A1Unit 4 of the A1 course · « Au marché »
Buying bread, cheese and fruit at a French market teaches one of the trickiest small words in French: « some ». You'll learn du, de la, de l' and des, and why aimer takes le, la and les instead.
By the end of this unit you can: buy food, ask how much, say what you like.
When you mean « some » (an amount you don't specify), French says du, de la, de l' or des. Du before a masculine noun, de la before a feminine noun, de l' before a vowel, and des for plurals. English often leaves « some » out; French never does.
When you talk about liking something in general, French uses le, la or les, not du or de la. Compare: j'aime le fromage (I like cheese) and je voudrais du fromage (I'd like some cheese).
Once you name an amount, du, de la and des all become plain de (or d' before a vowel).
It's Saturday morning at the market in Aix-en-Provence. The stallholder, Madame Roux, is waiting for your order.
Tap 🔊 to hear each one, recorded by a native-sounding French voice.
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| pain(masculine) | bread | |
| fromage(masculine) | cheeseFrance has over a thousand cheeses. Camembert, comté and roquefort are a good start. | |
| tomate(feminine) | tomato | |
| poulet(masculine) | chicken | |
| poisson(masculine) | fishCareful: poison (one s) means poison! | |
| fraise(feminine) | strawberry | |
| lait(masculine) | milk | |
| de l'eau | some waterEau is feminine: l'eau minérale. Before a vowel, le and la both become l'. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| je voudrais… | I would like…The polite way to ask for something in a shop or café. | |
| dudu pain (some bread) | some (masculine) | |
| de lade la confiture (some jam) | some (feminine) | |
| desdes tomates (some tomatoes) | some (plural) |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| j'aimeJ'aime le chocolat. (I like chocolate.) | I like / I love | |
| j'adore | I loveStronger than j'aime: j'adore le chocolat. With a person, j'aime already means I love. | |
| je déteste | I hate | |
| je n'aime pas | I don't like | |
| je préfère | I prefer |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| un kilo de…un kilo de pommes (a kilo of apples) | a kilo of… | |
| bouteille(feminine)une bouteille d'eau (a bottle of water) | bottle | |
| un peu de… | a little… | |
| beaucoup de… | a lot of… | |
| c'est tout | that's allThe shopkeeper asks « Et avec ceci ? » (anything else?). You answer « C'est tout, merci. » |
This unit is part of French Ultimate's A1 course: 5 short lessons with an animated video each, speaking and listening practice, a reading and an end-of-unit test.
Start the lessons free