What is the partitive article in French?

It is du, de la, de l' or des, and it means some or any: an unspecified amount of something. Je mange du pain, elle boit de l'eau, ils achètent des pommes. English usually omits the equivalent word, which is why the article gets dropped in translation.

How do I choose between du, de la and des?

By the noun. Masculine singular takes du, feminine singular de la, any noun starting with a vowel or mute h takes de l', and plurals take des: du beurre, de la viande, de l'huile, des légumes.

Why does du become de after pas?

Because the negative reduces the quantity to zero, and French marks that by stripping the article back to de: je bois du café becomes je ne bois pas de café. The full article survives only after être, where the sentence corrects an identity rather than denying a quantity.

What's the difference between j'aime le café and je bois du café?

Le café is coffee as a category, which is what verbs of liking take. Du café is a quantity of coffee, which is what verbs of consuming take. Swapping them produces sentences that a French speaker will find odd rather than wrong.

Is des a partitive or a plural indefinite article?

Both descriptions are used, and in practice it does not matter: des covers some in the plural, whether the noun is countable (des pommes) or not (des épinards). What matters is that it reduces to de after a negative or a quantity word.

French grammar · Beginner

The French Partitive Article: Du, De La, De L' and Des

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

The partitive article du, de la, de l' and des means some or any: an unspecified amount of something. English leaves it out (I'd like bread), French cannot, and it collapses to plain de after a negative or an expression of quantity.

Je voudrais du pain, de la confiture et de l'eau.

I'd like some bread, some jam and some water.

What it is

French insists on marking quantity even when the quantity is vague. The partitive article says that you mean part of something rather than all of it or one of it, which is why du pain is a certain amount of bread and le pain is bread in general.

J'achète du fromage, de la crème, de l'huile et des œufs. — I'm buying cheese, cream, oil and eggs.

How to spot it

The partitive is de plus the definite article, so its form comes from the gender of the noun and from whether that noun starts with a vowel.

du sucre — some sugar (masculine)
de la farine — some flour (feminine)
de l'ail — some garlic (before a vowel)
des épinards — some spinach (plural)

If you can insert some or any in the English without changing the meaning, French needs a partitive article.

Partitive Article Quick Reference

Choosing the form

Noun	Article	Example
Masculine singular	du	du café — some coffee
Feminine singular	de la	de la soupe — some soup
Either, before a vowel or mute h	de l'	de l'eau, de l'huile
Plural	des	des pâtes — some pasta
After a negative	de / d'	pas de café — no coffee
After an expression of quantity	de / d'	beaucoup de café — a lot of coffee
Before a plural adjective + noun	de	de bons vins — good wines

Common Partitive Article Examples in French

The partitive across the situations where it turns up most:

Food and Drink

Je bois du thé le matin.: I drink tea in the morning.
Tu veux de la salade ?: Would you like some salad?
Il reste de l'eau dans la bouteille.: There's some water left in the bottle.
On a acheté des fraises au marché.: We bought strawberries at the market.

This is where the partitive is unavoidable: a plate of food is always a portion of something rather than the whole class of it.

Abstract Qualities

Il faut du courage pour faire ça.: It takes courage to do that.
Elle a de la patience.: She has patience.
Tu as de la chance.: You're lucky.
Il y a de l'espoir.: There's hope.

Avoir de la chance is the ordinary way of saying to be lucky, and the article is part of the expression.

Activities With Faire and Jouer

Je fais du piano depuis dix ans.: I've been playing the piano for ten years.
Elle fait de la danse le mercredi.: She does dance class on Wednesdays.
Ils font de l'escalade en montagne.: They go climbing in the mountains.
Nous faisons des mathématiques ce trimestre.: We're doing maths this term.

Faire plus a partitive is the standard way to name a sport, a subject or an instrument you practise.

Weather and Impersonal Statements

Il y a du vent aujourd'hui.: It's windy today.
Il y a de la neige sur la route.: There's snow on the road.
Il fait du soleil.: It's sunny.
Il y a du monde dans le magasin.: The shop is crowded.

Du monde means people or a crowd, and it is one of the most frequent partitives in speech.

How the Partitive Works

It is built from two pieces, it disappears in two situations, and it competes with two other articles.

It Is De Plus the Definite Article

Du is de plus le, des is de plus les, and de la and de l' are simply written out. Knowing the components explains why the forms look so uneven and why the contractions are compulsory.

Je prends du sucre et de la crème.

I take sugar and cream.

de + le = du, de + les = des.

It Cannot Be Left Out

English drops some in front of a mass noun and French does not. Je mange pain is not a shortcut, it is ungrammatical: the noun needs an article of some kind in almost every French sentence.

