Worksheet Review of FAIRE, POUVOIR and VOULOIR

Worksheet Review of the Partitive
** Partitive in English means a part of something. So in other words, we are talking about
“some”, “any”, and frequently no word is used.
Examples:
Do you have (any) sugar?
Would you like (some) fries with that?
** In both of these English sentences, you can leave out the “any” and “some” and it would still
make sense.
In French, we cannot leave out the partitive.
So if we can’t leave it out, how do we express “any” or “some” in French?
** We use the word de + the definite article. Do you remember our contractions of de + the
definite article?
de + le = du
de + les = des
de + la = de la
de + l’ = de l’
Tu as du sucre ou du lait?
Je vais acheter des fraises.
Je voudrais de la viande, s’il vous plait.
J’ai soif…je voudrais de l’eau.
What happens when we want to use the negative and still talk about “any” or “some”? Well in
French, all of the partitive turns to only de.
In the negative:
du changes to de
Tu veux du jambon?
Je ne veux pas de jambon.
des changes to de
Elle va acheter des fraises?
Non, elle ne va pas acheter de fraises.
de la changes to de
Vous voulez de la viande?
Non, nous ne voulons pas de viande
de l’ changes to d’
Tu veux de l’eau minérale?
Non merci, je ne veux pas d’eau minérale.
(you still can not have the two vowels together)
What if we don’t want to say “any” or “some”? What if we want to talk about things in
general…talking about things that you like and things that you dislike? Well in French, all you
do is use the definite article and no partitive is necessary.
Examples:
I like cheese.
My sister hates chicken.
I love onions.
J’aime le fromage.
Ma soeur déteste le poulet.
J’adore les oignons.
What if we want to talk about something in the general sense but say it negatively, such as:
I don’t like chicken.
She doesn’t hate beef.
Well we don’t change anything in the negative…it stays using the definite article.
I don’t like chicken.
Je n’aime pas le poulet.
She doesn’t hate beef.
Elle ne déteste pas le boeuf.
Only verbs indicating likes and dislikes are followed by the definite article. All other verbs are
followed by the partitive.
Likes and dislikes verbs:
détester
aimer
adorer
Let’s practice: (make sure you read the sentence and find the clue verbs that indicate partitive
or general sense and then also look for negative!!!)
1. Tu as ____________ beurre?
2. Je voudrais _____________ crème.
3. Sophie adore _____________ pizza.
4. Nous aimons _______________ œufs.
5. Je ne prends pas _______________ lait.
6. Elle va acheter ______________ fruits et ______________ légumes.
7. Est-ce que tu détestes ________________ fromage?
8. Eric et Paul veulent acheter _______________ eau et ____________ café.
9. Vous aimez ________________ poisson?
10. Qu’est-ce que vous mangez? Nous mangeons _______________ saucisson et
_____________ jambon.
11. Il faut acheter ______________ pain si tu veux un sandwich.
12. Tu ne veux pas ____________ huile et ______________ vinaigre pour ta salade verte?
13. Henri déteste ____________ poires.
14. Je n’aime pas ____________ porc.
15. Elles prennent _______________ haricots verts avec _____________ pommes de terre.