Teilungsartikel: du, de la, des

When you talk about an unspecified amount of something you do not count - bread, coffee, patience - French uses a partitive article. English usually uses nothing or "some": Je bois du café is "I drink coffee" or "I'm having some coffee". Leaving the article out, as English does, is the most common mistake here.

When to use it

• Food and drink: Au petit-déjeuner, je prends du pain, du beurre et de la confiture. - For breakfast I have bread, butter and jam.
• Abstract qualities: Il faut de la patience. - It takes patience.
• Weather: Il y a du vent. - It's windy. Il y a du soleil. - It's sunny.
• Activities with faire: faire du vélo - to cycle, faire de la natation - to swim.

Partitive or definite?

Compare J'aime le chocolat (I like chocolate, in general) with Je mange du chocolat (I'm eating some chocolate). Verbs of liking take the definite article; verbs of eating, drinking and buying take the partitive.

After a negative or a quantity: de

After ne... pas, du / de la / de l' all become de (d'): Je bois du lait → Je ne bois pas de lait. The same short de follows expressions of quantity: beaucoup de pain - a lot of bread, un peu d'eau - a little water, un kilo de pommes, une tasse de thé.