Module 2 of 10
Un, une, des — and the article French drops
A, an, some — and the one place French uses no article at all.
Un and une are a and an, and they follow the gender you learned in module one: un stylo, une table. Des is the plural of both, and it is the one English speakers drop, because English has no word there. I have friends is j'ai des amis — never j'ai amis. If you find yourself about to say a bare plural noun, something is missing, and it is almost always des.
The place French drops the article is the one from the last course: after être with a job, a nationality or a role. Je suis étudiante, elle est ingénieure, il est français. Put un in there and it sounds like a category rather than a description. Two rules, pulling in opposite directions, and the quickest way to hold them is by their examples rather than their wording: j'ai des amis, and je suis étudiante.
Played by your device’s own French voice. It is a synthetic voice, not a recording of a teacher — close enough to learn the shape of a word, not close enough to copy exactly.
- Un styloA pen
- Une questionA question
- Des amisSome friends — French says some where English says nothing
- J'ai une questionI have a question
- Je suis étudianteI am a student — a job after être takes no article
- Il y a des chaisesThere are some chairs
- Un peuA little, a bit
- Une minute, je vous prieOne moment please
Plural nouns need des where English needs nothing. Jobs after être need no article where English needs a.