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Partitive Articles with Uncountable Nouns

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Master Partitive Articles with Uncountable Nouns for GCSE French with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Higher tier exam-style practice with worked answers for AQA GCSE French (8652). At Higher tier, partitive articles are also used with uncountable nouns.

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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA specification. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.

This is a Higher tier only topic, so there's no Foundation paper — only the Higher worksheet and mark scheme below.

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WorksheetHigher · PDFMark SchemeHigher · PDF

Topic overview

Uncountable nouns describe things that cannot be counted individually, and they take the partitive article in French. This is a Higher-only topic.

Water, bread, money, patience and time are all uncountable. You cannot say two waters or three breads without changing the meaning. In French these take du, de la or de l' — je bois de l'eau, j'ai de la patience, il a du courage.

Abstract qualities behave the same way. Avoir du courage, avoir de la chance and avoir de la patience all use the partitive, because you are describing an unspecified amount of something abstract rather than a countable object. Adding a quantity word switches the whole structure to plain de: beaucoup de courage.

Revision notes

Uncountable nouns

Things that cannot be counted individually: water, bread, money, time.

They take the partitive: de l'eau, du pain, de l'argent, du temps. English uses no article at all, which is why the partitive is so often omitted.

Abstract qualities

Avoir du courage, avoir de la chance, avoir de la patience.

These describe an unspecified amount of an abstract quality. The partitive is required in every case, matched to the gender of the noun.

Adding a quantity

Once a quantity word is added, the structure changes to plain de.

Du courage becomes beaucoup de courage. De la patience becomes un peu de patience. The partitive and the quantity rule cannot both apply at once.

Key points

  • Uncountable nouns cannot be counted individually.
  • They take the partitive article.
  • Water and bread are uncountable.
  • Abstract qualities also take the partitive.
  • Avoir du courage uses the partitive.
  • A quantity word changes it to plain de.

Worked examples

Example 1

Translate: he has courage. [2 marks]

Working

Il a du courageuse avoir with the masculine partitive
Du is used because courage is masculine and uncountableexplain the article choice

Example 2

Translate: she has a lot of patience. [2 marks]

Working

Elle a beaucoup de patienceuse beaucoup with plain de
De la becomes plain de after an expression of quantityexplain the change

Example 3

Explain why uncountable nouns need the partitive in French. [2 marks]

Working

They describe an unspecified amount rather than a countable objectstate the reason
so French marks this with du, de la or de l', where English uses no article at allexplain the contrast with English

Common mistakes

  • Omitting the partitive with uncountables.

    Il a courage is wrong; it must be il a du courage.

  • Using un or une with an uncountable.

    They cannot be counted, so the partitive is used.

  • Keeping the partitive after a quantity word.

    Beaucoup de courage, not beaucoup du courage.

  • Forgetting the gender of abstract nouns.

    La patience is feminine; le courage is masculine.

Exam tips

  • Use the partitive for anything uncountable.
  • Match the form to the noun's gender.
  • Switch to plain de after a quantity word.
  • Remember this is a Higher-only topic.

Key terms

Uncountable noun
A noun that cannot be counted individually.
Abstract noun
A noun describing a quality rather than an object.
Partitive
The article marking an unspecified amount.
Quantity word
A word such as beaucoup, triggering plain de.

Related topics

Written and reviewed against the current AQA specification. Spotted an error? Let us know.