French articles and determiners

In French, articles and determiners are required on almost every common noun, much more so than in English. They are inflected to agree in gender and number with the noun they determine, though most have only one plural form. Many also often change pronunciation when the word that follows them begins with a vowel sound.
While articles are actually a subclass of determiners, they are generally treated separately; thus, they are treated separately here as well.

Articles

French has three articles: a definite article, corresponding in many cases to English the; an indefinite article, corresponding to English a/an; and a partitive article, used roughly like some in English.

Definite article

The French definite article derives from a Latin distal demonstrative, ille. It evolved from the Old French article system, which shared resemblance to modern English and acquired the marking of generic nouns. This practise was common by the 17th century, although it has been argued that this became widely used as early as in the 13th century.
In French, the definite article is analogous to the English definite article the, although they are sometimes omitted in English. The French definite article can vary according to the gender and number of the noun. The definite article takes the following forms:
The prepositions à and de form contracted forms with the masculine and plural articles le and les: au, du, aux, and des, respectively.
Like the, the French definite article is used with a noun referring to a specific item when both the speaker and the audience know what the item is. It is necessary in the following cases:

Use	Example
General categories and abstractions	La patience est une vertu. Patience is a virtue.
Name and adjective clusters	Le vieux Londres est fascinant. Old London is fascinating.
Languages and academic subjects	Je comprends l'allemand. I understand German.
Countries	Je veux visiter la France. I want to visit France.
Seasons	Le printemps est ma saison favorite. Spring is my favourite season.
Titles, family names	Voici les Moreau. Here are the Moreaus.
Parts of the body	Il se lave les mains. He washes his hands.
Days	Je sors le vendredi soir. I go out every Friday night.

Unlike the, the French definite article is also used with mass nouns and plural nouns with generic interpretation, and with abstract nouns. For example:

italic=no
italic=no
italic=no

Indefinite article

The French indefinite article is analogous to the English indefinite article a/an. Like a/an, the French indefinite article is used with a noun referring to a non-specific item, or to a specific item when the speaker and audience do not both know what the item is; so, « J'ai cassé une chaise rouge ». Unlike a/an, the French indefinite article has a plural form, often translated as some but usually simply omitted in English; so, « Il y a des livres là-bas ».
The indefinite article takes the following forms:

	singular	plural
masculine	un	des
feminine	une	des

The indefinite article becomes de after a negative verb other than être: « Je n'ai pas de livre ». This use is related to expressions of quantity; see below.
The plural form des is normally reduced to de when it applies to a noun preceded by an adjective: « de nombreux livres » , « dautres livres » ', but « des livres reliés » '.
Unlike in English the article is dropped when specifying someone's occupation: « Ma sœur est avocate. ».

Partitive article

The French partitive article is often translated as some, but often simply omitted in English. It is used to indicate an indefinite portion of something uncountable, or an indefinite number of something countable: « J'ai du café ».
The partitive article takes the following forms:

Like the indefinite article, the partitive article becomes de after a negative verb other than être and before a plural noun preceded by an adjective: « Il ne prend pas '''d.

Notice that, except after a negative verb, the partitive article is formed by combining the preposition de with the definite article. Also note that in the plural, and after a negative verb, the indefinite and partitive articles take the same form; this makes sense, as there is no clear difference in meaning in these cases.

Determiners

Determiners, like other adjectives, agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

Possessive determiners

The possessive determiners are used to indicate the possessor of the noun they determine. They lexically mark the person and number of the possessor, and are inflected to agree with their noun in gender and number. While English distinguishes between masculine and feminine singular possessors, French does not. As in English, possessive determiners do not necessarily express true possession in the sense of ownership.
Their forms are as follows:

Demonstrative determiners

The demonstrative determiners can mean either this or that, these or those. To be more precise or to avoid ambiguity, -ci or -là can be inserted after the noun:

cet homme-ci "this man"
cet homme-là "that man"

There are grammatical rules to determine when one would use c'est or il est. For example, c'est is followed by a noun that may or may not be modified by an adjective, while il est can only be used with an adjective that describes the specific noun. Example:Des bals sont tenus pour la charité et certains pour la tenue habillée, mais quand ils sont tenus pour le plaisir, ce sont les bals que je préfère ''Some balls are held for charity and some for fancy dress, but when they're held for pleasure, they're the balls that I like best
Because tenus is a past participle used as an adjective, ils sont is used; but since bals is a noun, ce sont'' is used.

Interrogative determiners

The interrogative determiner quel means which or what. It agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies:

	singular	plural
masculine	quel	quels
feminine	quelle	quelles

Examples: quel train, quelle chaise, quels hommes, and quelles classes.
Quel can be used as an exclamation.

« Quel film ! »
« Quelle gentillesse ! »

Quantifiers

A quantifier is a determiner that quantifies its noun, like English "some" and "many". In French, as in English, quantifiers constitute an open word class, unlike most other kinds of determiners. In French, most quantifiers are formed using a noun or adverb of quantity and the preposition de.
Quantifiers formed with a noun of quantity and the preposition de include the following:

des tas de
trois kilogrammes de
une bouchée de
une douzaine de

Quantifiers formed with an adverb of quantity and the preposition de include the following:

beaucoup de
un peu de
peu de
assez de, suffisamment de
pas de

Other quantifiers include:

bien + the partitive article
quelque
the cardinal numbers