or noun, the corresponding subject pronoun (il, elle, ils, or elles) is added for inversion with the verb.

compound tenses

In compound tenses, such as the passé composé, the subject pronoun is inverted with the auxiliary (the conjugated verb).

negation

Ne precedes the conjugated verb and the second half of the negative (pas, jamais, plus, etc.) follows the pronoun.

‘est-ce’ and ‘y a-t-il’

The inverted forms of ‘c’est’ and ‘il y a’ are est-ce and y a-t-il.