French Note 37. Partitive Articles
1.As the name itself implies, " Partitive articles " are used before nouns which are not countable and also to denote a part of a whole. It is peculiar to French. I am not sure about the other Romance languages. Now let us understand what all the fuss is about.
First the forms of Partitive Articles.
Du ( masculine singular )
De la ( Feminine singular )
Des ( plural irrespective of the gender )
De l'a ( before a vowel or " h" mute)
Let us take the following examples .
Je prends le pain.
Je prend un pain.
Je prends du pain.
What is the difference between these three sentences ? Before the noun " pain " , in the first sentence the definite article " le" is used but in the second sentence " un " , an indefinite article is used. In the last sentence , " du " partitive article is used.
Surely the meaning changes depending on the type of article used.
The first sentence means ,
" I take all the bread "
This depends on the context . Suppose you had kept five loaves of bread and someone
takes all the five loaves. Then he or she can say , " Je prends le pain ".
If that person just takes one loaf out of five, he says , " Je prends un pain ".
" I take one loaf of bread.
In the last sentence the partitive article " du " is used. It means " some " or a part of the
available bread. A quantity which is uncertain . Therefore the last sentence means,
" I take some bread "
Of course in a English , we don't say , " I take some bread ". It is sufficient if you say,
"I take bread " . But in French , the partitive article is a must for uncertain quantities / or
parts of a whole unit.
Hope you understand !
2.The following examples may be useful.
Je mange de la viande.
I eat ( some ) meat.
Je bois du vin.
I drink ( some ) wine.
Je prends des confitures.
I take ( some ) jam.
Remember in English , we don't say " some " though that is what the French partitive article
means . That is why , I have put " some " inside the bracket. Each language has got its own
peculiarities.
3. Further the partitif articles are used before certain abstract nouns in certain expressions. Read the following
examples.
Elle a de la patience .
She has patience .
Cet homme a du courage.
This man has courage.
Vous avez de la chance.
You are lucky .
But the literal translation would be " you have luck. " But it does not sound bad unlike some
literal translations from French to English .
Let us learn some more finer points on the use of these articles which so much confuse
the non francophone learners.
4. After the. adverbs of quantity like " beaucoup , peu, assez ,plus, moins,tant etc. , generally " des" is not put and " de " is used. Observe the following examples.
Il y a beaucoup de neige .
Il a tant de succès .
Elle a peu de travail au bureau.
J'ai assez de soucis; ne me gênez pas .
As-tu assez d'argent ?
Elle a trop de problèmes .
Nous avons beaucoup de devoirs.
5. In certain cases , the indefinite article" des " or the partitif article " des " will be substituted
by " de". This is very important .
Elle a de bons amis.
Elle a des amis intelligents.
Il y a de nombreux fleuves qui coulent en Inde.
The rule is " des" becomes " de" before an adjective ,even if the noun which follows the adjective is in plural.
When the adjectives are before the noun as in the above cases ( bons, nombreux ) , we don't
use " des " ,though the noun is in the plural. But this rule has exceptions where an adjective
and noun are closely connected , in other forms , they form a whole themselves or a particular meaning.
" des jeunes gens, des grands magasins, des petits pains "
" jeunes gens" means " youngsters "
Grand magasin means general or departmental store
Petit pain means bread rolls
In such cases general rule applies and the plural of these adjective - noun words will be
preceded by " des " and not " de".
6. When the construction is negative , you have to take care . Observe the following examples.
J' ai des frères.
I have brothers.
Je n'ai pas de frères.
I don't have any brothers.
Note in the negative construction, " des" becomes " de"
Je mange du pain.
I eat bread.
Je ne mange de pain.
I don't eat any bread.
In the above example , " du" becomes " de" in the negative construction .
Je bois de la bière .
I drink beer.
Je ne bois pas de bière .
I don't drink any beer.
In the above construction , " de la" becomes , " de" in the negative construction.
Elle a de l' argent .
She has money.
Elle n'a pas d'argent .
She does not have any money.
In the above constructions, " de l' " becomes " de" in the negative construction.
J'ai une voiture.
I have a car.
Je n'ai pas de voiture.
I don't have any car.
In the above construction, " une" ( article indefinite ) becomes " de".
A WARNING
7. When the verb is " être " , the above rule does not apply and " des" , une, un,du, de l' " etc remain the same and do not change to " de" in the negative constructions.
Ce n'est pas une voiture,
This is not a car .
Ce n'est pas un bureau.
This is not an office.
Ce n'est pas de la bière .
