In French, when you talk about an unspecified amount of something, like 'some bread' or 'some water', you use what's called a partitive article. These articles change depending on the gender and number of the noun.

For masculine singular nouns, you use 'du'. For example, to say 'I am eating some bread', you would say 'Je mange du pain'. 'Pain' is a masculine noun.

For feminine singular nouns, the partitive article is 'de la'. For instance, 'I want some jam' is 'Je veux de la confiture', because 'confiture' is feminine.

If a singular noun starts with a vowel or a silent 'h', you use 'de l'' for both masculine and feminine nouns. For example, 'some water' is 'de l'eau'.