French Articles Practice

1. Definite Articles

Definite articles refer to specific nouns and agree in gender and number.

Forms:
- Masculine singular: le (l' before vowel/h mute)
- Feminine singular: la (l' before vowel/h mute)
- Plural: les (for both genders)

Example: le livre (the book), la table (the table), les enfants (the children)

2. Indefinite Articles

Indefinite articles refer to non-specific nouns and agree in gender and number.

Forms:
- Masculine singular: un
- Feminine singular: une
- Plural: des (for both genders)

Example: un livre (a book), une table (a table), des enfants (some children)

3. Partitive Articles

Partitive articles express an unspecified quantity of something.

Forms:
- Masculine: du (de l' before vowel/h mute)
- Feminine: de la (de l' before vowel/h mute)
- Plural: des

Example: du pain (some bread), de l'eau (some water), des fruits (some fruits)

4. Contractions with Prepositions

Articles contract with certain prepositions.

à + le = au
à + les = aux
de + le = du
de + les = des

Example: Je vais au marché (I go to the market), Je parle du film (I talk about the film)

5. Omission of Articles

Articles are omitted in certain cases.

After negative expressions:
Je n'ai pas de livre (I don't have a book)

With professions after être:
Il est médecin (He is a doctor)

With quantities:
Beaucoup de temps (a lot of time)

Example: Elle n'a pas de voiture (She doesn't have a car)

6. Special Cases

Some nouns change meaning with different articles.

Le/La vs no article:
- J'aime le café (I like coffee in general)
- Je prends du café (I'm having some coffee)

Countries:
- Masculine countries: au Japon (to Japan)
- Feminine countries: en France (to France)
- Plural countries: aux États-Unis (to the United States)

Example: Nous allons en Italie (We're going to Italy)