This is not beer.
Ce ne sont pas des amis de Jean .
These are not John's friends.
Ce n'est pas du pain.
This is not bread.
ANOTHER WARNING
8. Remember that when the negation is not absolute , there is no replacement of articles by
" de". Study the following examples.
Je ne mange pas de pain.
I don't eat any bread.
Je ne mange pas du pain , cette semaine.
I don't eat bread this week.
In the first sentence, the negation is absolute . It means you never eat bread. But in the second construction , the negation is conditional . So when the negation is not absolute, you will not find the articles becoming " de". Only in this week, for some reason , you are not eating bread. In such cases, the articles do not change to " de". Kindly grasp this point.
HOW SUBTLE are the rules of French Grammar !
HOW TRICKY are the rules of French Grammar !
Some more examples
J' ai une maison.
I have a house.
Je n'ai pas de maison.
I don't have any house.
In this case, the negation is absolute and unconditional . So " une" becomes " de" in negative construction .
Je n'ai pas une maison à Chennai, mais j'ai une maison à Bangalore .
I don't have a house in Chennai but I have one in Bangalore .
In the above example , the negation is not absolute but conditional. Hence " une " does not
change to " de" .
Je ne bois pas de la bière que Jean m'offre .
I don't drink the beer that John offers me.
Je ne bois pas de bière .
I don't drink any beer.
I think I made this point clear to you.
I am happy that I am coming to the end of this note. It needed five notes for me to cover
all the subtleties of French Articles. If there are any important omissions , kindly bring
the same to my notice for making good such omissions. Many learners in FB indicated
that French articles, especially , " du, de la, des, de l' " trouble them a lot. A bête noire!
Then I decided to devote sometime for it . I teach French to some learners. When I prepare
such notes, they are useful to me for reference . I consult lots of standard texts on French .
All the French Notes posted in FB will appear in my blog also. Please make full use of
these notes. If these notes help you in understanding the intricacies of French, I feel
myself amply rewarded . I am also contemplating an ENGLISH BLOG as many learners
are in dire need of proficiency in ENGLISH for success in their career.
I digressed a bit too much !
Happy learning !
Inadvertent errors may be pointed out . I am always open to corrections as well as useful
suggestions.
Sayee Jayaraman
5/1/2015
09/02/2015
1.As the name itself implies, " Partitive articles " are used before nouns which are not countable and also to denote a part of a whole. It is peculiar to French. I am not sure about the other Romance languages. Now let us understand what all the fuss is about.
First the forms of Partitive Articles.
Du ( masculine singular )
De la ( Feminine singular )
Des ( plural irrespective of the gender )
De l'a ( before a vowel or " h" mute)
Let us take the following examples .
Je prends le pain.
Je prend un pain.
Je prends du pain.
What is the difference between these three sentences ? Before the noun " pain " , in the first sentence the definite article " le" is used but in the second sentence " un " , an indefinite article is used. In the last sentence , " du " partitive article is used.
Surely the meaning changes depending on the type of article used.
The first sentence means ,
" I take all the bread "
This depends on the context . Suppose you had kept five loaves of bread and someone
takes all the five loaves. Then he or she can say , " Je prends le pain ".
If that person just takes one loaf out of five, he says , " Je prends un pain ".
" I take one loaf of bread.
In the last sentence the partitive article " du " is used. It means " some " or a part of the
available bread. A quantity which is uncertain . Therefore the last sentence means,
" I take some bread "
Of course in a English , we don't say , " I take some bread ". It is sufficient if you say,
"I take bread " . But in French , the partitive article is a must for uncertain quantities / or
parts of a whole unit.
Hope you understand !
2.The following examples may be useful.
Je mange de la viande.
I eat ( some ) meat.
Je bois du vin.
I drink ( some ) wine.
Je prends des confitures.
I take ( some ) jam.
Remember in English , we don't say " some " though that is what the French partitive article
means . That is why , I have put " some " inside the bracket. Each language has got its own
peculiarities.
3. Further the partitif articles are used before certain abstract nouns in certain expressions. Read the following
examples.
Elle a de la patience .
She has patience .
Cet homme a du courage.
This man has courage.
Vous avez de la chance.
You are lucky .
But the literal translation would be " you have luck. " But it does not sound bad unlike some
literal translations from French to English .
Let us learn some more finer points on the use of these articles which so much confuse
the non francophone learners.
4. After the. adverbs of quantity like " beaucoup , peu, assez ,plus, moins,tant etc. , generally " des" is not put and " de " is used. Observe the following examples.
