binx7836

[heady topaz]

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[visual pelican]

you basically always put an article before nouns, singular or plural (there are cases with no article, but those are very rare)
the type of article depends on how the noun is referenced

le/la/les are used before specific instances of that noun, similar to "the" in English
ex: où est la voiture ? (where is the car?)
___
un/une/des are used before unspecific instances of that noun, similar to a/an in English
ex: il a un chat (he has a cat)

___
du/de la are used before some amount of uncountable nouns
ex: je bois de l'eau (I'm drinking [some] water)

[lilac scroll]

So yeah, you could say "je veux l'eau" if you mean specifically "I want THE water" but realistically you'd need more surrounding context for that to make sense

[tame gyro]

Ah, so it's just a matter of being specific or not in which case in most cases I'd probably use de la/du etc.

[visual pelican]

"du" and "de la" are specifically for uncountable nouns

like you can have "de l'eau" (water), "du sable" (sand), "de la chance" (luck)
but not "du chat" or "de l'idée"

[lilac scroll]

Well

[visual pelican]

not with that meaning at least

[lilac scroll]

Haha

[tame gyro]

So a singular noun that's not so singular is typically when to use it.

[lilac scroll]

Uncountable, but I guess that's a way of seeing it

Like you wouldn't say "one sand" in most contexts

[visual pelican]

uncountable means you can't count them
you can't have 2 waters, 2 sands or 2 lucks for instance, but you can have 2 cats or 2 ideas

(water can be countable in some contexts but that's besides the point)

[lilac scroll]

Like how some chicken and two chickens are quite different things

Related but not interchangeable

[tame gyro]

Yeah, I get it. Thanks. Basically if it's a singular that can describe a plural amount of things.

[lilac scroll]

You also have le/la/les when talking about the general concept of the thing, like "I love cats", you're talking about the concept of cats in general

[visual pelican]

yeah that's a harder one

it's a case that doesn't use the same logic as English

[lilac scroll]

It's not singular because you can't say "a sand", nor is it plural because you can't say "two sand(s)", it's an uncountable quantity that would need a separate measurement to be able to measure/count it

[tame gyro]

I get it.

[tame gyro]

To say "My cats" would you say "Mon les chats?"

Or wait when would a singular noun ever require les

Or des

[visual pelican]

no, "my" is mon/ma/mes
you do not use anything else, as that term is already indicating you're specifying which one

for each category, you are basically gonna find 3 articles
one for singular masculine (le, un, mon...)
one for singular feminine (la, une, ma...)
one for plural (les, des, mes...)

[tame gyro]

So in the case of mon/ma no article before the noun is required?

[visual pelican]

mon and ma are articles

the cats => les chats
some cats => des chats
my cats => mes chat

[tame gyro]

So things that signal possession are articles

[visual pelican]

yup, possessive articles

[tame gyro]

Alright, thank you.

[tame gyro]

Ce/Cette is also an article?

[visual pelican]

yup (they're called demonstrative articles)