Les articles définis le, la, l', les / The definite article the

When you start learning French, one of the key grammatical points that you will come across first is the gender of nouns. Unlike English where there is no gender of nouns, in French, there is masculine and feminine. Le, la , l' and les are definite articles and all mean "The" in French.

Beginners will often ask " How do you know if it's a masculine or a feminine noun?" "How do you know if it is "le" or "la"?"

Native speakers might say that there are no rules; it just sounds right. Knowing the gender of a French noun is just a question of careful learning and practicing. However there are some endings that will help to determine if a noun is a masculine or a feminine noun. Be careful as there are exceptions!

LE - Masculine nouns : Nouns ending in the letter groups below are masculine.

Nouns ending in ...
  •  -age  Example : le courage  Exceptions : la cage, l'image, la page, la plage
  •  -acle  Example :l'obstacle
  • -al Example : le total
  •  -ail Example: le portail
  •  -amme Example: le programme Exception: la gamme
  •  - eau  Example : le tableau
  •  -ème Example : le problème 
  •  -er Example : le fer . Exception : la mer
  • - et Example : le billet
  • -isme Example: le tabagisme
  • -ment Example : le jugement. Exception : la jument
  • - oir Example : le tiroir
LA - Feminine nouns: Nouns ending in the letter groups below are feminine

Nouns ending in...
  • -ance Example : la France
  • -anse Example : la danse
  • -ée Example : la dictée. Exceptions: le lycée, le musée, 
  • -ence Example : la dépendance Exception : le silence
  • -ense Example : la défense
  • -esse Example : la jeunesse
  • - eur Example : la douceur  Exceptions: le bonheur, la malheur, 
  • -ie Example : la poésie Exception : le génie
  • -ière Example : la matière  Exception : le cimetière
  • -ise Example : la valise
  • -sion Example : la mission
  • - tié Example : l'amitié
  • -té Example : la santé Exceptions : le côté, le pâté, le traité, le comité
  • -tion Example: la natation Exception : le bastion
  • -ure Example : la nature
L' - When the noun, either masculine or feminine, starts with a vowel or a "h", use "l".
Example : l'Italie, l'usage, l'orage, l'hôpital, l'avalanche and in front of the word y =l'y.

LES - When the noun is plural (more than one), use "les". The plural of a noun is normally formed by adding -s . Example : la maison / les maisons

There are other patterns for singular/plural forms

If a singular noun ends in...
  • - al . The plural form is - aux. Example : l'animal/ les animaux
  • - al. The plural form is -als Example: le bal / les bals , le festival/ les festivals
  • -ail. The plural form is -aux. Example: le travail / les travaux
  • -ail The plural form is - ails. Example: le détail/ les détails
  • - au,-eau, -eu. For the plural form , add -x. Example : le bateau/les bateaux, le jeu/ les jeux
  • -ou. The plural form is -ous or oux. Example : le trou/ les trous, le bijou/les bijoux
  • - s, -x, -z. The noun stays the same in the plural. Example : le fils/ les fils, la voix/ les voix, le gaz/ les gaz

The definite articles le, la ,l' and les are usually used the same way as "the" in English. However in French it is required when it is omitted in English.

Here is when these articles are used:

1. Before abstract nouns or nouns used to generalise: La vie est belle. Life is beautiful.

2. Before names of countries, continents, regions and languages:
La France est le pays le plus visité en Europe. France is the most visited country in Europe.
L'espagnol est facile. Spanish is easy.

But the defnite article is not required after en and de, with a feminine place names only:
Je suis allée en Normandie. I went to Normandy.
Je reviens de Tunisie. I am back from Tunisia.

It is also not required with languages placed immediately after the verb parler:
On parle anglais. We speak English.

 3. Before arts, sciences, school subjects , sports and illnesses : Le football est populaire en France. Les maths sont importants.

4. Before parts of the body: Je me suis cassée la jambe. I broke my leg.

5. Before meals and drinks : Le déjeuner est servi de midi à quatorze heures. Lunch is served from 12 to 2pm.

6. Before fractions : les deux tiers ont votés. Two-thirds voted.

7. Before title : le Premier Ministre Castex, le Président Macron.



la femme = the woman
l'oie = the goose
les oies = the geese
le chien = the dog



 
Location: Leicestershire, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Les groupes de verbes en français

Image
In French, verbs are divided into 3 groups according to the ending of their infinitive. The infinitive is the form of the verb in the dictionary, without any mark of a tense. In English, the equivalent to an infinitive is when "to" is used in front of the verb. Example : to play, to go, to listen, to write Knowing which group a verb belongs to will be essential to form tenses accurately. The verbs être and avoir don't belong to a group.       1. Le 1er groupe/ the 1st group Verbs in this group end in - er (sauf aller ) and follow the pattern of the verb parler. Those verbs are regular which means that they will follow a regular pattern. Some verbs in this group have some variations: - Verbs ending in -ayer (p.ex. payer).Those verbs can follow 2 patterns : il paye and il paie - Verbs ending in -ger (p.ex. manger) Those verbs keep the vowel e after the letter g in front of the vowels a and o : il mangeait, nous mangeons. - Verbs endi...
Read more

Le verbe être au présent

Image
Le verbe être / The verb être   means to be and being ( le bien-être = well being ). It is one of the most important verbs in the French language. It is an irregular verb , which means it does not follow a regular pattern in conjugation (tense formation) You have to know it by heart in a variety of tenses.  Here is the verb être in the present tense: Je suis : I am Tu es : You are ( when talking to a friend/ someone you know well) Il est : He is Elle est : She is On est : We are (informal), one is Nous sommes : We are (formal)  Vous êtes : You are (formal or when talking to more than one friend) Ils sont : They are ( masculine plural or mixed group) Elles sont : They are (feminine plural only) Many idiomatic expressions use the verb être and it is important to know them and use them to show the range of your vocabulary. Here are 15 idiomatic expressions with être : 1. être à bout de force to be exhausted 2. être à jour to be up to date 3. être à l'aise to be at ea...
Read more

How to get top marks in the role-play task at GCSE French (AQA)

Image
 The GCSE French speaking exam consists of 3 tasks : a role-play, a photo-card and a conversation . Before the exam, you have 12 minutes to prepare your answers to the role and the photocard. In this post, let's have a look at how to be successful in the GCSE role-play task at Foundation and Higher tiers.  What is included in the task? - The task will include an introduction with a situation / context. It will also indicate if you need to address the other person as "tu" (informal, when talking to a friend) or "vous" ( formal, when talking to someone you don't know at a ticket office, in a restaurant, at the tourist office etc). Make sure you use the correct pronouns ( tu/ ton/ ta/ tes) (vous/ votre / vos) especially in the questions you have to ask. - For Foundation and Higher tiers, the task includes 5 bullets points, one unprepared question marked as ! and one question ask marked as ? - For Foundation and Higher tiers, remember to keep your answers short ...
Read more