An Extensive Guide to French Partitive Articles

Learning French can be a challenging yet extremely rewarding experience. One of the most difficult aspects of the language is mastering its many verb conjugations and tenses. But that's only one part of the puzzle – another important piece is understanding French grammar. This includes learning about French partitive articles.

Partitive articles can be quite a tricky topic to grasp, especially since they don’t have alternatives in English. To help you master them and boost your fluency level, we’ve prepared this guide. Read on, and learn everything you need to know about French partitive articles.

Partitive Articles: The Basics

In French, there are four main partitive articles: du, de la, des, and de l’. Their primary purpose is to specify the vague quantity of something.

Each article corresponds to a certain gender and number:

For example, you would use a partitive article when you want to speak about an uncountable noun such as wine or water – in English, we don’t use any article at all. In French, partitive articles are often used with food or other uncountable or abstract nouns. In that case, we would often use constructions with vouloir (to want) and avoir (to have).

We can also use partitive articles when talking about the non-specific quantity of something:

But this information, of course, is not enough. Let’s dive deeper into the details.

Usage of Partitive Articles

With Uncountable Nouns

Partitive articles are often used when talking about a general, non-specific quantity of food or other substances. In that case, we can translate it as “some.” For example:

However, it’s important to remember that we can only say “some” in French using partitive articles when talking about an unspecified amount.

In English, the word “some” also functions as a derogatory adjective, as in “Some books were good.” In French, we would translate this as “Certains livres étaient bons,” and never use partitive articles in this context.

But, getting back to our topic, here are some other ways to use partitive articles:

With Unspecified Quantity

As mentioned above, partitive articles can also be used to talk about an unspecified plural quantity of countable nouns. In that case, we can say that there’s more than one of something, but it’s a vague, unspecified number.

Of course, if the number is specified, we won’t use an article at all:

De and D’

Sometimes, French partitive articles can revert to simply de or d’, regardless of the number and gender. In these cases, you will never use a definite or indefinite article.

Here’s when that happens:

With Expressions of Quantity

If you want to express a specific quantity, such as a lot of, a little of, a bottle of, a kilo of, etc., you can use the appropriate French phrase followed by de or d’ (when the following word starts with a vowel or silent h).

In Negative Sentences

In negative sentences, we also often use de or d’ instead of partitive articles.

However, it’s important to remember that you always use a definite article when talking about something you love or hate, even in negation.

With Certain Phrases

You should also use de and d’ with avoir envie (crave, desire) and avoir besoin (need).

Bottom Line

Partitive articles are notoriously tricky for French learners. However, it’s essential to learn them and understand their rules and usage in order to speak the language correctly.

In general, we use a partitive article when talking about uncountable nouns, abstract concepts, or food in general. Of course, there are some exceptions to these rules, as well as some specific cases when we would use partitive articles. But don’t worry: after you master the basics, it will be much easier to better understand this once-challenging topic.