French Determiners ~ Les adjectifs déterminants
Determiners introduce and modify nouns in French
The grammatical term determiner refers to a word, either an article or a certain type of adjective, which introduces and simultaneously modifies a noun. Determiners, also known as non-qualifying adjectives, are much more common in French than in English - some sort of determiner is nearly always required in front of each noun used.
The main difference between a qualifying (descriptive) adjective and a non-qualifying adjective (determiner) has to do with usage: qualifying adjectives qualify or describe a noun, while non-qualifying adjectives introduce a noun and may determine or specify it at the same time.
In addition, qualifying adjectives may be
- placed before or after the noun they modify
- modified by a comparative or superlative adverb
- used in conjunction with one or more other qualifying adjectives to modify a single noun
- separated from the noun they modify by other words
In contrast, determiners always directly precede the noun they modify, cannot themselves be modified, and cannot be used with other determiners (although they can be used with qualifying adjectives: Ma belle maison - My beautiful house).
Types of French Determiners
| Articles |
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| Definite articles | Definite articles indicate a specific noun. le, la, les the |
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| Indefinite articles | Indefinite articles refer to an unspecified noun. un, une, des a, an, some |
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| Partitive articles | Partitive articles indicate unknown quantity, usually of food or drink. du, de la, des some |
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| Adjectives |
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| Demonstrative adjectives | Demonstrative adjectives indicate a specific noun. ce, cet, cette, ces this, that, these, those |
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| Exclamative adjectives | Exclamative adjectives express a strong sentiment. quel, quelle, quels, quelles what a |
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| Indefinite adjectives | There are two types of French indefinite adjectives: |
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| affirmative | Affirmative indefinite adjectives modify nouns in a unspecific sense. autre, certain, chaque, plusieurs... other, certain, each, several... |
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| negative | Negative indefinite adjectives negate or cast doubt on
a quality of the noun. ne... aucun, nul, pas un... no, not a single, not one... |
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| Interrogative adjectives | Interrogative adjectives clarify "which" of
something one is referring to. quel, quelle, quels, quelles which |
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| Numerical adjectives | Numerical adjectives are all the numbers; however, only cardinal numbers
are determiners, because fractions and ordinal numbers can be used with
articles. un, deux, trois... one, two, three... |
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| Possessive adjectives | Possessive adjectives modify a noun with its possessor. Mon, ta, ses... My, your, his... |
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| Relative adjectives |
Relative adjectives indicate a link between a noun and an antecedent. lequel, laquelle, lesquels, lesquelles which |
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| French Articles French Adjectives |
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