Professional Documents
Culture Documents
singular
singular
plural
before plural
before
vowel or singula before before
consonant plural
h r consonan vowel or
t h (mute)
Masculin masculine Un
le2
e masculine du
l' les2 des
de l' des
feminine Une
Feminine la feminine de la
2
The prepositions à (to, at) and de(of, from)
contract with the forms le and les:
À + le = au À + les = aux
De + le = du De+ les = des
with abstract nouns. For example: Unlike a/an, the French or simply "I have coffee.").
While the definite article indicates something in its totality or as a whole, the partitive article
specifies a part of the whole. Note that depending on what you want to say, the same noun may
be introduced by a definite, indefinite, or a partitive article. Compare these examples:
Edouard: Vous prenez du vin, n’est-ce Partitive Edouard: You are having (some) wine,
pas? article aren’t you?
(a quantity that is not specified)
Le vin rouge est bon pour la santé! Definite Red wine is healthy!
article (‘wine’ in general)
En fait, nous avons un Beaujolais Indefinite In fact, we have a Beaujolais nouveau,
nouveau ou un Chambertin, article or a Chambertin, a Châteauneuf-du-
un Châteauneuf-du-Pape, ou j’ai un Pape, or I have an excellent Médoc for
excellent Médoc pour vous, ou un tout you, or a little grey wine from Savoy.
petit vin gris de Savoie. (These are items on the wine list, a
countable quantity)
J'ai mangé moins de soupe que Lucie. I ate less soup than Lucie.
Les tables sont couvertes de gâteaux. The tables are covered in cakes (a bunch of cakes).
J'aimerais te parler au sujet d'écologie. I'd like to talk to you about ecology.
3. Except if the noun after de refers to specific people or things - then de is used with the definite
article.
Beaucoup des problèmes sont graves. A lot of the problems are serious (specific or previously-
mentioned problems).
Peu des étudiants de Thierry sont ici. Few of Thierry's students are here (not students in
general).
Le repas que Lucie a préparé est The meal that Lucie made is delicious, but I ate less of the
délicieux, mais j'ai mangé moins de la soup than you (soup from previously-mentioned meal).
soupe que toi.
J'aimerais un verre du jus que tu as I'd like a glass of the juice that you brought. (specific)
apporté.
La chambre est pleine des vêtements The bedroom is full of David's clothes (specific).
de David.
Les tables sont couvertes des gâteaux The tables are covered in the cakes that I told you about.
dont je t'ai parlé. (specific)
J'ai acheté du jus au lieu du vin que tu I bought juice instead of the wine you recommended.
as recommandé. (specific)
FRENCHHHH REVIEW OF MOST THINGS I THINK…
Descriptive vs Possessive de
1. To describe a noun with the de + descriptive noun construction, use de.
le livre d'étudiant student book (book for or about students)
Nous voulons profiter des nouveaux accords We want to take advantage of the new agreements
The relative pronoun refers to (is "related" to) the last noun mentioned in the first clause. The word
referred to is called the antecedent.
• The pronoun form you choose depends on the grammatical role of the pronoun:
"I see a man. I met the man yesterday."==> "I see the man (whom) I met yesterday."
[met whom? whom = D.O.]
(In English, you can often omit the relative pronoun. In French, never.)
"Je vois un homme. J'ai rencontré l'homme hier." ==> "Je vois l'homme que j'ai rencontré hier."
Subject
Qui
(persons or things)
For persons: qui
Obj. of preposition
For things: lequel (see à or de + lequel below)
Examples:
Time and place: J'ai oublié le jour ‹--où je l'ai rencontré. (où = jour )
• If there is no antecedent in the main clause, you must give it one: it will always be ce (ce qui,ce que).
==> Voilà ___ | qui est bon. ==> Voilà ce | qui est bon.
• The relative clause can either be attached to the end of the main clause or inserted in the middle of it.
Wherever it appears, the rel. pro. still refers to the last noun mentioned before it. (In the examples
below, the relative clause is in brackets.)
• Dont only replaces de + a relative pronoun, no other preposition. Dont never agrees with the noun it
replaces. Don't use an apostrophe with dont !
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
A. Pronoun order
When there are multiple pronouns in a sentence, they always follow this order:
Me
Te Le lui
Nous les
Vous
1. To find the direct object, have the verb in the sentence ask the questions "what?" or "whom?"
2. To find the indirect object, have the verb in the sentence ask "to whom?".
John gave the peanuts to Mary. "Gave to whom?" = to Mary (I.O.)
4. y = a preposition [not de ] + a thing [not a person]. Often y means "there".
Ton chien est: sur le lit / dans la cuisine / devant la télé / à côté de ta chaise. = Ton chien y est.
C. Position of pronouns
1. Nothing ever separates the pronoun from its position next to the verb.
FRENCHHHH REVIEW OF MOST THINGS I THINK…
Marie ne le voit pas. (Negatives go around the verb and pronoun.)
Le mange-t-elle souvent? (The subject inverts in a ques.; the pro. stays where it is.)
Ne le mange-t-elle pas?
2. In positive commands, the pronoun comes after the verb and is attached by a hyphen. Use the same
word order as in English.