French 1 / Unit 8: Food and -ir/-re Verbs
8.2 Partitive Articles
Notes
Use du, de la, de l', des to talk about an unspecified part or quantity of something: "some".
| Noun type | Partitif |
|---|---|
| masculine | du (du pain) |
| feminine | de la (de la viande) |
| starts with a vowel | de l' (de l'eau) |
| plural | des (des légumes) |
- Du, de la, de l' are used with food and drinks you cannot count: Je mange du fromage.
- English can leave out "some", but French cannot: Je mange du pain. (I eat bread / some bread.)
- du also means "of the" (de + le: le livre du professeur). Context tells you which one it is.
- Use un/une for one item you can count: une pomme, but de la salade.
Practice
Complete: « Je mange ___ riz. »
Riz is masculine singular, so du.
Complete: « Elle boit ___ eau. »
Eau starts with a vowel, so de l'.
Complete: « Nous mangeons ___ fraises. » (fraises is feminine plural)
Plural nouns use des.
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