Ukrainian
French
Italian
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | un | des |
| Feminine | une |
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The indefinite article is placed before a noun to refer to an indefinite object, any member of a group or class of similar objects:
Près de notre maison il y a un resto. – There is a restaurant nearby.Prenez une pomme. – Take an apple. -
The indefinite article is placed before a noun denoting an object which has not been referred to previously and which is thus unknown to the reader or interlocutor:
La porte s'est ouverte, et un homme est sorti du cabinet. – The door opened, and a man left the office. -
The indefinite article is placed before a noun denoting an object which incarnates in generalized terms a group or class of similar objects:
Une jeune fille devrait être plus polie ! – A girl [just as all girls] should be more polite! -
The indefinite article is used for emphasizing an object’s particular characteristics or parameters:
Ce sont des livres très intéressants. – Those are very interesting books. -
The indefinite article is used in a sentence with the pronoun en for avoiding redundant replication of the article (this structure is translated into English with the pronoun one):
Tu es sans caractère, et j’en ai un. – You lack in character, and I do have one. -
The indefinite article is placed before a noun in exclamatory sentences for intonational emphasis:
Il fait une chaleur ! – What terrible heat! -
The indefinite article is placed before a person’s name to emphasize or generalize some of his or her traits:
Un Trump émotionnel, tel que nous le connaissons. – An emotional Trump, the one we are used to know. -
The indefinite article is placed before a person’s last name to denote that he or she is one of the family:
un Dupré – one of the Duprés
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Wherever a possessive adjective is placed before a noun, the indefinite article is omitted:
ma table, son chatune ma table, un son chat -
If a plural noun is preceded by an adjective, the preposition de is used instead of the indefinite article:
de beaux tableaux, de grandes fenêtresdes beaux tableaux, des grandes fenêtres -
Before a noun used as a direct object of a verb in the negative form, the preposition de is used instead of the indefinite article:
Elle n’a pas de frère. Ils n’ont pas acheté de livres.Elle n’a pas un frère. Ils n’ont pas acheté des livres.However, the definite article is preserved in such negative structures: J’aime les spectacles de ce théâtre. – Je n’aime pas les spectacles de ce théâtre. -
The indefinite article is omitted before a noun denoting a profession in nominal predicates:
Ma sœur est étudiante.Ma sœur est une étudiante.However, either the indefinite or the definite article is placed before such a noun, if it is determined by an adjective or a subordinate clause: Ma sœur est une bonne étudiante. Ma sœur est l'étudiante qui a gagné le concours des jeunes écrivains 2017. -
The indefinite article is omitted before a noun denoting a nationality in nominal predicates:
Je suis Ukrainien.Je suis un Ukrainien.However, either the indefinite or the definite article is placed before such a noun, if it is determined by an adjective or a subordinate clause: Je suis un Ukrainien qui aime apprendre les langues. Je suis l'Ukrainien qui a gagné le concours des jeunes écrivains 2017. -
The indefinite article is omitted after quantitative adverbs with the preposition de (beaucoup de, peu de, trop de, assez de, combien de):
Marie a beaucoup d’amies. J’ai trop d’ennuis.Marie a beaucoup des amies. J’ai trop des ennuis. -
The indefinite article is omitted after a noun denoting a particular quantity. The preposition de is used instead:
Un groupe de gens. Un kilo de pommes.Un groupe des gens. Un kilo des pommes.
