Introduction
French nouns almost always come with an article. The article shows gender and number, and whether you mean something specific, one item, or an amount.
| type | masculine | feminine | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| definite (the) | le, l' | la, l' | les |
| indefinite (a, some) | un | une | des |
| partitive (some) | du, de l' | de la, de l' | des |
- Le café est chaud.The coffee is hot.
- Un café, s'il vous plaît.A coffee, please.
- Je bois du café.I drink coffee.
Choosing the Article
Use le / la / les for something specific or for a thing in general. Use un / une / des for one or several countable items. Use du / de la for an amount of something you can't count.
- J'aime le café.I like coffee.
- J'ai acheté un livre.I bought a book.
- Il faut de la patience.You need patience.
- J'aime café.J'aime le café.
Practice
Je bois ___ eau.
J'aime ___ chocolat.
J'ai acheté ___ livre.
Which is correct?
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