0Les articles définis et indéfinis / Definite and indefinite articles:
Do you remember what we said in the other pages about articles?
- In French, a noun is always preceded by an article (or another "small" word).
- The noun decides the form of the article you choose.
- What you mean decides the type of article you choose.
Let’s explain all this again:
1. In French, a noun is always preceded by an article.
Look at the following sentences:
Le professeur est dans la classe. (The teacher is in the classroom)
We have two nouns here: professeur and classe. Each of the nouns is preceded by another word: le for professeur, and la for classe. Le and la are articles.
2. The noun decides the form of the article you choose.
Look again at the example:
Le professeur est dans la classe. (the teacher is in the classroom)
I chose le because professeur is a masculin noun, and la because classe is féminin. So the form of the article depends on the noun, whether it is masculin or féminin, and singulier or pluriel. Each article has three different forms:
| Article défini | Article indéfini | ||||
| Masculin | Féminin | Masculin | Féminin | ||
| Singulier | le – l’ | la – l’ | Singulier | un | une |
| Pluriel | les | Pluriel | des | ||
3. What you mean decide the type of article you choose?
Compare these sentences:
- J’aime un chien. (I like a dog)
- J’aime les chiens. (I like dogs)
- J’aime le chien de ma sœur. (I like my sister’s dog)
All three sentences are correct, but they all mean something different:
In sentence a, I just mention the fact that I like a dog, but I do not give any indication that will allow you to identify that dog. You have no way, from what I tell you, to find out which dog is the object of my affections.
In sentence b, I simply state my affection for dogs in general. I do not refer to a particular dog. I just like any dog.
In sentence c, I refer to a particular dog, my sister's dog, a unique dog. You are able to identify the dog I am talking about.
By the way, you may have noticed that when I want to talk about things or persons in general, I will use the plural form for countable nouns, and the singular form for uncountable nouns:
- J’aime le café. (I like coffee.)
- J’aime les cafés. (I like cafés.)
The first café means the drink, coffee, and is uncountable. So when I want to refer to café in general, I use the singular form.
The second café means the place where you drink coffee, and is countable. So when I want to refer to cafés in general, I use the plural form.
So is everything clear? Then you are ready to try doing the exercises.
