French · A1 · Grammar

Du, De La and De L’: Talking About Food and Amounts

Use du, de la or de l’ for an unspecified amount of something, as in du pain, de la soupe and de l’eau. Use un or une when you mean one countable item or serving. A specific measure usually takes de, as in un verre d’eau.

Library date 15 August 2026 · Published 5 November 2026

Examples

French	English
du pain	some bread
de la soupe	some soup
de l’eau / un verre d’eau	some water / a glass of water

Choose by what you mean

Je voudrais du café asks for some coffee. Je voudrais un café orders one serving. Je bois de l’eau describes drinking water without counting portions. If you need a specific amount, use une bouteille d’eau or un litre d’eau.

Negatives and amounts

In a simple negative, the partitive usually becomes de or d’: Je ne bois pas de café. After a quantity expression, use de too: beaucoup de soupe, un peu de lait. Keep the article in a sentence like Ce n’est pas du lait, where you are identifying what something is.

Try it

Say “I’d like some soup and a glass of water”.

Show answer

Je voudrais de la soupe et un verre d’eau.

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