French Indefinite Articles List

The French indefinite articles at a glance

French has three indefinite articles: un, une and des. They are used before nouns that are not specific or not already known, much like “a”, “an” or “some” in English.

Unlike English, every French noun has a gender, so you need to choose between un and une. The plural des does not show gender.

Quick list with examples

Un (masculine):

• un garçon (a boy)
• un livre (a book)
• un ami (a male friend)
• un problème (a problem)
• un téléphone (a phone)

Une (feminine):

• une fille (a girl)
• une table (a table)
• une amie (a female friend)
• une idée (an idea)
• une voiture (a car)

Des (plural):

• des livres (books)
• des tables (tables)
• des amis (friends)
• des idées (ideas)
• des voitures (cars)

Sample sentences:

• J’ai un frère et une sœur. (I have a brother and a sister.)
• Elle achète des pommes. (She buys apples.)
• Il y a un café près de la gare. (There is a café near the station.)
• Nous cherchons une solution. (We are looking for a solution.)

How to choose un, une or des

1. Is the noun plural? Use des.
2. If singular, is it masculine or feminine? Use un or une accordingly. Check a dictionary, which marks gender as m. or f..
3. Is the thing unspecified? Indefinite articles introduce something new: J’ai vu un film hier. (I saw a film yesterday.)

A common point of confusion: un and une also mean “one”. Context usually tells you which sense is meant, and when you want to stress the number you may add seul or seule: un seul livre (only one book).

Indefinite vs definite articles

Definite articles point to a specific, known thing, or to something in general. French has le, la, l’ and les.

Compare:

• Je voudrais un livre. (I would like a book, any book.)
• Je voudrais le livre. (I would like the book, a specific one.)

Another difference from English: French uses definite articles for general statements. J’aime les chats means “I like cats”, and La vie est belle means “Life is beautiful”.

20 examples of definite articles

Because many learners look for these together with the indefinite list, here are 20 examples:

1. le garçon (the boy)
2. le livre (the book)
3. le chat (the cat)
4. le soleil (the sun)
5. le travail (the work)
6. la fille (the girl)
7. la table (the table)
8. la maison (the house)
9. la ville (the city)
10. la lune (the moon)
11. l’ami (the male friend)
12. l’amie (the female friend)
13. l’école (the school)
14. l’homme (the man)
15. l’eau (the water)
16. les enfants (the children)
17. les livres (the books)
18. les maisons (the houses)
19. les amis (the friends)
20. les étudiants (the students)

Note that l’ replaces le or la before a vowel and before most words beginning with a silent h, such as l’homme.

Negative sentences: de and d’

After a negation such as ne … pas, un, une and des usually become de (or d’ before a vowel) when you are saying there is none of something:

• J’ai un frère. → Je n’ai pas de frère. (I do not have a brother.)
• Il a des amis. → Il n’a pas d’amis. (He does not have any friends.)
• Elle a une voiture. → Elle n’a pas de voiture. (She does not have a car.)

An important exception: after the verb être the article stays, because you are identifying, not counting: Ce n’est pas un chat. (It is not a cat.)

When no article is used

There are several situations where French leaves out the article:

• Professions and roles after être, when no adjective is added: Elle est médecin. (She is a doctor.) Il est étudiant. (He is a student.) With c’est, the article returns: C’est un bon médecin. (He/She is a good doctor.)
• After certain expressions of quantity: beaucoup de livres (a lot of books), un peu de temps (a little time), trop de bruit (too much noise).
• With avoir besoin de: the expression is avoir besoin de (“to need”), so what follows de is a bare noun or an article that has been combined with de. Say J’ai besoin de repos (I need rest) or J’ai besoin d’un stylo (I need a pen). Je besoin is not correct, because besoin is a noun and needs the verb avoir: j’ai besoin.

Des before adjectives

In careful, formal French, des is replaced by de when an adjective comes before a plural noun: de grands arbres (tall trees), de beaux jours (fine days). In everyday speech you will often hear des anyway, so do not be thrown if you see both.

Indefinite vs partitive

The partitive articles du, de la and de l’ refer to an unspecified portion of something you cannot easily count: Je bois du café (I drink coffee), Elle mange de la soupe (She eats soup), Il boit de l’eau (He drinks water). Indefinite articles are used for things you can count: un café (one coffee, as in a cup), une soupe (a soup), une bouteille d’eau (a bottle of water). Des can serve as the plural of both.

Pronunciation and liaison

• un is pronounced roughly like a nasal vowel, and before a vowel sound it links with the next word: un ami.
• une ends with the consonant sound /n/: une table.
• des sounds like “day”. Before a vowel it links with a z sound: des amis.

Listening to these in audio recordings helps, since the written forms hide liaison. For why training your ear early pays off, see the importance of phonetics in language learning.

English indefinite articles

English has two indefinite articles, “a” and “an”. “Some” often acts as a plural equivalent, and many English plurals simply have no article (“I like books”). French des has to be present in similar sentences: J’achète des livres.

Tips for learning gender

• Learn each noun with its article: un livre, une table, not just livre or table.
• Pay attention to endings. Many nouns ending in -tion or -té are feminine (une nation, une qualité), and many ending in -age or -ment are masculine (un village, un moment). There are exceptions, so treat these as patterns, not rules.
• Practice in short phrases. Pairing the article with an adjective, such as un grand jardin or une petite maison, reinforces agreement.

Articles are the first step toward accurate French writing, and a good place to start if you also want to improve your French writing. Once you are comfortable here, move on to the verbs that most often follow them in irregular verbs in French.