Definite, indefinite, and partitive articles
You use articles with nouns to indicate something about those nouns. Definite articles refer to something specific, indefinite articles are unspecific, and partitive articles refer to a part of something. See the table below.
| Gender/Number | Definite (the) | Indefinite (a, an, some) | Partitive (some, any) |
| Masculine singular | le/l’ | un | du/de l’ |
| Feminine singular | la/l’ | une | de la/de l’ |
| Plural | les | des | des |
Contractions with À and De
The prepositions à (at, to, in) and de (of, from) always contract with the definite articles le and les. See the table below.
| Article | à + (le/les) | de + (le/les) |
| le | au | du |
| les | aux | des |
You don’t use a contraction with à or de + la or l’: à la, à l’, de la, de l’.
Adjectives that precede the noun
Descriptive French adjectives usually follow nouns, except for those that refer to
- Beauty (joli [pretty], moche [ugly]
- Age (jeune [young], vieux [old]
- Goodness and badness (bon [good], mauvais [bad])
- Size (grand [big/tall], petit [small/short])
Non-descriptive adjectives (demonstrative, interrogative, numerical, possessive) also precede nouns.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are pronouns (words that replace nouns) that are personal (have different forms for different grammatical persons). In the table below are the most common personal pronouns.
| Person | Subject Pronoun | Direct Object Pronoun | Indirect Object Pronoun | Reflexive Pronoun |
| 1st person singular | je/j’ | me/m’ | me/m’ | me/m’ |
| 2nd person singular | tu | te/t’ | te/t’ | te/t’ |
| 3rd person singular (m) | il | le/l’ | lui | se/s’ |
| 3rd person singular (f) | elle | la/l’ | lui | se/s’ |
| 1st person plural | nous | nous | nous | nous |
| 2nd person plural | vous | vous | vous | vous |
| 3rd person plural | ils, elles | les | leur | se/s’ |
Object pronoun word order
The order of object pronouns depends on whether you use them with the affirmative imperative (commands) or some other construction.
The following figure shows you word order with the affirmative imperative.
The following figure shows the word order with everything else, including the negative imperative.
Identifying être verbs
Most French verbs use avoir as the auxiliary verb for the passé composé and the other compound tenses. Here are the verbs that use être instead:
aller (to go)
arriver (to arrive)
descendre (to descend)
entrer (to enter)
monter (to climb)
mourir (to die)
naître (to be born)
partir (to leave)
passer (to pass [by, in front of, behind])
rentrer (to go home)
rester (to stay)
retourner (to return)
sortir (to go out)
tomber (to fall)
venir (to come)
In addition, pronominal verbs use être: Je me suis levé (I got up.)