French articles another post

Articles are tiny words used to introduce nouns. They’re generally considered adjectives, and as such they match in gender and number the noun they qualify.
There are four kinds of articles in French:
1) Definite articles:
le (masculine), la (feminine), l’(masculine or feminine), les (either) = the.
Note also that l’ is just the elision of le or la.
These articles indicate that the noun they describe is known with certainty.
Examples:

• Le chat / The cat 
• La tarte / The pie 
• L’autruche / The ostrich 
• Les avions / The planes

2) Indefinite articles:
un (masculine), une (feminine) = ades (either) = some
These articles in French indicate that the noun they describe is not known with certainty.
Example:
un fromage / a cheese
une aiguille / a needle
des moutons / some sheep
3) Partitive articles:
du (masculine), de la (feminine), de l’ (elision of the two others) = some
These articles in French are used when the quantity they describe can not be divided into parts (sand, water, flour).
Example:du sable / some sandde la paille / some hayde l’eau / some water
CAREFUL! Do not mistake the constituent for the category. While flour the substance can not be divided (you wouldn’t say one flour, two flour without qualification), flour as a category can reasonably be thought of as being definite and singular. In French, it most definitely is.
Contrast: du caramel / some caramel AND le caramel / the caramel category
4) Demonstrative articles:
ce, cet (masculine), cette (feminine) = thisces (plural) = these
Note that cet replaces ce when the noun starts with a vowel (only used in this context)
Demonstrative articles in French are used to point emphatically to the specific object/person/animal/concept that the noun represents.
Example:
Ce politicien / This politician
Cet avion / This plane
Cette voiture / This car
Ces routes / These roads
For even more emphasis the following forms are used:
ce…ci, cet…ci, cette…ci = this…hereces…ci = these…herece…là, cet…là, cette…là = this…thereces…là = these…there
Examples:
Ces gens ci / These people here
Cet avion là / This plane there
Ces moutons là / These sheep there

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French Letter Writing

The salutation is also very formal and includes the recipient’s title when appropriate, as in Monsieur le Directeur. Alternately, use Monsieur, Cher Monsieur, Messieurs or Madame, Chère Madame or Mesdames.

The body of the letter should be concise, to the point and formally polite.
If you are following up on a previous letter, you might start with, “Suite à ... je vous écris pour…” or “Nous vous remercions de votre lettre du …”.
If your letter is a request for something, you can use “Je vous serais reconnaissant de ... “ or “Je vous prie de

You might end with, “Dans l’attente de votre réponse ...”, then sign off with one of these phrases, which sound much more formal than the accepted “Yours sincerely” in English but are de rigueur in a French formal letter:
Je vous prie d’agréer, Monsieur le Directeur, l’assurance de ma considération distinguée
Veuillez accepter, Messieurs (or Monsieur or Madame), mes salutations distinguées
Croyez, cher Monsieur (or chère Madame), à l’expression de mes sentiments les meilleurs

Je t’embrasse bien affectueusement
Grosses bises (very informal)
Or more simply with:
Bien amicalement
À bientôt
To include other friends or family in the letter, you might add:
Embrasse Sophie pour moi.
Paul te fait ses amitiés.

If you’re mailing your letter, here are guidelines for addressing the envelope, line by line:
1 – Recipient’s name
Begin with Monsieur, Madame or Mademoiselle followed by the recipient’s full name, as in Monsieur Jacques Untel. This is polite form for both formal and informal letters. For a married couple, use Monsieur et Madame Untel.
On a business letter envelope, you can use the person’s title instead, for example, Madame la directrice.
2 – Recipient’s title
If you’ve used the person’s name in the first line, use the second line for his or her title, for example, Directrice, Service à la clientele.
3. - Company or organization
Use the full name or accepted abbreviation, as in Hôtel Au Bon Accueil and SNCF.
4 – Number, name and type of street
Full street names can be abbreviated, e.g. av for avenue, as in 45 av de la République, or bd for boulevard, as in 15 bd de Beaumanoir. If there’s no street address, this is where you put the post box number.
5 – Postcode and town or city
The postcode comes before the name of the town, as in 75010 Paris.