Elle mange du poisson deux fois par semaine.

She eats fish twice a week.

No bare nouns in French.

After a Negative It Becomes De

In a negative sentence the quantity drops to zero, and French marks that by reducing the article to de. Je bois du café becomes je ne bois pas de café.

Je ne mange pas de viande.

I don't eat meat.

pas de, jamais de, plus de.

After a Quantity Word It Also Becomes De

Beaucoup, peu, assez, trop, un kilo, une tasse and the rest already state the quantity, so the article is redundant and collapses to de. This is why it is beaucoup de temps and not *beaucoup du temps.

Il a bu trop de café ce matin.

He drank too much coffee this morning.

Quantity word + de + noun.

Des Becomes De Before an Adjective

When a plural adjective comes in front of the noun, careful French reduces des to de: de bons amis, de belles photos. In speech des is common and accepted, but the shorter form is standard in writing.

Nous avons eu de bonnes nouvelles.

We had some good news.

de + adjective + plural noun.

Common Mistakes with Partitive Article

Incorrect: Je voudrais pain. — I'd like some bread.

Correct: Je voudrais du pain. — I'd like some bread.

French nouns need an article. Because the amount is unspecified, that article is the partitive, even though English is happy to leave it out.

Incorrect: Je n'ai pas du temps. — I don't have any time.

Correct: Je n'ai pas de temps. — I don't have any time.

A negative reduces the partitive to de. Keeping du after pas is one of the most persistent errors at every level.

Incorrect: Il y a beaucoup des touristes ici. — There are a lot of tourists here.

Correct: Il y a beaucoup de touristes ici. — There are a lot of tourists here.

Beaucoup already expresses the quantity, so the article collapses to de. Beaucoup des only works when you mean many of a specific group: beaucoup des touristes que nous avons rencontrés.

Incorrect: J'aime du fromage. — I like cheese.

Correct: J'aime le fromage. — I like cheese.

Aimer takes the whole category, so it needs the definite article. J'aime du fromage would suggest you like one particular helping of it.

Where the Article Shrinks to De

The two reductions are the part of the system learners forget most, and both follow the same logic: the quantity is already accounted for.

After a negative

Ne… pas, ne… jamais and ne… plus all reduce the partitive to de. The article returns if the negation is contradicting a specific claim rather than denying any quantity at all.

Je ne veux pas de dessert.: I don't want any dessert.
Il n'y a plus de place.: There's no room left.
Elle ne boit jamais de café.: She never drinks coffee.
Ce n'est pas du vin, c'est du jus de raisin.: That's not wine, it's grape juice.

The last example keeps du because the verb is être and the sentence corrects an identification rather than denying a quantity.

After an expression of quantity

Any word or phrase that measures the noun is followed by bare de: adverbs of quantity, containers, weights and measures alike.

beaucoup de travail: a lot of work
un peu de sel: a little salt
une bouteille de vin: a bottle of wine
assez de temps: enough time

Bien des and la plupart des are the exceptions that keep the full article: bien des gens, la plupart des étudiants.

Fixed verb phrases built on de

A number of very common expressions contain a partitive or a reduced de as part of their structure, and the article is not negotiable.

J'ai besoin de temps.: I need time.
Elle a envie de chocolat.: She fancies some chocolate.
Il joue de la guitare.: He plays the guitar.
Ça vaut la peine d'essayer.: It's worth trying.

Avoir besoin de and avoir envie de behave like quantity expressions, which is why they take bare de rather than du.

Partitive Article FAQs

What is the partitive article in French?: It is du, de la, de l' or des, and it means some or any: an unspecified amount of something. Je mange du pain, elle boit de l'eau, ils achètent des pommes. English usually omits the equivalent word, which is why the article gets dropped in translation.
How do I choose between du, de la and des?: By the noun. Masculine singular takes du, feminine singular de la, any noun starting with a vowel or mute h takes de l', and plurals take des: du beurre, de la viande, de l'huile, des légumes.
Why does du become de after pas?: Because the negative reduces the quantity to zero, and French marks that by stripping the article back to de: je bois du café becomes je ne bois pas de café. The full article survives only after être, where the sentence corrects an identity rather than denying a quantity.
What's the difference between j'aime le café and je bois du café?: Le café is coffee as a category, which is what verbs of liking take. Du café is a quantity of coffee, which is what verbs of consuming take. Swapping them produces sentences that a French speaker will find odd rather than wrong.
Is des a partitive or a plural indefinite article?: Both descriptions are used, and in practice it does not matter: des covers some in the plural, whether the noun is countable (des pommes) or not (des épinards). What matters is that it reduces to de after a negative or a quantity word.