Partitive Articles: du, de la, des
आंशिक उपपद: du, de la, des
This is a genuinely new category for Hindi speakers — Hindi has no articles at all, definite or indefinite, so it certainly has nothing set aside for 'some amount of' something. French does, and it shows up constantly around food and everyday needs.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
du / de la / de l' / des — 'some' of a mass or plural noun
du pain (some bread), de la confiture (some jam), de l'eau (some water), des pommes (some apples)
यह एक नया विचार है — हिंदी में इसके बराबर कोई उपपद नहीं है
The partitive article marks an unspecified amount of something — 'some bread' as opposed to 'bread in general' or 'the bread'. du is masculine, de la is feminine, de l' is used before a vowel (either gender), and des covers plural countable nouns. Hindi has no grammatical articles whatsoever — not even a word for 'a' or 'the' — so it never marks this distinction on the noun at all: चावल (rice) covers 'rice in general' and 'some rice' equally, with a separate quantity word like कुछ or थोड़ा doing any extra work only when needed. Treat the French partitive as a fresh concept to learn, not a mapping from anything already in Hindi.
Partitive vs. definite: an amount vs. the whole category
Je mange du pain. (I'm eating some bread) vs. J'aime le pain. (I like bread, in general)
du pain (थोड़ी रोटी) बनाम le pain (सामान्य रूप से रोटी)
The same noun switches articles depending on whether you mean a specific unspecified quantity (partitive: du, de la, des) or the whole category as a concept (definite: le, la, les). Hindi doesn't build this distinction into the noun phrase itself — थोड़ी रोटी ('some bread') and रोटी ('bread', in general) differ only by adding the quantity word थोड़ी, never by swapping an article, since Hindi has none to swap. Verbs like manger and boire (to eat/drink an amount) usually pair with the partitive, while verbs like aimer and détester (to like/dislike a category) pair with the definite article.
Negation collapses the partitive to just 'de'
Je ne mange pas de pain. (not: du pain)
नकारात्मक वाक्य में du/de la/des सब बदलकर सिर्फ़ 'de' बन जाते हैं
In a negative sentence, du, de la, de l', and des all collapse into the single word de (or d' before a vowel), no matter what gender or number the noun was. Je mange du pain becomes Je ne mange pas de pain; Je bois de l'eau becomes Je ne bois pas d'eau. The same happens with ne...plus: Je n'ai plus de pain ('I have no more bread'). Hindi has nothing to collapse in the first place, since it never marked the quantity with an article to begin with — negation (नहीं) simply attaches to the verb, and रोटी or चावल stays exactly the same word whether the sentence is positive or negative.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| French | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| du pain | doo pan | थोड़ी रोटीthoṛī roṭī | some bread |
| de la confiture | duh lah kohn-fee-TOOR | थोड़ा जैमthoṛā jaim | some jam |
| de l'eau | duh LOH | थोड़ा पानीthoṛā pānī | some water |
| des pommes | day pom | कुछ सेबkuch seb | some apples |
| du fromage | doo froh-MAHZH | थोड़ा चीज़thoṛā cīz | some cheese |
| de la viande | duh lah vee-AHND | थोड़ा मांसthoṛā māns | some meat |
| du café | doo kah-FAY | थोड़ी कॉफ़ीthoṛī kŏfī | some coffee |
| du sucre | doo SOO-kruh | थोड़ी चीनीthoṛī cīnī | some sugar |
| des légumes | day lay-GOOM | कुछ सब्ज़ियाँkuch sabziyāñ | some vegetables |
| je ne mange pas de viande | zhuh nuh mahnzh pah duh vee-AHND | मैं मांस नहीं खाताmaiñ māns nahīñ khātā | I don't eat meat |