A2 · The articles · about 4 minutes
Leaving out the article
The few places where the noun stands on its own.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need2
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- l’avocatthe lawyer
- l’ingénieurthe engineer
Understand
RememberA job takes no article, a description does.
- Signal words
- être
- parler
- en
- avec
- sans
The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French.
| a job after être | Il est médecin. |
| a language after parler | Je parle allemand. |
| after en | en France, en voiture |
| a fixed expression | avoir faim, avoir peur |
| a fixed expression with a preposition | avec plaisir, sans problème |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
A job after être takes no article.
Elle est avocate.She is a lawyer.
After parler the language usually takes no article.
Il parle italien.He speaks Italian.
After en there is almost never an article.
Nous partons en Espagne.We are leaving for Spain.
With an adjective the article comes back — and then with c’est.
C’est une bonne avocate.She is a good lawyer.
Example sentences
Mon frère est ingénieur.My brother is an engineer.
Elle voyage en train.She travels by train.
Nous habitons en Allemagne.We live in Germany.
1 more example sentences
Sans problème, je m’en occupe.No problem, I will see to it.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
As soon as an adjective joins the job it stops being a job and becomes a description, and the article returns: Il est professeur, but C'est un bon professeur. English cannot signal the difference because it says «a teacher» either way. And after en nothing goes in even when English says «by *the* train»: en train.
Quick check
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Practise
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
An article is the normal case. There is a handful of places with none, and they are worth learning one by one because each of them is a place where English does something else.
A job after être takes no article — Il est médecin, where English insists on «a doctor». A language after parler usually takes none: Je parle allemand. And after en there is almost never one: en France, en voiture, en train, even where English says «by the» or «in the».
Fixed expressions with avoir also go bare — avoir faim, avoir peur — and so do a few with prepositions: avec plaisir, sans problème. Put an article into any of these and the phrase stops being an expression and starts being a description of one particular hunger.
The verbs on this page, in every form: être · parler · partir · habiter