French exercises / A1 / Nouns, articles & adjectivesle, un, du, de la, des, and when de replaces all of them.
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C’est vs il est
Look at the word that follows. C’est comes before a noun with an article, a name, or a stressed pronoun: c’est un médecin, c’est Marie, c’est moi. Il est comes before a bare adjective or an unmodified profession: il est fatigué, elle est médecin. The next word decides it.
Read the full explanationPartitive articles (du, de la, des)
The partitive means “some” or “any”, and French requires it where English leaves the noun bare. Use du before masculine nouns, de la before feminine, de l’ before a vowel, and des before plurals. After a negative or a quantity word, all four collapse to plain de.
Read the full explanationArticles définis, indéfinis, partitifs: worked examples
Five from the set, with the answer filled in and the rule that decides it.
- 01
J'aime le café depuis que je suis étudiant.
Liking a whole category takes the definite article: j'aime le café.
- 02
La lune est très belle ce soir.
Unique things take the definite article: la lune, le soleil.
- 03
Où est l'argent que je t'ai donné ?
le and la become l' before a vowel or a silent h.
- 04
Ferme les fenêtres, il fait froid.
Something specific that we both know about → definite article.
- 05
J'ai un frère et deux sœurs.
One countable thing, mentioned for the first time → un/une.