A1 · The articles
un, une, des
And the plural of «a», which English does not have.
un goes in front of masculine words and une in front of feminine ones. Both mean «a».
In the plural there is des, and that is the part with no English counterpart. English simply drops the article — «I have friends», «he is buying books» — because «a» has no plural. French has one and requires it: j'ai des amis, il achète des livres. A bare noun is the exception in French, not the rule.
After a negative all three become de: Je n'ai pas de questions.
Die Form
| a book | un livre |
| a table | une table |
| books, tables | des livres, des tables |
| no book | pas de livre |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
des is the plural of un and une and cannot be left out.
J’ai des questions.I have some questions.
After a negative un, une and des become de.
Je n’ai pas de questions.I have no questions.
Before a vowel de becomes d’.
Il n’y a pas d’eau.There is no water.
After être the article stays even in the negative.
Ce n’est pas un problème.That is not a problem.
Woran man es erkennt
- pas de
- plus de
- jamais de
Beispielsätze
Nous avons des amis à Nice.We have friends in Nice.
Il n’a pas de frère.He has no brother.
C’est une bonne idée.That is a good idea.
Je voudrais un café, s’il vous plaît.I would like a coffee, please.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
English has no plural of «a» and drops the article there. Carry that across and you write J'ai amis, which is not a sentence. The reverse rule catches people too: after pas it is de and not des — except after être, where the article survives.
No noun without an article, not even in the plural.
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