What's the difference between du, de la, and des?

They're the partitive articles, meaning some or an unspecified amount, and they match the noun: du for masculine (du pain), de la for feminine (de la confiture), des for plural (des pommes). They're also what de + le and de + les contract into, which is why the same forms turn up in possession and origin.

Why does French use the definite article where English uses nothing?

French uses le, la, and les for general categories as well as specific things. J'aime le café means I like coffee in general, not one particular cup. Dropping the article there is one of the most recognisably English mistakes a learner can make.

How do I know if a French noun is masculine or feminine?

Endings give strong hints: -tion, -té, -ette, and -ance are usually feminine, while -age, -ment, -eau, and -isme are usually masculine. There are enough exceptions that the reliable method is to store the article with the noun, learning une table rather than table.

When does the article change to just de?

Three main cases. After a negative: pas de pain. After an expression of quantity: beaucoup de pain, un kilo de pain. And in formal usage, before a plural adjective that precedes its noun: de beaux jardins rather than des beaux jardins.

Do I really need an article before every French noun?

Nearly always. The main exceptions are after être with a profession (je suis médecin), in fixed prepositional phrases (en voiture, avec plaisir), and in lists or headlines. Everywhere else, a bare noun will read as incomplete.

French grammar · Beginner

French Articles and Determiners: Le, La, Un, Du, and How to Choose

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

French articles and determiners are the words that introduce a noun: le, la, les for the definite, un, une, des for the indefinite, and du, de la, des for the partitive. French uses them far more than English does, and a noun without one is the exception rather than the rule.

What it is

Every French noun normally travels with a determiner, and that determiner agrees with the noun's gender and number. The three article types answer three different questions: which one (definite), one of many (indefinite), or some of it (partitive).

Le pain est bon. J'achète un pain. Je mange du pain. — The bread is good. I'm buying a loaf. I'm eating some bread.

How to spot it

Look at whether the noun is countable and whether you mean a specific one. Then match the gender. If you can't recall the gender, learning the noun with its article from the start is what fixes it.

le livre / la fenêtre — the book / the window (definite)
un livre / une école — a book / a school (indefinite)
du pain / de la crème — some bread / some cream (partitive)
Je n'ai pas de pain. — I don't have any bread. (negative → de)

After a negative, un, une, du, de la, and des all collapse to plain de: j'ai un chien becomes je n'ai pas de chien.

Articles & Determiners Quick Reference

The three article types

Type	Masculine	Feminine	Plural	Use
Definite	le	la	les	A specific thing, or a whole category
Indefinite	un	une	des	One unspecified thing
Partitive	du	de la	des	An unmeasured amount of something
After negation	de	de	de	j'ai un chien → je n'ai pas de chien
Before a vowel	l'	l'	les	l'ami, l'école

All 23 articles & determiners lessons

Articles look like the easiest part of French and turn out to be one of the most persistent sources of error, mostly because English lets you drop them and French doesn't. These lessons cover the three article types, the possessive and demonstrative determiners that behave the same way, and the de-based forms that trip up nearly everyone.

Articles & determiners

The core three: definite, indefinite, and partitive, plus the de contractions that connect them.

De vs. Du / De La / Des — Du, de la, and des are the partitive articles, meaning some or an unspecified amount. Plain de replaces all three after a negative, after an expression of quantity, and before a plural adjective. The choice is not about meaning, it's about what comes before the noun.
Indefinite Article — The French indefinite articles are un, une, and des. Un and une correspond to a and an; des is the plural, which English usually leaves out altogether. All three collapse to de after a negative and after any expression of quantity, and they disappear entirely in front of a profession after être.
De vs. Du / De La / Des with Verbs — Verbs like parler, avoir besoin, se souvenir, and s'occuper all require de. What follows is a separate decision: a general noun stands bare (parler de politique), a specific one keeps its definite article and contracts (parler du film). The partitive is the one thing that gets absorbed, so it's j'ai besoin de pain, never de du pain.
Definite Article — The French definite articles are le, la, l', and les. They point at something both speakers can identify, exactly like English the, but they also do a job English gives to no article at all: naming a whole category. J'aime le café means I like coffee, not I like the coffee.
De vs. Du / De La / Des with Articles — Du, de la and des are what de looks like when an article is attached to it. Three situations strip that article away and leave a bare de: after a negative, after an expression of quantity, and in front of a plural adjective that comes before its noun. Everywhere else the full form stays.
Un vs. L'un — Un is the article a and the number one; it goes in front of a noun. L'un is a pronoun meaning one of them, and it stands on its own. The l' is not a definite article doing any work — it is a fossil that survives because French dislikes starting a phrase with a bare un, and it becomes compulsory as soon as l'autre is in the sentence.
Determiners — A determiner is the small word that opens a noun phrase and tells you how the noun is being counted or identified: le, un, du, ce, mon, chaque, plusieurs. French uses them far more consistently than English, allows only one per noun, and makes almost all of them agree in gender and number with the noun that follows.
De vs. Du De La Des Quantity — After a word of quantity, French uses plain de with no article: beaucoup de temps, un kilo de pommes, trop de bruit. The partitive du, de la, and des only appear when nothing measures the noun, and a small group of noun-based quantities such as la plupart des and la moitié du keep their article.
Les and Des: The Plural Articles — Les is the plural of le, la, and l', and it points at a specific group or at a whole category. Des is the plural of un, une, du, and de la, and it introduces an unspecified number of things. French needs one of them in front of almost every plural noun, even where English uses no article at all.

