By the end of this lesson you'll know the three ways to say "the" in French, and why every French noun has a gender.
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine. The word for "the" changes to match it. This is one of the first habits to build: learn each noun with its article.
You've already met some nouns without noticing: in the greetings lesson, bonjour is just bon + jour (good + day), and le jour is masculine. In the lesson on countries and nationalities, you met la France and le Canada. The little words in front are the articles from this lesson.
The three forms
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| le | luh | the (masculine singular)le livre (the book) |
| la | lah | the (feminine singular)la table (the table) |
| les | lay | the (all plurals)les livres (the books) |
Le goes with a masculine noun, and la with a feminine noun. Les goes with every plural, whatever the gender, so les livres and les tables both use it. You'll see how to make nouns plural in the lesson on plural nouns.
Before a vowel or a silent h, both le and la shorten to l': l'ami (the friend), l'heure (the hour).
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| l' | l | the (before a vowel or silent h)Replaces both le and la. |
| le livre | luh LEE-vruh | the book |
| la table | lah TAH-bluh | the table |
| le jour | luh ZHOOR | the day |
| l'ami | lah-MEE | the friend |
| l'heure | LUHR | the hour |
| le garçon | luh gar-SOHN | the boy |
| la femme | lah FAHM | the woman |
| l'école | lay-KOL | the school |
| les enfants | lay-zahn-FAHN | the children |
Why l' exists
French avoids two vowel sounds bumping into each other. Le ami would be awkward to say, so the vowel of the article drops out and an apostrophe takes its place: l'ami. The two words are then said as one, lah-MEE.
This has a side effect: l' hides the gender. L'école is feminine and l'ami is masculine, but you can't tell from the article. When you note down a word that starts with a vowel, write its gender next to it. In the next lesson, you'll learn un and une, which don't shorten, so they show you the gender every time.
How the articles sound
The three forms sound clearly different, so listen to the article as well as the noun:
- le sounds like luh
- la sounds like lah
- les sounds like lay
Before a vowel, the s of les is pronounced as a z and joins onto the next word: les enfants sounds like lay-zahn-FAHN. The s at the end of enfants stays silent.
People and things
With people, the gender usually matches the person: le garçon (the boy), la femme (the woman). With things and ideas, there's no logic you can rely on, so the article is your only sure guide.
Examples
le garçon
the boy
la femme
the woman
l'école
the school
les enfants
the children
What's next
Next, the lesson on un, une and des shows you how to say "a" and "some".