ABSTRACT
Abstract nouns in French are usually accompanied by a defi nite article whereas English has no article:
La patience est une qualité qui se fait rare Patience is a quality which is becoming rare
Je cherche le bonheur I’m looking for happiness
But when abstract nouns refer to a particular example of ‘patience’, ‘happiness’, ‘knowledge’, and so on (for instance, when they are modifi ed by an adjective), they occur with an indefi nite article:
Il a fait preuve cette fois d’une patience appréciable The patience he showed on this occasion was considerable
Il s’est alors produit un silence absolu Absolute silence ensued
Un bonheur en vaut un autre One kind of happiness is the same as any other
(See Chapter 2 for defi nite and indefi nite articles.)
1.1.2 Mass versus count nouns Count nouns identify individual entities, and usually have both singular and plural forms. Mass nouns treat the entity or entities they refer to as a single unit, and typically have only a singular form (although some mass nouns only have a plural form):
Typical count nouns Typical mass nouns
une bouteille a bottle de l’air air des bouteilles bottles du beurre butter un chien a dog de l’eau water des chiens dogs du gâteau cake une personne a person des gens people des personnes people du sable sand
Mass nouns in French are usually accompanied by the partitive article (see Chapter 2.4) – du, de l’, de la or des – in those cases where English has ‘some’ or no article at all:
Je voudrais du lait, s’il vous plaît I would like some milk, please
Il y a du vin dans le placard There’s wine in the cupboard
Personnes and gens personnes and gens, both of which mean ‘people’, differ in their uses because personne is a count noun and gens, which is only found in the plural form, behaves like a mass noun. Only personne can be preceded by a number (e.g. cinq), or the quantifi ers plusieurs ‘several’, quelques ‘a few’, un certain nombre de ‘a certain number of’:
Les cinq personnes (NOT *gens) qui ont mangé avec nous The fi ve people who ate with us
Plusieurs personnes (NOT *gens) sont restées tout l’après-midi Several people stayed for the whole afternoon
By the same token, gens is preferred in contexts where ‘people’ are treated as a mass:
Les gens (NOT *personnes) n’aiment pas rester à table trop longtemps People don’t like to spend too long over a meal
However, gens can be preceded by beaucoup de ‘many’, peu de ‘few’, tous les ‘all the’ and la plupart des ‘most’, and when an adjective precedes gens, the adjective can be preceded by a number:
Nous avons vu les six jeunes gens devant la banque hier We saw the six young people in front of the bank yesterday
Mass nouns used countably Some mass nouns can be used countably to refer to specifi c examples of the substance in question:
les vins de France the wines of France les fromages de Normandie the cheeses of Normandy un pain a loaf of bread un petit pain a bun
Some count nouns can also be used as mass nouns:
Prenez du poulet Have some chicken Il met du citron dans tout He puts lemon in everything
1.1.3 Collective nouns Collective nouns refer to collections of people or things.
