GST 123: COMMUNICATION IN FRENCH

(2 Units)

by
Prof. Adeagbo, Tunde John
Department of French
Study Session 3
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA
 CONTENTS:
i. Articles définis et indéfinis (Definite and Indefinite
Articles)
ii. Identification and use of definite articles in French
language
iii. Identification and use of indefinite articles in French
language
iv. Identification and use of contracted articles in
French language

NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA

In English, ‘the’ is the definite article. It takes more than one form in French. These are definite
articles in French language.
Le ---- (masculine singular)
La --- (feminine singular)
L’---- (this is both masculine and feminine. It is used when a noun starts with vowel or silent ‘h’)
Les --- (the plural form of the three types of definite article.)
Examples
Le crayon --- the pencil
La craie --- the chalk
Le garçon --- the boy
La fille --- the girl
L’encre --- the ink
L’eau --- the water
L’homme --- the man
La houe --- the hoe
Articles have to agree in number and in gender with the nouns they precede. Therefore, the
plural forms go thus:
Les crayons --- the pencils
Les hommes --- the men
Les filles --- the girls etc.
Examples of sentences with definite articles:

La porte est ouverte. The door is open.

Le garçon aime le football. The boy loves football.

Les coqs picorent. The cocks are pecking.

L’enfant pleure. The child is crying.

Les chèvres mangent l’herbe. The goats eat herbs

La voiture court vite. The car runs fast.

Les fenêtres sont ouvertes. The doors are open.

L’homme aime manger le riz. The man like to eat rice

Les femmes aiment leurs bébés. Women loves their babies.

› Articles indéfinis (indefinite articles)
› In English language, we have ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘some’ as indefinite articles. These take different forms
in French language. Though we also have more than one type. Here are indefinite articles in
French language.
› Un --- (masculine singular)
› Une --- (feminine singular)
› Des --- (the plural form of both masculine and feminine)
Examples
› Une poule --- a hen
› Un coq --- a cock
› Des classeurs --- some files
› Examples of sentences with indefinite articles
› J’ai une gomme. I have an eraser.
› Il a des fruits. He has some fruits.
› David a un sac. David has a bag.
More examples of the use of indefinite article
‘une’
It should be emphasized that the feminine form ‘une ’ does not lose its last consonants
even when it precedes a noun that starts with vowel. Here are some cases:
Une école, ----- a school
Une institution-------- an institution
Une explication ------- an explanation
Une infirmière -------- a nurse
Une étudiante ------ a student (female)
Une odeur ------ an odor
Une enveloppe ----- an envelope
Une épaule ----- a shoulder
Une ombre ------- a shadow
Une année ------- a year
Une usine ------- a factory
Une ère ---- an era
Une image ------- an image

6
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA
Article Partitif
In some cases masculine or plural articles are not allowed to follow prepositions.
Examples of such prepositions are:
de = means of/from in English language.
instead of having ‘de le’ in a sentence, we have ‘du’.
Examples:
Je viens du marché. I am coming from the market.
Il est du Nigeria. He is from Nigeria.
Note that articles are used to precede names of countries in French but this is not so in
English language.
This is why ‘du’ is used to precede Nigeria in French.
Instead of allowing ‘de les’ in a sentence or an utterance, we have ‘des’
La femme a des oranges. The woman has some oranges.
Il y a des places dans l’autobus. There are places inside the bus.
de l’ is also treated as article partitif. This occurs when the noun in question commences by a
vowel.
We have to elide the vowel of the article ‘le’ or ‘la’
La femme vient de l’Europe. The woman comes from Europe.
Les élèves viennent de l’école. The pupils are coming from school.
à = at/to
Instead of allowing the masculine or plural forms of the articles to follow this preposition, we use
‘au’ and ‘aux’ respectively:
Je vais au marché. I am going to the market.
Il vient au rassemblement. He is coming to the gathering.
Il est au bureau. He in the office.
Note that ‘au’ is translated ‘in’ in the last example. Translation does not go word for word from
one language to the other.
Cases where ‘à les’ has to be written is avoided and replaced by ‘aux’. Let us view the following
examples:
Mon oncle voyage aux villes. My uncle travels to towns.
Je viens de parler aux étudiants. I have just spoken to the students.
Les élèves aiment voyager aux villages. The pupils love to travel to villages
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA
 Assignment of the Week

a. Use the following definite articles in French language

la, le, l’, les

b. Use the following indefinite articles in French

language
un, une, des

c. Use the following contracted articles in French

language
de la, du, des, de l’
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA
NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI, NIGERIA