The Partitive Article

 



 French partitive articles are usually used with nouns which cannot be counted to indicate a part of the designated item.

The forms of the partitive article are:

Masculine singular

du, de l’

Feminine singular

de la, de l’

plural

des

The form “ de l’ “ is used in front of a vowel or a mute “ h ”.
“ des ” is used in front of plural nouns regardless of gender.

eg: du beurre (some butter)

eg: de la glace (some ice)

eg: de l’eau (some water)

eg: des fruits (some fruits)

Use of the French partitive articles

With mass nouns in front of which “some” or “any” would be used

eg: pourriez-vous me donner du chocolat? (could you give me some chocolate?)

eg: je préfèrerais de la confiture (I would rather have some jam)

eg: elle a de l’argent (she has some money)

With items used in plural

eg: je voudrais des légumes (I would like some vegetables)

eg: achète des allumettes, s’il te plait (buy some matches, please)


Where in English there would be no partitive articles

eg: il mange du raisin et des oranges (he eats grapes and oranges)
eg: j’ai des amis en Italie (I have friends in Italy)

With abstract nouns

eg: Ils ont du courage (they are courageous)

eg: il faut de la patience pour y arriver ( you must be patient to achieve it)

Before the verb  “ faire “

eg: je fais du sport (I do sport)

eg: je fais de la musique (I play musique)

The partitive articles “ du ” is used in front of names of musician, painter and author

eg: je lis souvent du Baudelaire (I read Baudelaire)

eg: nous écoutons du Chopin (I listen to Chopin)

The partitive articles “ du “  “ de la ”  and “ des “ are replaced by “ de “ or “ d’ “

In a negative sentence

eg: il ne porte pas de cravate

eg: il ne veut pas d’ananas

However, sometimes a negative sentence can suggest an affirmative idea, and in this case partitive articles are used.

eg: n’avez-vous pas des collègues dans la region (don’t you have any colleagues in the area?)

eg: elle ne prend pas de la glace, mais du gateau (she does not take any ice cream, but cake)


“ des “ is replaced by  “ de “  when the noun is preceded by an adjective

eg: nous avons recontré des amis (we met some friends)

eg : nous avons recontré de vieux amis (we met some old friends)

 “ du “, “ de la ”, “ des ” become “ de ” and “ de l ” becomes “ d’ ” with an expression of quantity
eg:  Je voudrais du fromage (I would like some cheese)
je voudrais un morceau de fromage (I would like a piece of cheese)

eg: je voudrais des tomates (I would like some tomatoes)
je voudrais un kilo de tomates (I would like a kilo of tomatoes)
 

tips:

How to differentiate

de la  as a partitive article and de la as a preposition with a definite article

eg: j’ai mangé de la confiture (I eat some jam)

eg: je me suis servi de la confiture pour faire le gateau (I use jam to make the cake)

put it  as a negative sentence

eg: je n’ai pas mangé de confiture  (de la becomes de – it is a partitive article)

eg: je ne me suis pas servi de la confiture pour faire le gâteau (de la does not change – it is a preposition with the définite article la)

du as a partitive article and du a definite article

eg: il boit de l’eau

eg: il boit l’eau de la rivière

negative

eg: il ne boit pas d’eau (de l’ becomes d’ – it is a partitive article)

eg: il ne boit pas l’eau de la rivière (de la does not change – it is a définite article)