Unit 35: Articles - omission of articles
| 1 After negatives | 2 Before names of professions |
| 3 Before identifying nouns | 4 Before preceding adjective |
| 5 Before describing nouns | 6 After de |
| 7 In lists, headlines, titles |
1 After negatives
Generally the articles un, une, des, du and de la take the form de after a negative and sans:
| J'ai une voiture | → | Je n'ai pas de voiture |
| I have a car | I don't have a car |
| J'ai du tabac | → | Je n'ai pas de tabac |
| I have tobacco | I don't have any tobacco |
| Tu as de la chance | → | Tu n'as pas de chance |
| You're lucky | You're unlucky |
| Il a un emploi | → | Il est sans emploi |
| He has a job | He's unemployed |
2 Before names of professions etc. 
Un, une are generally absent before nouns putting someone in a general class, profession etc.:
Il est avocat depuis 1986
He's been a lawyer since 1986
On dit qu'il était résistant pendant la guerre
They say he was in the Resistance during the war
Il a été nommé Directeur Général en 1996
He was made Managing Director in 1996
This is not the case, however, after c'est:
C'est un socialiste / conservateur
He's a socialist / conservative
3 Before identifying nouns
When a noun is inserted after another noun to provide identification, the article is often absent before the second noun:
Mme Chevalier, maire de la ville depuis 1996, s'est déclarée contre le projet
Madame Chevalier, the town's mayor since 1996, declared herself to be against the plan
4 Before preceding adjective
In more formal French des generally takes the form de when the noun has a preceding adjective :
| des nouvelles | → | de bonnes nouvelles |
| news | good news |
| des fleurs | → | de jolies fleurs |
| flowers | pretty flowers |
However it remains unchanged when the adjective and noun are so strongly associated as to form a set expression:
| des petits pains | du bon sens |
| some bread rolls | common sense |
5 Before describing nouns introduced by de or à
In general no article is present before a describing noun introduced by de or à:
| un profil de carrière | les conditions de travail |
| a career profile | working conditions |
| un couteau à découper | une corbeille à linge |
| a carving knife | a laundry basket |
6 After de
Generally the articles du, de l', de la and des are omitted in constructions involving de. This involves:
6.1 Expressions of quantity
These include numbers (un million de personnes) and more general expressions of quantity such as:
Exceptions are: la plupart (most of), bien (many), la majeure partie / la majorité (most, the majority of), encore (more):
Nous avons eu bien du mal à les convaincre
We had a lot of difficulty convincing them
6.2 Other constructions involving de
These include:
Il ne manque pas de détracteurs
He's not short of critics
Elle a fait preuve de courage et de perspicacité en prenant cette décision
She showed courage and vision in taking this decision
7 In lists, headlines, titles
Articles are generally omitted in lists:
Tout est en solde: jupes, robes, vestes, pantalons, pullovers, manteaux
Everything's on sale: skirts, dresses, jackets, trousers, jumpers, coats
This is also true for newspaper headlines, book titles etc.:
Chômage en baisse
Unemployment down
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