
Grammatical agreement is a vast topic - and one of the banes of French students. While in English we have a few pronouns and adjectives that indicate gender and number (e.g., he/him/his and she/her/hers), in French, agreement is found in 5 of the 8 parts of speech.
adjectives • articles • nouns • pronouns

There are three types of French articles (definite, indefinite, and partitive), and it's not always easy to know which one you need. Here's a detailed comparison to help you decide.
A2 - Low-Intermediate French • articles

An article is a word that modifies a noun in a particular way, by stating whether the noun is specific, unspecific, or partial. There are three types of French articles, and they all agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
A1 - Beginning French • agreement • articles • nouns

Contractions with
de /
à plus a definite article are not always required when the article is part of a proper noun, such as a city, title, organization, or surname.
articles • nouns

The preposition de can be very difficult for French students, even at advanced levels. Knowing whether to use
du,
de la, or
des rather than just
de can be a real challenge! This lesson is a detailed explanation of when to use the preposition de all by itself and when to use the indefinite article, partitive article, or
de + definite article (which looks like the partitive - but isn't. Ugh!)
articles • prepositions

The French definite articles (
le, la, l', les) indicate either a particular noun or, contrarily, the general sense of a noun. They're used similarly to their English counterpart "the," but there are many instances where a definite article is required in French but not English.
A1 - Beginning French • agreement • articles • plurals

Determiners are a category of grammatical terms that includes articles, numbers, and non-qualifying adjectives. Unlike qualifying adjectives, determiners serve two functions: they introduce and modify nouns at the same time.
adjectives • articles • B1 - Intermediate French

With articles, the
de vs
du,
de la,
des choice has to do with affirmative/negative and whether there's an adjective in front of the noun.
adjectives • articles • negation • plurals • prepositions

The aptly named indefinite article (
un, une, des) indicates an unspecific or unidentified countable noun.
A1 - Beginning French • agreement • articles • indefinition • plurals

What's the difference between
on and
l'on? In a nutshell,
on is sometimes preceded by
l' for reasons of euphony.
articles • B2 - Upper-Intermediate French • pronouns

The partitive article (
du, de la, de l', des) refers to an unspecified quantity of food, liquid, or some other uncountable noun. English has no equivalent article - the partitive is usually translated by the adjectives "some" or "any," or may be left out entirely.
A1 - Beginning French • articles • lesson plans

Generally speaking, articles are much more common in French than in English, but there are exceptions, such as when certain prepositions are followed by nouns.
articles • B2 - Upper-Intermediate French • nouns • prepositions

Do you know the difference between
un and
l'un? If you answered, "Huh? Why would you ever put
l' in front of
un?" then this is the lesson for you.
articles • B2 - Upper-Intermediate French • pronouns