Partitive and quantities

Syllables of equal weight

German and English stress one syllable in each word and swallow the others: KAF-fee, TE-le-fon, PHO-to-graph. French does not. All syllables get roughly the same length and strength, like a steady drumbeat: ca-fé, té-lé-phone, pho-to-gra-phie. Don't stress the first syllable: RES-taurant is English, French is res-tau-rant with every syllable clear.

Stress falls on the last syllable of the group

French does not stress words, it stresses groups. A sentence is cut into short meaningful chunks (groupes rythmiques), and only the last syllable of each group is a bit longer and higher:

• Je voudrais | un ca-FÉ | s'il vous PLAÎT.
• Le menu du JOUR | est à vingt-deux eu-ROS.
• Ma sœur | ha-bite à LYON.

The word café alone ends in a stressed -fé. In un café crème the stress moves to the end: un café CRÈME. So stress is a property of the phrase, not the word.

Within a group, words melt together: final consonants link to the next vowel (enchaînement): il arrive /i.la.ʁiv/, une amie /y.na.mi/, avec elle /a.vɛ.kɛl/. You hear one long word, not three.

Intonation

In spoken French the rising melody alone turns a statement into a question: Vous avez réservé. (statement) vs Vous avez réservé ? ↗ (question). That is how most people actually ask.

Emphasis

If a French speaker wants to stress a word emotionally, they hit its first consonant hard: C'est IN-croyable !, C'est DÉ-licieux ! It sounds dramatic, which is the point.

Tip: read sentences as chunks, not word by word. Mark the groups with a slash, lengthen the last syllable of each, and let your voice rise at the commas and fall at the full stop.

1. French always needs an article

German and English often use no article at all: Ich trinke Kaffee, I'm buying bread. French cannot leave the noun bare. For an unspecified amount of something ("some"), it uses the partitive article:

• Je bois du café le matin. I drink coffee in the morning.
• On achète de la viande ? Shall we buy meat?
• Vous voulez de l'eau ? Would you like some water?
• Il y a des œufs dans le frigo. There are eggs in the fridge.

The partitive also works for abstract things: Il a de la chance. (He's lucky.) Ça demande du temps. (That takes time.) Il faut du courage. (It takes courage.)

2. Partitive or definite article?

• du / de la = some, a portion: Je mange du fromage. (I'm eating cheese, some of it.)
• le / la / les = the thing in general, or a specific one: J'aime le fromage. (I like cheese, in general.) Le fromage est sur la table. (The cheese is on the table.)

Verbs of taste (aimer, adorer, préférer, détester) take the definite article: Je préfère le vin rouge. Verbs of eating, buying, wanting take the partitive: Je prends du vin rouge.

3. After quantities: just de

After a word of quantity, the article disappears and only de (or d' before a vowel) remains, whatever the gender or number:

Not beaucoup du pain (wrong), but beaucoup de pain. Compare English a lot of, a glass of, which also have no article.

4. After negation: de

After ne… pas, ne… plus, ne… jamais, the partitive and indefinite articles (un, une, du, de la, des) become de / d':

• Je bois du café. → Je ne bois pas de café. (Ich trinke keinen Kaffee.)
• Il y a des noix. → Il n'y a pas de noix.
• J'ai de l'argent. → Je n'ai plus d'argent. (I have no money left.)
• Il mange de la viande. → Il ne mange jamais de viande.

This is the French equivalent of German kein.

Two exceptions:

• The definite article stays: Je n'aime pas le fromage. (le is not a quantity)
• After être nothing changes: Ce n'est pas du vin, c'est du jus de raisin. (It's not wine, it's grape juice.)

5. Reminder: de before a plural adjective

From lesson 9: des → de when an adjective comes first: de bons vins, de petites tomates.

Preview: to replace a noun with a partitive, French uses en: Tu veux du pain ? Oui, j'en veux. (Yes, I want some.) You will see it often in shops: J'en prends deux. (I'll take two of them.)

The rule

The French ending -eur corresponds to English -or or -er and German -or or -eur. Most of these words name a person (job, role) or a machine. Many end in -teur.

Feminine forms

• -teur → -trice: directrice, actrice, créatrice, rédactrice, productrice, animatrice
• -eur → -euse (when a verb is behind it): serveuse, vendeuse (from servir, vendre)
• + e (newer, now official): ingénieure, professeure, docteure

Traps

• le professeur (prof) is any teacher from secondary school up, not only a university professor.
• l'ordinateur = computer (from ordonner, to put in order).
• le facteur = the postman (and also factor).
• le contrôleur on a train checks tickets: Le contrôleur arrive !
• Gender trap: abstract -eur nouns are feminine: la couleur, la peur, l'erreur (error), la valeur (value), la chaleur (heat), l'odeur (smell). Exceptions: le bonheur, le malheur, l'honneur.