A1
du, de la, des — some of something
How the French partitive article works, why it cannot be omitted, and what happens to it after a negative or a quantity.
When you mean an unspecified amount of something, French requires an article. English usually has none.
| du | masculine — du pain |
| de la | feminine — de la viande |
| de l’ | before a vowel — de l’eau |
| des | plural — des frites |
Je mange du pain.
I eat some bread
I eat bread.
Elle boit de l’eau.
she drinks some water
She drinks water.
Je mange pain.
Je mange du pain.
A French noun needs an article. Leaving it out is the single most persistent English-speaker habit in French, because English drops it in exactly this case.
Against the definite article
Le café is coffee in general or a specific coffee. Du café is an amount of it.
J’aime le café mais je bois du thé.
I-like the coffee but I drink some tea
I like coffee but I drink tea.
Both articles in one sentence, doing different jobs. Aimer, adorer and détester take the definite article, because liking something is about the category. Manger, boire and acheter take the partitive, because you consume a quantity.
After a negative it becomes de
Je ne mange pas de viande.
I not eat not of meat
I don’t eat meat.
Not pas du viande. The partitive collapses to bare de after any negative — see negation.
After a quantity it also becomes de
Beaucoup, peu, un kilo, une bouteille — all followed by plain de.
beaucoup de travail
much of work
a lot of work
beaucoup du travail
beaucoup de travail
A quantity word is already the amount, so the partitive is not repeated. Du after beaucoup would be saying some twice.