français · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Basic food
Build simple meals with articles that match quantity and meaning.
Understand the choice
Food nouns reveal the difference between naming a category and taking an amount. J’aime le pain uses the definite article for bread as a category; je mange du pain uses the partitive for some bread.
Core rule: Use partitive articles du, de la, de l’, and des for an unspecified amount of food; after a negative, they usually become de.
Notice it in context
Au petit-déjeuner, je mange du pain, du fromage et des fruits.
For breakfast, I eat bread, cheese, and fruit.
Du introduces uncounted bread and cheese; des introduces an unspecified plural quantity of fruit.
Nous mangeons du riz avec du poisson.
We eat rice with fish.
Both foods are treated as unspecified quantities.
Je voudrais deux œufs et une pomme.
I would like two eggs and an apple.
Exact counts replace the partitive with numbers or indefinite articles.
What to remember
- After quantity expressions, use de: beaucoup de légumes, un kilo de riz.
- Under negation, say je ne mange pas de viande, except when correcting or contrasting.
Common trap: Do not use des after beaucoup: beaucoup des légumes means many of the specific vegetables, not vegetables in general.