Posted by Chester Morton / Tuesday, 7 February 2017 / No comments
The definite article in French
The French definite article agrees
with the noun in gender and number.
Singular Plural
Masculine le les
Feminine la les
Masculine
and feminine l’ les
before a
vowel sound
or mute h
Masculine
Nouns
Masculine singular nouns take the
definite article le. The genders of French nouns are hard to guess. You
will learn them as you go along. Pronounce the following nouns with their
article. Refer to the Guide to Pronunciation as needed.
le chat (the
cat)
le frère (the
brother)
le chien (the
dog)
le garçon
(the boy)
le cinéma
(the cinema, film, movies)
le livre (the
book)
le cours (the
course, class)
le
téléphone (the telephone)
le
football (soccer) le vin (the wine)
Feminine
Nouns
Feminine singular
nouns take the definite article la.
la banque
(the bank) la
lampe (the lamp)
la
boutique (the store, shop) la
langue (the language)
la chemise
(the shirt) la
soeur (the sister)
la femme (the
woman, wife) la
table (the table)
la jeune
fille (the girl) la
voiture (the car)
Many feminine nouns end in -e,
but please don’t consider this a general rule because there are notable
exceptions
Masculine
and Feminine Articles before a Vowel Sound
or Mute h
The definite article l’ is
used before all singular nouns, maculine and feminine, starting with a vowel or
a mute (non-aspirate) h. The -e or -a of the definite
article is dropped (elided). When the noun starts with h, pronounce the
vowel that follows the h.
Learn the gender (m. or f.)
in parentheses for each noun so that when later you begin to attach adjectives
to nouns, it will be easier to remember their gender.
l’ami (m.) the friend (m.)
l’histoire
(f.) the story, history
l’amie (f.) the friend (f.)
l’homme
(m.) the man
l’anglais (m.) English (language)
l’hôtel
(m.)
the hotel l’architecte (m. or f.) the
architect
l’île
(f.)
the island l’emploi (m.) the job
l’orange (f.)
the orange (fruit)
l’énergie (f.) energy l’université (f.) the university
l’enfant (m. or f.) the
child (m. or f.)
l’usine (f.) the factory
Singular
Nouns and the Definite Article
The
definite article indicates a specific person, place, thing, or idea. It also
precedes
nouns that are used in a general sense.
C’est l’amie de ma mère. That’s (She’s) my mother’s friend.
Les Français adorent
le football The
French love soccer and
et le cyclisme. cycling.
Le,
la, and l’
Remember:
Le is used with masculine singular nouns beginning with a consonant;
la is used with feminine singular nouns beginning with a consonant;
and l’ is used with both masculine and feminine singular nouns beginning
with a vowel and for most nouns beginning with the letter h.
The
Initial Letter h
The letter h is
always silent in French. Words starting with the letter h— l’homme,
for example—are pronounced beginning with the first vowel sound. This is called
a mute h.
However, in front of
some French words starting with h, for historical reasons, the article
does not elide the -e or -a. For example:
la *harpe
the harp la *honte shame
le *héros
the hero le *hors-d’oeuvre the appetizer
This is called an aspirate
h. This h is also a silent letter; it is not pronounced. French
dictionaries show the aspirate h with a diacritical mark. In this book, words
beginning with an aspirate h are indicated by an asterisk (*).
