A Comprehensive Guide to French Determiners

French determiners are words that introduce nouns and provide information about their definiteness, quantity or possession. They help define and clarify the noun they accompany.

These small words are critical for specific and clear conversations in French. Let’s look at how French determiners work and some different kinds including articles, quantifiers and certain types of adjectives.

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What Are French Determiners?

French determiners are words usually placed before nouns to provide context such as quantity, possession, specificity or generalization. They help specify which noun is being referred to and play a crucial role in French grammar. 

Like adjectives, French determiners must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. They’re more common in French than in English, which is one reason why they’re so crucial to know.

In fact, determiners are among the most widely used French words. Since determiners are so common and necessary, they’re usually among the first words French students learn. This means you probably already know several French determiners. 

Types of French Determiners

Articles

There are three types of articles in French: definite, indefinite and partitive. All three types of considered determiners. 

Definite articles

The definite articles in French are all translated to “the” in English. They are:

Form	Definite Article	Example
Masculine singular	le	le pain (the bread)
Feminine singular	la	la tortue  (the turtle)
Plural	les	les verres  (the glasses)
Before vowels	l'	l'opéra  (the opera)

Notice that les is used with all plural nouns, regardless of their gender, and l’ is used before any noun that begins with a vowel, regardless of its gender. 

When you’re studying French vocabulary, you should always learn the appropriate article along with the noun itself. This makes memorization of nouns’ genders much easier over the long term.

When speaking in a general sense, French may employ the definite article where we’d likely omit it in English. For example:

L’homme n’est pas parfait. (Man/mankind is not perfect.)

Furthermore, the definite article is always used with names of seasons and groups of people: Les français (French people), le printemps (spring). 

Indefinite articles

Just as definite articles are considered determiners, so too are indefinite articles, which correspond to “a” or “some” in English.

Form	Indefinite Article	Example
Masculine singular	un	une voiture (a car)
Feminine singular	une	un livre  (a book)
Plural	des	des lits  (beds/some beds)

Note that the plural form des doesn’t change for gender. Depending on the context, it may be translated as “some” or even remain untranslated.

Although determiners in French are often used where they wouldn’t be in English, there is a case where English requires “a” or “an,” but French doesn’t. This is with names of professions:

Je suis professeur. (I’m a teacher.)

Partitive articles

Partitive articles correspond to “of the” in English and are more common in French than English. They don’t always have a direct translation. 

For instance, the partitive article can communicate an indeterminate amount of something, especially when used with food:

On mange du pain avec la soupe. (We are eating bread with the soup.)

The phrase du pain (literally, “of the bread”) makes it clear that we’re talking about bread generally and not a specific amount.

The partitive articles are all formed by combining de with the appropriate definite article (agreeing with the noun in gender and number):

Form	Partitive Article	Example
Masculine singular (de + le)	du	du lait (some milk)
Feminine singular (de + la)	de la	de la République  (of the Republic)
Plural (de + les)	des	photos des amis  (photos of friends)
Before vowels (de + l')	de l'	de l'amour  (of love)

You can practice these different formations and see more examples in this partitive article exercise and this multiple-choice quiz.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers are determiners that provide information about the quantity or amount of a noun. They help specify whether a noun is being referred to in terms of its totality, some portion or a particular number.

Here are some examples of common quantifiers that don’t change depending on the noun’s gender or number:

• Chaque (each/every): chaque personne (each person),  chaque année (each year),  chaque livre (each book)
• Quelques (some/few): quelques amis (a few friends),  quelques jours (a few days),  quelques questions (a few questions)
• Beaucoup de (a lot of/much): beaucoup de travail (a lot of work), beaucoup de gens (a lot of people), beaucoup de temps (a lot of time)
• Peu de (few/little): peu de gens (few people), peu de nourriture (little food), peu de temps (little time)
• Un peu de (a little/some): un peu de lait (a little milk), un peu d’aide (a little help), un peu de sucre  (a bit of sugar)

There are also a few quantifies that have different forms depending on the gender and number of the noun. For example, tout and its other forms mean “all” or every,” and with a definite article can mean “all the”:

Form	Quantifier	Example
Masculine singular	tout	tout le monde  (everyone) tout le gâteau  (all the cake)
Feminine singular	toute	toute la journée  (all day) toute la salade  (all the salad)
Masculine plural	tous	tous les jours (every day) tous les biscuits (all the cookies)
Feminine plural	toutes	toutes les semaines (every week) toutes les femmes (all the women)

Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numbers are another type of quantifier and determiner that French learners encounter early on. In short, these are the numbers we use for counting. For example:

Il a trois filles. (He has three daughters.)

