French Articles Made Easy: le, la, les, un & une

French articles: the essentials

French articles are a building block of any grammatically correct sentence. Using them well tells your listener the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun that follows, and it shapes the meaning of the whole sentence. Skip them or mix them up, and even simple phrases start to sound off.

Like English (and Spanish), French uses both definite and indefinite articles. Let’s look at each type in detail, with plenty of examples.

Definite articles (le, la, les)

You use the definite article when you’re talking about something specific, or something already mentioned that both you and your listener know about. For example: Marie est la copine de Julien (Marie is Julien’s girlfriend), or Elle aime beaucoup la pizza napolitaine (She really likes Neapolitan pizza).

The definite articles in French are:

• la — feminine singular (la piscine, la classe, la copine, la cuisine)
• le — masculine singular (le lycée, le cinéma, le parc, le hamster)
• les — plural, both genders (les amis, les personnes, les étoiles, les chaises)
• l’ — used before a word beginning with a vowel or a silent h (l’ami, l’ordinateur, l’école, l’hôtel, l’hiver)

Just like in Spanish or Italian, French articles agree in gender and number with the noun they accompany, so it’s worth learning each noun together with its article from day one.

Contracted articles (au, aux, du, des)

When certain prepositions meet a definite article, the two merge into a single contracted form. Here’s how it works:

• à + le = au — C’est une glace au chocolat. (It’s a chocolate ice cream.)
• à + les = aux — Je parle aux élèves. (I’m talking to the students.)
• de + le = du — Il vient du cinéma. (He’s coming from the movies.)
• de + les = des — Les livres des étudiants. (The students’ books.)

Watch out for one thing: à la and de la do not contract. For example: Marie va à la piscine (Marie is going to the pool) and Je viens de la gare (I’m coming from the station).

Partitive articles (du, de la, des)

For unspecified quantities of something, French uses the partitive article: de combined with the definite article le, la, or les. Partitive articles follow the same contraction rules we just saw. For example: Achète de l’eau et du café, s’il te plaît (Buy some water and some coffee, please) or Il faut faire du sport (You need to do some sport). Think of it as the English “some,” even when English lets you drop the word entirely.

Indefinite articles (un, une)

French indefinite articles work just like their English counterparts. You use them to refer to something non-specific, or when you mention something for the first time. For example: Marie est une copine de Julie (Marie is a friend of Julie’s), or Marie a acheté une glace (Marie bought an ice cream).

The indefinite articles in French are:

• une — feminine singular (une copine, une table, une chaise, une règle)
• un — masculine singular (un copain, un professeur, un ordinateur, un stylo)

Notice there’s no separate plural indefinite article to memorize here—for “some” in the plural, French reaches for the partitive des instead. If you’re also nailing down the basics of counting, our guide to numbers in French pairs nicely with this lesson.

When to drop the article

In several situations, French actually leaves the article out. Here are the main ones:

• City names: Luc habite à Bruxelles. (Luc lives in Brussels.)
• Days of the week (unless the action repeats regularly): Je vois Mathieu mardi prochain. (I’m seeing Mathieu next Tuesday.)
• Months: Elle est née en décembre. (She was born in December.)
• “en” + means of transport: Mathieu va au travail en train. (Mathieu goes to work by train.)
• Religions and beliefs: Joséphine est catholique. (Joséphine is Catholic.)

With the partitive, you also use de on its own—no article—in two common cases. First, after an expression of quantity (except with bien, la plupart, une partie, la majorité, and la moitié): Il a acheté beaucoup de café. (He bought a lot of coffee.) Second, after a negation: Mon grand-père n’a plus de vin dans son verre. (My grandfather has no more wine in his glass.)

Keep practicing

That’s the full picture of how French articles work, from le and la all the way to the partitive and the cases where you drop them altogether. The fastest way to make them stick is to meet them in real sentences again and again, so learn each noun with its article and read a little French every day. To keep building your beginner grammar and vocabulary, take a look at how to say colors in French, and train your ear with the story-based lessons of MosaSeries French.

Still have a question about a tricky le or du? Drop it in the comments and we’ll be happy to help!