There are four types of partitive articles in French, du, de la , de l’, and des, which are used to specify unknown quantities. And they correspond to ‘some’ or ‘a little’. Choosing which one to use depends on gender, number, and the first letter of the noun that follows.
Qu’est-ce que vous voulez manger ? – Du poulet et de la salade.
What do you want to eat? – (Some) chicken or (some) salad?
Aujourd’hui, il y a de la pluie et du soleil.
Today, there is a little rain, and some sunshine.
The partitive articles in French
| Article | Example |
| Du (masculin) | du lait |
| De la (féminin) | de la vodka |
| De l’ (Term beginning with a vowel or a silent h ) | de l’orange |
| Des | des légumes |
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Note: In the negative form, we replace du, de la, des with de (or d’).
- Je ne veux pas de lait. I don’t want (any) milk.
- Nous ne voulons pas de légumes. We don’t want (any) vegetables.