Il y a beaucoup de neige .
Il a tant de succès .
Elle a peu de travail au bureau.
J'ai assez de soucis; ne me gênez pas .
As-tu assez d'argent ?
Elle a trop de problèmes .
Nous avons beaucoup de devoirs.
5. In certain cases , the indefinite article" des " or the partitif article " des " will be substituted
by " de". This is very important .
Elle a de bons amis.
Elle a des amis intelligents.
Il y a de nombreux fleuves qui coulent en Inde.
The rule is " des" becomes " de" before an adjective ,even if the noun which follows the adjective is in plural.
When the adjectives are before the noun as in the above cases ( bons, nombreux ) , we don't
use " des " ,though the noun is in the plural. But this rule has exceptions where an adjective
and noun are closely connected , in other forms , they form a whole themselves or a particular meaning.
" des jeunes gens, des grands magasins, des petits pains "
" jeunes gens" means " youngsters "
Grand magasin means general or departmental store
Petit pain means bread rolls
In such cases general rule applies and the plural of these adjective - noun words will be
preceded by " des " and not " de".
6. When the construction is negative , you have to take care . Observe the following examples.
J' ai des frères.
I have brothers.
Je n'ai pas de frères.
I don't have any brothers.
Note in the negative construction, " des" becomes " de"
Je mange du pain.
I eat bread.
Je ne mange de pain.
I don't eat any bread.
In the above example , " du" becomes " de" in the negative construction .
Je bois de la bière .
I drink beer.
Je ne bois pas de bière .
I don't drink any beer.
In the above construction , " de la" becomes , " de" in the negative construction.
Elle a de l' argent .
She has money.
Elle n'a pas d'argent .
She does not have any money.
In the above constructions, " de l' " becomes " de" in the negative construction.
J'ai une voiture.
I have a car.
Je n'ai pas de voiture.
I don't have any car.
In the above construction, " une" ( article indefinite ) becomes " de".
A WARNING
7. When the verb is " être " , the above rule does not apply and " des" , une, un,du, de l' " etc remain the same and do not change to " de" in the negative constructions.
Ce n'est pas une voiture,
This is not a car .
Ce n'est pas un bureau.
This is not an office.
Ce n'est pas de la bière .
This is not beer.
Ce ne sont pas des amis de Jean .
These are not John's friends.
Ce n'est pas du pain.
This is not bread.
ANOTHER WARNING
8. Remember that when the negation is not absolute , there is no replacement of articles by
" de". Study the following examples.
Je ne mange pas de pain.
I don't eat any bread.
Je ne mange pas du pain , cette semaine.
I don't eat bread this week.
In the first sentence, the negation is absolute . It means you never eat bread. But in the second construction , the negation is conditional . So when the negation is not absolute, you will not find the articles becoming " de". Only in this week, for some reason , you are not eating bread. In such cases, the articles do not change to " de". Kindly grasp this point.
HOW SUBTLE are the rules of French Grammar !
HOW TRICKY are the rules of French Grammar !
Some more examples
J' ai une maison.
I have a house.
Je n'ai pas de maison.
I don't have any house.
In this case, the negation is absolute and unconditional . So " une" becomes " de" in negative construction .
Je n'ai pas une maison à Chennai, mais j'ai une maison à Bangalore .
I don't have a house in Chennai but I have one in Bangalore .
In the above example , the negation is not absolute but conditional. Hence " une " does not
change to " de" .
Je ne bois pas de la bière que Jean m'offre .
I don't drink the beer that John offers me.
Je ne bois pas de bière .
I don't drink any beer.
I think I made this point clear to you.
I am happy that I am coming to the end of this note. It needed five notes for me to cover
all the subtleties of French Articles. If there are any important omissions , kindly bring
the same to my notice for making good such omissions. Many learners in FB indicated
that French articles, especially , " du, de la, des, de l' " trouble them a lot. A bête noire!
Then I decided to devote sometime for it . I teach French to some learners. When I prepare
such notes, they are useful to me for reference . I consult lots of standard texts on French .
All the French Notes posted in FB will appear in my blog also. Please make full use of
these notes. If these notes help you in understanding the intricacies of French, I feel
myself amply rewarded . I am also contemplating an ENGLISH BLOG as many learners
are in dire need of proficiency in ENGLISH for success in their career.
I digressed a bit too much !
Happy learning !
Inadvertent errors may be pointed out . I am always open to corrections as well as useful
suggestions.
Sayee Jayaraman
5/1/2015
09/02/2015
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