The French definite article derives from a Latin distal demonstrative, ille.
[1] It evolved from the Old French article system, which shared resemblance to modern English and acquired the marking of generic nouns.
[4] The French definite article can vary according to the gender (feminine or masculine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun.
Also note that in the plural, and after a negative verb, the indefinite and partitive articles take the same form; this makes sense, as there is no clear difference in meaning in these cases.
To be more precise or to avoid ambiguity, -ci or -là can be inserted after the noun: There are grammatical rules to determine when one would use c'est or il est.
In French, as in English, quantifiers constitute an open word class, unlike most other kinds of determiners.
In French, most quantifiers are formed using a noun or adverb of quantity and the preposition de (d' when before a vowel).