5 – Bon appétit!
Grammaire: 5.2. – Les articles partitifs
Partitive Articles
Rappel (reminder):
A determiner is a word that determines or qualifies the meaning of a noun by expressing such concepts as quantity or definiteness.
There is never more than one determiner per noun and it is always placed before the noun.
Determiners always agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
So far, we have learned 4 types of determiners:
In this lesson, you will learn a fifth determiner: partitives.
Formes
| Masculine, sg. | du | du pain | (some) bread |
| Feminine, sg. | de la | de la viande | (some) meat |
| Masculine or feminine sg. before a vowel: de l’ | de l’ | de l‘ail (m.) de l‘eau (f.) |
(some) garlic (some) water |
| Plural (masc. or fem.) | des | des haricots | (some) beans |
Usage
Partitive articles are used both in English and in French to express quantities that cannot be counted or which is unspecified.
| Edouard: Comme dessert, nous avons de la mousse au chocolat, de la glace parfumée à la vanille et du sorbet à l’ananas. | Edouard: For dessert, we have (some) chocolate mousse, vanilla ice cream, and pineapple sorbet. |
Definite article, indefinite article, or partitive determiner?
- Definite articles (le, la, l’, les) are used to introduce specific items. Definite articles are usually used with verbs of preference (aimer, adorer, préférer, détester).
- Example: Je déteste le poulet dans ma salade!
- Indefinite articles (un, une, des) are used to introduce a countable quantity of food:
- Example: Nous achetons un poulet au marché. (one whole chicken)
- Partitive determiners (du, de la, de l’, des) are used to introduce uncountable items, or items which are a part of a whole. Partitive determiners are usually used with verbs of consumption (manger, acheter, prendre, avoir, vendre).
- Example: Vous avez des crevettes dans votre salade.You all have (some) shrimp in your salad.
after the negative
In negative sentences, du, de la, des, de l’ change to de:
| Joe-Bob mange de la viande. | Tammy ne mange pas de viande. | Joe-Bob eats meat. Tammy does not eat meat. |
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| Tex boit du café. | Tammy ne boit jamais de café. | Tex drinks coffee. Tammy never drinks coffee. |
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| Il y a encore du vin. | Il n‘y a plus de vin. | There is some wine left. There is not any wine left. |