Cardinal numbers are considered determiners because of the way they describe a noun. This French numbers quiz can help you practice these crucial words.

Possessive determiners

Possessive adjectives are another type of French determiner that denote ownership. As with other determiners, they must agree in gender and number with the noun they accompany. 

For example, there are three possessive adjectives to say “my” in French:

Form	Possessive Adjective	Example
Masculine singular	mon	mon portable (my cellphone)
Feminine singular	ma	ma chaise (my chair)
Plural	mes	mes amis (my friends)

Keep in mind that the adjective agrees with the noun, not the owner. So in the first example, the speaker could be a man or woman. Mon is used because un portable is masculine.

Similarly, there are several ways to convey “your.” Let’s first look at the informal (tu) form of “your”:

Form	Possessive Adjective	Example
Masculine singular	ton	ton jardin (your garden)
Feminine singular	ta	ta voiture (your car)
Plural	tes	tes vêtements (your clothes)

To convey the formal (vous) form of “your,” there are only two forms:

Form	Possessive Adjective	Example
Singular	votre	votre stylo (your pen) votre école (your school)
Plural	vos	vos enfants (your children)

The next three possessive adjectives/pronouns may be translated as “his,” “her” or “its” depending on context. Remember, again, that the gender and number must agree with the noun, not the speaker.

Form	Posessive Adjective	Example
Masculine singular	son	son frère (his/her brother)
Feminine singular	sa	sa sœur (his/her sister)
Plural	ses	ses chaussures (his/her shoes)

For “our,” again we have only two forms:

Form	Possessive Adjective	Example
Singular	notre	notre père (our father) notre mère (our mother)
Plural	nos	nos chemises (our shirts)

Finally, we have the French equivalents of “their”:

Form	Possessive Adjective	Example
Singular	leur	leur professeur (their teacher) leur maison (their house)
Plural	leurs	leurs billets (their tickets)

It can seem like a lot to remember, but it does become more natural with practice. This possessive adjective quiz might help.

Demonstrative determiners

Demonstrative adjectives help specify exactly which thing you’re talking about. These words correspond to “this,” “that,” “these” and “those” in English.

In English, “this” communicates that the object you’re referring to is nearby, while “that” expresses distance from the object. However, in French, the following words may express nearness or distance depending on context:

Form	Demonstrative Adjective	Example
Masculine singular	ce	ce sac (this/that bag)
Masculine singular before a vowel or muted "h"	cet	cet équipement (this/that equipment)
Feminine singular	cette	cette robe (this/that dress)
Plural	ces	ces chansons (these/those songs)

You can check out this demonstrative adjective quiz for some practice. 

Interrogative/exclamatory determiners

These words can be used as interrogative or exclamatory determiners:

Form	Determiner	Example
Masculine singular	quel	quel livre ? (which/what book?) Quel talent ! (What talent!)
Feminine singular	quelle	quelle chanson ? (which/what song?) Quelle chance ! (What luck!)
Masculine plural	quels	quels films ? (which/what movies?) Quels beaux endroits ! (What beautiful places!)
Feminine plural	quelles	quelles questions ? (which/what questions?) Quelles merveilleuses vacances ! (What wonderful vacations!)

The first use is known as the interrogative because it’s often used in the context of a question and corresponds to “which” or “what” in English.

Quelles chaussures porteras-tu à la fête ? (Which shoes will you wear to the party?)

The second use is called the exclamatory. In this case, the determiner is employed for emphasis and is similar to the English expression “What (a)…!”

Quelle surprise ! (What a surprise!)

Relative determiners

Relative pronouns in French are similar to “which” or “which one” in English. Here are the relative pronouns:

Form	Relative Pronoun
Masculine singular	lequel
Feminine singular	laquelle
Masculine plural	lesquels
Feminine plural	lesquelles

These words stand in for an object in a question or statement. Remember, again, that the determiner must match the object’s gender and number:

Parmi ces restaurants, lequel préférez-vous ? (Among these restaurants, which do you prefer?)

Avec lesquels de vos amis avez-vous dîné ? (With which of your friends did you have dinner?)

These words may also be combined with other words, including de or à to communicate “to which,” “of which,” “from which,” or even “whose.” For example:

Le musée près duquel j’ai rencontré des amis. (The museum near which I met some friends.)

— J’ai téléphoné à ta sœur hier soir. (I called your sister last night.)
— À laquelle ?  ([To] which one?)

 

Listening to real French speech is one of the best ways to un-learn your English tendencies and use determiners the way native French speakers do.

French determiners include a wide variety of uses and can feel overwhelming at first, but you’ll get the hang of it with some review and practice. 

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)