French Articles and Determiners

French articles can be confusing, because they have to agree with the nouns they modify and don't always correspond to articles in other languages. If you have a noun in French, there is virtually always an article or some other kinds of determiner in front of it.

Introduction to French articles
French has three different kinds of articles: definite, indefinite, and partitive.

Determiners - Adjectifs déterminants
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 are much more common in French than in English - some sort of determiner is nearly always required in front of each noun.

Definite articles
The French definite article (le, la, l', les) corresponds to "the" in English.

Indefinite articles
The singular French indefinite articles (un, une, des) correspond to "a," "an," or "one" in English, while the plural corresponds to "some."

Partitive articles
The French partitive articles (du, de la, de l', des) correspond to "some" or "any" in English.

Choosing an article
The French articles may seem similar at times, but they are not interchangeable. This page will help you understand when and why to use each one.

Quiz: Definite, indefinite, partitive articles
Try your hand at recognizing and using the different types of French articles.

Quiz: Advanced definite articles
Do you understand advanced uses of the French definite article?

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