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Demonstrative Determiners: ce / cet / cette / ces

Author: Sophia

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In this lesson, you will learn about the demonstrative determiners ce, cet, cette, and ces in French. Specifically, this lesson will cover:

1. Purpose and Formation of Demonstrative Determiners
2. Demonstrative Determiners with -ci and -là
3. Identifying Items with Demonstrative Determiners

1. Purpose and Formation of Demonstrative Determiners

To begin the lesson:

watch

As you’ll recall from our lessons on Definite and Indefinite Articles and Possessive Adjectives and How to Express Possession, nouns in the French language need to be introduced by some type of determiner. Determiners are words that come before nouns in order to specify or quantify them.

You are now going to learn about another type of determiner called a demonstrative determiner. Demonstrative determiners (les adjectifs demonstratifs) are used to indicate the distance (literal or figurative) between objects or people, and their English equivalents are this/these and that/those.

In French, there is only one adjectif démonstratif to express both “this” and “that,” with the basic form of ce. This means that ce is used with a noun that can be either near (this/these) or further away (that/those). However, the meaning is usually clear from the context, so French people don’t have a problem understanding the actual distance mentioned.

As with all determiners in French, les adjectifs démonstratifs must agree in number and gender with the noun they introduce. Here are the different forms of ce, depending not only on the gender and number of the noun that follows, but also its starting letter.

Singular French Demonstrative Determiners
Audio	Gender	Before a consonant	Before a vowel or a mute h
	Masculine	ce train	cet‿avion
	Feminine	cette région	cette aventure

Plural French Demonstrative Determiners
	Masculine	ces bus
	Feminine	ces montagnes

Now look at some examples of demonstrative determiners used with nouns you have learned in previous lessons. Practice listening to and repeating these articles and nouns together. Note the mandatory liaisons we indicated with the mark ‿ between cet and the nouns that follow it, as well as between ces and any following noun that starts with a vowel sound.

Demonstrative Determiners	Examples (French)	Examples (English)
Masculine singular: ce	ce restaurant ce quartier ce magasin ce cinéma	this/that restaurant this/that neighborhood this/that store this/that movie theater
Masculine singular before vowel sound: cet	cet‿hôtel cet‿ordinateur cet‿aéroport cet‿immeuble	this/that hotel this/that computer this/that airport this/that apartment building
Feminine singular: cette	cette rue cette banque cette mosquée cette bibliothèque	this/that street this/that bank this/that mosque this/that library
Masculine plural: ces	ces bâtiments ces parcs ces‿hôpitaux ces‿avions	these/those buildings these/those parks these/those hospitals these/those airplanes
Feminine plural: ces	ces maisons ces fenêtres ces chaises ces‿étudiantes	these/those houses these/those windows these/those chairs these/those students

Before you begin the Try It, review these demonstrative determiners from this lesson with Jason.

watch

try it

Fill in the blank with the correct demonstrative determiner: ce, cet, cette, or ces. Click the plus sign to see the answer.

1. Qui est _____ jolie fille ?

Qui est cette jolie fille ?

2. _____ enfants sont très amusants !

Ces enfants sont très amusants !

3. _____ couscous est délicieux.

Ce couscous est délicieux.

4. _____ glace au chocolat est très bonne.

Cette glace au chocolat est très bonne.

5. _____ avion est vraiment en retard.

Cet avion est vraiment en retard.

6. Je fais _____ réservations demain.

Je fais ces réservations demain.

7. _____ hôtel est très cher mais c’est mon préféré.

Cet hôtel est très cher mais c’est mon préféré.

8. J’adore _____ plage ! Il n’y a pas beaucoup de monde.

J’adore cette plage ! Il n’y a pas beaucoup de monde.

terms to know

Determiner

A word that comes before a noun to specify or quantify it. Determiners include words like indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), possessive adjectives (my, your, his/her, etc.), demonstrative determiners (this, that, these, those), numerals (one, two, three, etc.), ordinals (first, second, third, etc.), quantifiers (a few, many, etc.), and a few other categories.

Demonstrative Determiner

A type of determiner that is used to indicate the literal or figurative distance between objects or people.

