Language/French/Grammar/Omission-of-the-article-in-lists

French Grammar - Omission of the article in lists

In lists of nouns the article is frequently omitted:

• Hommes, femmes et enfants sont tous invités à la fête

Men, women and children are all invited to the party

• J'ai acheté pommes de terre, tomates, courgettes, prunes et navets chez le même marchand de primeurs

I bought potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, plums and turnips at the same greengrocer's

NB: Either all the articles are omitted (as in these examples) or they are all included.

Don't miss the chance to check out these pages as you wrap up this lesson: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Demonstrative determiners & Pronominal verbs, the auxiliary “être” and the agreement of the past participle.

Other Lessons

• How to use Be
• Verbs with personal subject used impersonally
• Measurements and comparisons in French — Numeral nouns and approximations
• Pronominal verbs without a reflexive interpretation
• Possessive pronouns
• Choice of some time adverbs relative to the moment of speaking
• Formation of the passive in French
• Definite and indefinite articles
• Plural of words in Al
• Verbs whose stems end in c— or g—
• Differences in the use of numbers in French and English Page numbers, bus numbers
• Adjectives which regularly occur before and after the noun, but with a change of meaning
• Impersonal subject restricted to il
• Use of jamais
• Easy way of generating the imperative mood