French · Rung 9 of 26

The partitive: du, de la, des

French forces you to say “some of” where English can say nothing at all. “I drink water” is je bois de l'eau, “I eat bread” je mange du pain, “I'm having meat” je prends de la viande. Without that article the sentence does not exist: “je bois eau” is not French. The rule: du before masculine, de la before feminine, de l' before a vowel, des in the plural. And the twist worth memorising: in the negative all of it collapses to de. Je mange du pain but je ne mange pas de pain; il y a des voitures but il n'y a pas de voitures. After être, though, the partitive survives: ce n'est pas du sucre.

Where this sits

Comes after
Prepositions and contractions

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. Elle boit ___ eau.

    • de l'
    • des
    • de la
    • du

    Why eau is feminine, so it would take de la, but it begins with a vowel and elides: de l'eau. The same rule that turns la into l'.

    easier

  2. Je ne mange pas ___ viande.

    • de
    • la
    • de la
    • du

    Why In the negative, the whole partitive collapses to de: je mange de la viande but je ne mange pas de viande. It is the most profitable rule of this rung, because it touches every negative sentence about food or quantity.

    in between

  3. Ce n'est pas ___ sucre, c'est du sel.

    • du
    • un
    • de
    • le

    Why The exception to the previous rule: after être, the partitive survives in the negative. Ce n'est pas du sucre, not “pas de sucre”. With any other verb it would collapse.

    harder