The 'A' and 'Some'

The ‘A’ and ‘Some’

• In French, “a” is translated as “un” when referring to masculine singular nouns and “une” when referring to feminine singular nouns.
• To say “some” in French, you would use “des” before plural nouns regardless of gender.
• If “a” or “some” are used before a vowel or silent ‘h’, the English indefinite article a/an changes to ‘l’ while in French it changes to “un”, “une” for singular or “des” for plural.
• An exception to this rule is negative sentences where ‘pas de’ is used instead of ‘un’, ‘une’, or ‘des’. For example, “Je n’ai pas de chat” means “I don’t have a cat”.
• In certain contexts, ‘un’, ‘une’, and ‘des’ can also mean ‘one’. The context of the sentence generally determines the intention.
• It is important to always mind the gender agreement in French when using articles. They must match the gender of the noun they are modifying.
• Complex sentences may also use partitive articles (du, de la, de l’, des) which also express the idea of ‘some’ or ‘any’. It’s crucial to know the difference between indefinite articles and partitive articles.
• French also uses the partitive articles when referring to a quantity that is unspecified. For example, in sentence ‘Je mange de la pizza’, ‘de la’ pizza equates to ‘some pizza’.
• Remember that pronunciation rules apply. If a word starting with ‘un’, ‘une’, ‘des’ is followed by a vowel sound, a liaison must be made to maintain fluency in speech.
• Practise using articles “a” and “some” in different types of sentences – affirmative, negative and interrogative, and in various contexts to build proficiency over time. Always ensure you verify the grammatical gender of each noun before deciding which article to use.