What is an article - Lecture notes 20 PDF

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Inverted pyramid, scripting, types of aricles, headlines...

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What is an article? In French, nouns are almost always preceded by an article or a determiner. This indicates the gender of the noun (masculine or feminine) and its number (singular or plural). There are two types of articles: definite articles (articles définis) (le, la, les) and indefinite articles (article indéfinis) (un, une, des). Learn how to use definite and indefinite articles in French with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples then put your knowledge to the test in the free exercises.

Example

Léna est une copine de Lara et la copine de François. Léna a acheté une glace. Elle aime beaucoup la glace.

When to use the indefinite article in French In French, the indefinite articles (articles indéfinis) are un (masculine singular), une (feminine singular) and des (plural for both genders). We use the indefinite article in the following cases: 

to talk about something non-specific Example:



Léna est une copine de Lara. (one of many) in an introductory capacity to mention something for the first time in a text Example: Léna a acheté une glace.

Info The French indefinite article for the plural (des) is similar to the English “some”. Example: Léna et Lara ont acheté des glaces However, if there is an adjective before a plural noun, the indefinite article des becomes de. Example: Léna et Lara ont acheté de bonnes glaces.

When to use the definite article in French The French definite articles (articles définis) are le in the masculine singular, la in the feminine singular, l’ for singular nouns that start with a vowel, and les in the plural (both genders). They correspond to the English article the. We use the definite article in the following cases: 

to talk about a specific person or thing Example:



Léna est la copine de François. to refer to a person or thing that has already been mentioned or is already known to the listener/reader Example:



Elle éteint la lumière. after the verbs aimer, adorer, préférer, détester Example: Elle adore les chevaux.

What is the partitive article in French?

The partitive article (l’article partitif) is used to talk about an undetermined amount of something. It is formed using the preposition de + article. English uses no article in these cases, but French employs the partitive article: 

with uncountable nouns Example:



Il faut acheter de l’eau et du café. to talk about sports and musical instruments with the verb faire Examples: Il fait du foot. Il joue de la flûte.

How to contract articles and prepositions in French When the masculine singular definite article (le or les) follows the prepositions à or de we combine them to make one word. This is known as contraction (la contraction). Preposition

Preposition + Article

Example

À

à + le = au

la glace au chocolate

À

à + les = aux

Fais attention aux enfants

De

de + le = du

parler du jeu

De

de + les = des

c’est la table des enfants

When to use no article in French In French we don’t use an article for: 

names of towns Example:



Ils habitent à Paris. days of the week

Example: 

Nous l’avons vu lundi. months Example:



Je suis né en juillet. phrases with en + transport Example:



As-tu voyagé en train ou en voiture? jobs (in a general context) Examples: Elle est laborantine. but: Je connais la laborantine. → to talk about a specific person C’est une bonne laborantine. → to talk about a particular quality



religions Examples: Il est catholique. but: C’est le catholique qui va tous les jours à l’église. → to talk about a specific person C‘est une bonne catholique.

In some cases, the partitive article de appears without another article: 

to express quantities (except after bien, la plupart, une partie, la majorité and la moitié) Example:



J’ai bu beaucoup de café. after a negation

Example: 

Il n‘a plus d’eau dans son verre. after certain verbs or expressions that contain de Examples: J’ai besoin d’argent. J’ai envie de fraises.

Online exercises to improve your French Our online exercises for French help you to learn and practice grammar rules in an interactive manner. To make sure that you understand the correct answers, our answer keys offer simple explanations as well as handy tips and tricks.

Articles – mixed exercises 

Articles – mixed exercises

Need more practice? With Lingolia Plus you can access 9 additional exercises about Articles, as well as 588 online exercises to improve your French. Get 3 months membership for just €10.49 (≈ $12.48). Learn more about Lingolia Plus here

L’article – exercices complémentaires Become a Lingolia Plus member to access these additional exercises. 1. L’article – article défini (1)A1 2. L’article – article défini (2)A1 3. L’article – article défini (3)A1 4. L’article – article indéfini (1)A1 5. L’article – article indéfini (2)A1 6. L’article – article et prépositionsA1 7. L’article – article partitif (1)A1 8. L’article – article partitif (2)A2 9. L’article – mélangeA1 A1Beginner A2Elementary B1Intermediate B2Upper intermediate C1Advanced

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