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1.20:_Articles_Partitifs
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<div class="h5p-element h5p-element-button-big h5p-transparent"> <div class="h5p-element-outer h5p-advancedtext-outer-element"> <div class="h5p-element-inner h5p-advanced-text"> <p><strong>Partitive articles</strong> are used both in English and in French to express quantities that cannot be counted. While the indefinite article <strong>un, une, des</strong> is used with countable quantities <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">un</span> oeuf</strong>, <strong><span style="text-decoration:underline;">des</span> oeufs</strong>, etc., the partitive article is used before nouns that are <span style="text-decoration:underline;">indivisible</span> or <span style="text-decoration:underline;">uncountable</span>. In English, we use the article “<strong>some</strong>” to that end, but it is often omitted.</p> <p style="padding-left: 40px"><span style="color:#0000ff;">☞ Elle boit <strong>du </strong>café.</span> <span style="color:#808080;"><em>She’s drinking (some) coffee.</em></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 40px"><span style="text-align:initial;font-size:1em;"><span style="color:#0000ff;">☞ Elle mange <strong>des</strong> pommes.</span></span><span style="color:#808080;"><em>She’s eating (some) apples.</em></span></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="h5p-element h5p-element-button-big h5p-transparent"> <div class="h5p-element-outer h5p-image-outer-element"> <div class="h5p-element-inner h5p-image"><img title="" alt="Table of French partitive articles with examples and English translations for different food items." loading="lazy" class="internal" src="https://human.libretexts.org/@api/deki/files/121904/file-62daccd7b2008.png?revision=1" /></div> </div> </div> <div class="h5p-element h5p-element-button-big h5p-transparent"> <div class="h5p-element-outer h5p-advancedtext-outer-element"> <div class="h5p-element-inner h5p-advanced-text"> <p style="text-align: left"><strong style="text-align: initial;font-size: 1em">In negative sentences,</strong> <span style="text-align:initial;font-size:1em;">partitive articles <strong>du, de la, des, de l’</strong> change to <span class="mt-color-ff0000"><strong>de</strong></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;padding-left: 40px"><span style="text-align:initial;font-size:1em;"><span style="color:#0000ff;">☞ </span></span><span style="color:#0000ff;">Elle boit <strong>du</strong> vin ?</span><span style="font-size:1em;"> </span><span style="color:#0000ff;">Non, elle </span><span class="mt-color-ff0000"><strong>ne</strong></span> <span style="color:#0000ff;">boit <strong><span class="mt-color-ff0000">pas <span style="text-decoration:underline;">de</span></span></strong> vin.</span><span style="font-size:1em;"> </span><em style="font-size: 1em">Is she drinking coffee? No, she isn’t drinking (<span style="text-decoration:underline;">any</span>) coffee.</em></p> <p style="text-align: left"><span style="text-align:initial;font-size:1em;">Practice</span></p> <iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="411" src="https://pressbooks.pub/introductiontofrench1/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=h5p_embed&id=28" title="Articles partitifs (1) - PB" width="686"></iframe><script src="https://pressbooks.pub/app/plugins/h5p/h5p-php-library/js/h5p-resizer.js" charset="UTF-8"></script></div> </div> </div>
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