French Articles: When un, du, and des Change to de

Which articles does French have?

Tex's French Grammar, an open grammar from the University of Texas at Austin, sorts them into three sets. Each one changes with the noun's gender and number.

Le and la become l' before a vowel and before most words that start with h: l'eau, l'homme. Tex notes that some words with h don't do this: before them, le and la stay whole and the s of les isn't linked. Tex calls this an aspirate h, and dictionaries mark it. Check a new h word in a dictionary.

Before a vowel, the s of les is said as a z sound: les animaux. Tex shows des linking the same way: des écureuils. French pronunciation covers that linking.

Two more habits from Tex. Un and une can also mean "one," not just "a." And in a list, French usually repeats the article before each noun. Where English says "the plates, knives and glasses," French says les assiettes, les couteaux, les verres. Say that list now, with all three les.

When do you need du, de la or de l'?

Use them for an amount of something you don't count, like coffee, water or meat. Tex says English often leaves out "some" here. French doesn't.

Tex adds that where English drops "some," French still says des. The cases where it turns into de come further down.

The same noun can take any of the three, depending on what you mean. Français interactif, the open course that goes with Tex, shows du café for some coffee and deux cafés for two cups of it. With a number, as in deux cafés, the number takes the place of un, des or du. Tex's version: the definite article means the thing as a whole, and the partitive means a part of it. Say these three about coffee.

Why does "I like coffee" take le?

Tex says French uses the definite article for things in general, and with verbs of liking such as aimer, adorer, préférer and détester. English uses no article there, which is the trap at the top of this page.

The general use isn't only about liking. Tex's example L'amour et la santé sont plus importants! means "Love and health are more important!" English says "love" and "health" bare. French gives each one its article.

Notice the second one. It's negative, and it still says le. The change to de in the next section applies to un, une, des and the partitive. Tex's own example keeps le after a negative: Tammy n'aime pas le café.

When do du, de la and des turn into de?

After a negative. Tex and Français interactif both say that after ne … pas, the indefinite and partitive articles become de, or d' before a vowel.

Tex's examples use ne … jamais the same way: Tammy ne boit jamais de café. (Tammy never drinks coffee.)

This rule has two edges. Both come from Tex. After être, the article stays: Ce n'est pas un jouet. (It's not a toy.) Ce ne sont pas des criminels. (They're not criminals.) And when you deny one thing to name another, the article can stay too: Ce n'est pas de l'hébreu. C'est du yiddish. (This is not Hebrew. It's Yiddish.) That one also has être, so here is Tex's own contrast without it: Edouard sert du poulet, pas des escargots! (Edouard serves chicken, not snails!)

After a word of quantity. Tex says beaucoup, un peu, assez, trop and measures like a cup or a glass are followed by de alone. Français interactif says the same.

The edge here: when you mean a specific thing, Tex uses the definite article after the de, so de and le join as du. Its example is un verre du vin rouge, pas du blanc, a glass of the red wine, not the white. Tex also notes that these quantity words stay the same after a negative: On ne prépare jamais trop de crêpes. (One never prepares too many crepes.)

Before a plural adjective. Tex says des usually becomes de when a plural adjective comes before the noun: Il a de grands pieds. (He has big feet.) J’ai de grands espoirs. (I have high hopes.) When the adjective comes after the noun, des stays: Ce monsieur pose des questions intéressantes. (This gentleman asks interesting questions.)

When is du not "some"?

Sometimes du is just de plus le. Tex lists four joined forms. Français interactif has the same table. Then "of the" or "near the" comes out as du, with no idea of "some."

La and l' don't join. So when you see du or des after a word like près, read it as "of the."

When does French use no article?

Tex names a few places. After être or devenir with a subject like il or elle, a job, nationality or religion takes no article, and Tex keeps it bare in the negative too: il n'est pas catholique. This page doesn't cover c'est with a job, other persons, or the plural, so don't build those from this rule.

Cities usually take no article, and months never do. Countries go the other way: Tex says continents, countries, states and regions usually take one, as in la France and le Texas. Its exceptions are a few places, mostly islands, such as Haïti and Madagascar. This page doesn't teach how to say "in France" or "to Texas," so don't build place phrases from la France.

Days of the week take le for something that happens every week: Tex's example is le lundi for "on Mondays." This page doesn't cover a single Monday.

How do you practice it today?

Use four drinks whose gender you know: café, thé and lait are masculine, and eau is feminine and starts with a vowel. Put one drink through four frames, then the next drink.

Stick to these four drinks and these frames. A new noun brings a gender you'd have to check first.

Count it in Spoken Minutes. On a 5-minute day, spend 1 minute on yesterday's Cold Say-Back and 4 on the frames. On a 10-minute day, it's 2 and 8. On a 20-minute day, it's 3, then 10 on the frames and 7 on the edges: say the pairs from the "turn into de" section, both sides, and the Ce n'est pas un jouet sentence. On the first day of the whole 90-day plan there's nothing to say back, so give those minutes to the frames; after that, the Cold Say-Back stays first. The drill and the split are this site's House routine, untested with learners. Log the minutes in your Mile Log.

Passé composé vs imparfait is a good next page, and the French subjunctive comes after. The French starting plan shows where grammar like this fits in your first weeks.

Tomorrow, with nothing in front of you, run a Cold Say-Back: say "I drink coffee every morning" and "I don't drink tea" in French, then check them here.