Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Usage :
i) They are used in front of days, months, parts of a day, newspapers, languages, seasons,
countries, continents, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc.
Eg. L’Inde, Les Etats-Unis, Le lundi, Le matin, La Seine, Le Figaro, Le chinois, L’été
ii) They are used when we know the possessor. Eg. C’est le sac de Denis.
iii) They are used before pluralized names (family / team) Eg. Les Dupont, Les anglais
iv) They are used after 4 verbs to show one’s liking or preference. (aimer, adorer, détester,
préférer)
Eg. J’aime l’éclaire.
Whenever the definite articles “ le , la, l’, les » are preceeded by the prepositions à or de, the
preposition and articles fuse together and form the contracted articles.
Article Contracté avec ‘ à ’ (to / in / at) Article Contracté avec ‘ de’ (of / from / about)
au (m.s.) du (m.s.)
to the
à la (f.s.) de la (f.s.) of the
in the
from the
à l’ (m / f . s…v) at the de l’ (m / f . s…v) about the
aux (m/f.pl.) des (m/f.pl.)
Note: “à / de” only should be used in front of Proper Nouns / Possessive Adjectives / Demonstrative
Adjectives.
Eg. Je parle à Pierre. Elle parle de son amie. Tu dis la vérité à ce professeur.
4. Les Articles Partitifs:
The partitive articles indicate an unknown quantity of something usually food or drink.
They are “du, de la, de l’, des”. In negative sentences we use “de or d” with the meaning of ‘any’.
Les articles partitifs (positive sentences) Les articles partitifs (negative sentences)
du (m.s.)
de la (f.s.)
Some de / d’ Any
de l’ (m / f . s…v)
des (m/f.pl.)