Determiner adjectives

Words that sit in the article slot and agree like one: mon, ce, quel, chaque, plusieurs.

Interrogative Adjectives — Quel, quelle, quels, and quelles are the French interrogative adjectives, covering what and which. They always accompany a noun, either directly (quel livre) or across the verb être (quel est ton nom), and they agree with that noun in gender and number.
N'importe — N'importe is a frozen phrase meaning it doesn't matter, and it combines with a question word to build the French equivalents of anyone, anything, anywhere, and any time. N'importe quoi has a second life in speech as a dismissal, roughly nonsense or rubbish.
Possessive De — French has no apostrophe-s, so possession is built with de: the thing owned comes first, then de, then the owner. De merges with a following article to give du, de la, de l', and des, and for a pronoun owner French switches to être à instead.
Possessive Adjectives — Mon, ton, son, notre, votre, and leur are the French possessive adjectives. Unlike English my and his, they agree with the thing owned rather than with the owner, which is why son vélo can mean either his bike or her bike depending on who is speaking.
Demonstrative Adjectives — The French demonstrative adjectives are ce, cet, cette, and ces. They stand where the article would go and mean this, that, these, or those. French makes no distinction between this and that unless you attach -ci or -là to the noun.
Indefinite Adjectives — Indefinite adjectives are the determiners that give a vague quantity or identity rather than a precise one: chaque, quelques, plusieurs, certains, autre, même, tel, aucun. They sit where an article would go, and most of them agree with the noun they introduce.
Possession — French has no apostrophe-s. Ownership is shown with de before the owner (la voiture de Paul), with a possessive adjective before the thing owned (mon vélo), or with être à plus a person (ce sac est à moi). Body parts usually take a plain article instead.
Notre, Votre, and Leur — When more than one person owns something, French uses notre and nos for our, votre and vos for your, and leur and leurs for their. Unlike mon, ma, and mes, these forms ignore gender completely: the only question is whether one thing is owned or several.
Tout Toute Tous Toutes — Tout, toute, tous, and toutes are four forms of a single word that can be an adjective, a pronoun, an adverb, or a noun. The form depends on the job it's doing and on the noun it relates to, and in one of those jobs the -s of tous is pronounced.
Possessive Adjectives Singular Possessors — When one person owns something, French uses mon, ma, mes for my, ton, ta, tes for your, and son, sa, ses for his, her, or its. The form is chosen by the thing owned, not by the owner, which is why son can mean either his or her.
Possessive Adjectives Plural Possessors — The plural-possessor possessives are notre and nos, votre and vos, leur and leurs. They mark only number, never gender, so the whole set contains six words instead of the nine you need for a single owner.
Tout Adjective — As an adjective, tout goes in front of a determiner rather than after it: tout le, toute la, tous les, toutes les. With an article it means all of or the whole; with a bare noun it means every or any, in a formal register.
Tout Noun — Preceded by an article, tout stops being a quantifier and becomes a masculine noun meaning the whole or the entirety. It takes a regular -s plural, touts, and it anchors a small group of very common expressions including pas du tout and le tout est de.
Exclamative Adjectives — French exclaims about a noun with quel, quelle, quels, or quelles. The form agrees with the noun, and no article comes between them: quel dommage, quelle chance, quels beaux enfants. To exclaim about an adjective or a verb instead, French uses comme or que.

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Articles & Determiners FAQs

What's the difference between du, de la, and des?: They're the partitive articles, meaning some or an unspecified amount, and they match the noun: du for masculine (du pain), de la for feminine (de la confiture), des for plural (des pommes). They're also what de + le and de + les contract into, which is why the same forms turn up in possession and origin.
Why does French use the definite article where English uses nothing?: French uses le, la, and les for general categories as well as specific things. J'aime le café means I like coffee in general, not one particular cup. Dropping the article there is one of the most recognisably English mistakes a learner can make.
How do I know if a French noun is masculine or feminine?: Endings give strong hints: -tion, -té, -ette, and -ance are usually feminine, while -age, -ment, -eau, and -isme are usually masculine. There are enough exceptions that the reliable method is to store the article with the noun, learning une table rather than table.
When does the article change to just de?: Three main cases. After a negative: pas de pain. After an expression of quantity: beaucoup de pain, un kilo de pain. And in formal usage, before a plural adjective that precedes its noun: de beaux jardins rather than des beaux jardins.
Do I really need an article before every French noun?: Nearly always. The main exceptions are after être with a profession (je suis médecin), in fixed prepositional phrases (en voiture, avec plaisir), and in lists or headlines. Everywhere else, a bare noun will read as incomplete.