2. Demonstrative Determiners with -ci and -là

Because French demonstrative determiners can designate something close or far away, in order to make a clear distinction between two or more elements, it is possible to attach the adverbs -ci or -là at the end of a demonstrative determiner:

The adverb -ci indicates that the item is relatively near to the speaker, as in “this noun” or “this noun here.”
The adverb -là suggests that something is farther away, as in “that noun” or “that noun over there.”
The use of the hyphen is mandatory as a means to attach -ci and -là directly to the noun they qualify.

Most often, you will use -ci and -là in the same sentence to contrast two items that are similar, as shown in the brief exchange below between Minh and Thao at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Speaker	French	English

Minh:	Regarde ces tableaux, ils sont magnifiques !	Look at these paintings, they’re beautiful !
Thao:	Oui, je suis d’accord avec toi ! Ce tableau-ci est la Joconde, et ce tableau-là s’appelle les Noces de Cana.	Yes, I agree with you! This painting here is the Mona Lisa, and that painting there is called the Wedding at Cana.

hint

While in English you must use “this” vs. “that” when comparing or contrasting two nouns or when indicating how near or far an object or a person is, that distinction is rarely necessary in everyday French conversations. In fact, many French people use the adjectif démonstratif ce without relying on adding -ci or -là to the noun; instead, they rely on their tone of voice or gestures to indicate what they are talking about and how near or far it is.

3. Identifying Items with Demonstrative Determiners

Now that you know how to form and use demonstrative determiners (ce, cet, cette, ces), as well as understand when you can add -ci and -là, listen to the following conversation discussing vacation plans. Pay close attention to how the demonstrative determiners are used to identify various nouns.

Speaker	French	English

Thao:	Regarde ces hôtels à la Martinique ! Ils te plaisent ?	Look at these hotels in Martinique! Do you like them?
Yasmine:	J’aime bien cet hôtel-ci mais il est vraiment cher. Par contre, cet hôtel-là n’est pas très cher et le petit-déjeuner est inclus.	I like this hotel but it's really expensive. On the contrary, that hotel is not very expensive and breakfast is included.
Thao:	Ah oui, tu as raison. Vérifie les dates des vols d’avion. Ces dates marchent pour toi ?	Oh yes, you're right. Check out the flight dates. Do these dates work for you?
Yasmine:	Oui, je suis en vacances pour deux semaines alors c’est parfait. Je suis impatiente de faire ce voyage.	Yes, I'm on vacation for two weeks so this is perfect. I can't wait to take this trip.
Thao:	Moi aussi ! Regarde cette plage près de l’hôtel, elle est magnifique !	Me too! Look at this beach near the hotel, it's beautiful!
Yasmine:	Et on peut aussi faire une randonnée sur la montagne Pelée. Ces vacances vont être géniales !	And we can hike up Mount Pelee too. This vacation is going to be awesome!

summary

In this lesson, you learned about demonstrative determiners in French. The purpose of demonstrative determiners is to indicate the distance between objects or people, and their forms include ce, cet, cette, ces. Like other determiners, they need to agree in gender and number with the noun that follows. You also learned about adding -ci and -là to demonstrative determiners, which can help specify “this noun here” vs. “that noun there.” Finally, you read and listened to a conversation that showed how you can identify items using demonstrative determiners. In future lessons, you will see these demonstrative determiners again.

Bon courage !

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Terms to Know

Demonstrative Determiner: A type of determiner that is used to indicate the literal or figurative distance between objects or people.
Determiner: A word that comes before a noun to specify or quantify it. Determiners include words like indefinite and definite articles (a, an, the), possessive adjectives (my, your, his/her, etc.), demonstrative determiners (this, that, these, those), numerals (one, two, three, etc.), ordinals (first, second, third, etc.), quantifiers (a few, many, etc.), and a few other categories.

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Demonstrative Determiners: ce / cet / cette / ces

Table of Contents

1. Purpose and Formation of Demonstrative Determiners

2. Demonstrative Determiners with -ci and -là

3. Identifying Items with Demonstrative Determiners