French Indefinite Article

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2019-03-13

See also: Article and Article Types

English indefinite articles are the words a, an, and some. In French, they are un, une and des, but these two lists do not match up one to one:

1. un (masculine) - a, an
2. une (feminine) - a, an
3. des (plural) - some

Indefinite articles are used with countable* nouns like drinks and peaches.

For example

J'ai acheté un oignon. - I bought an onion.

Je veux une boisson. - I want a drink.

Il y a des pêches sur la table. - There are (some) peaches on the table.

*For uncountable nouns like water and spinach, you need partitive articles instead.