Français

Course / Leçon 2 of 40

Le, la, les: gender and articles

After this lesson you know how French nouns get their gender, can use le, la, l', les, un, une and des correctly, can order breakfast in a café, and can hear the difference between é, è and silent e.

52 core words · 15 bonus cognates · 16 phrases

Pronunciation

The e family: é, è, ê and plain e

The letter e has three main sounds in French, and the accents tell you which one to use. That is why accents are not decoration: they are pronunciation instructions.

é = closed /e/

The accent aigu (é) gives a closed, tense /e/, like the vowel in German Tee or See, but shorter, and without the English glide of day.

  • le café /kafe/
  • l'université /ynivɛʁsite/
  • la société /sɔsjete/

The endings -er and -ez sound the same: parler /paʁle/, vous parlez /paʁle/.

è and ê = open /ɛ/

The accent grave (è) and the circonflexe (ê) give an open /ɛ/, like German Bett or English bed.

  • très /tʁɛ/
  • la mère /mɛʁ/
  • vous êtes /zɛt/
  • la fête /fɛt/

An e followed by a consonant in the same syllable also sounds /ɛ/, even without an accent: merci /mɛʁsi/, avec /avɛk/, elle /ɛl/, il est /ɛ/.

e without accent = /ə/ or silent

At the end of a syllable, a plain e is the weak /ə/, close to the e in German bitte or the a in English about:

  • le /lə/, je /ʒə/, ce /sə/, petit /pəti/

At the end of a word it is silent: la femme /fam/, la chose /ʃoz/. In fast speech it often disappears inside words too: samedi /samdi/.

Why it matters: le vs les

Spelling Sound Meaning
le café /lə/ the coffee (singular)
les cafés /le/ the coffees (plural)
de /də/ of
des /de/ some (plural)

Since the plural -s is silent, the article is often the only audible sign of the plural. Train your ear: /lə/ is one thing, /le/ is several.

Bonus: the circonflexe often marks an old s that disappeared. Compare la fête (English feast, German Fest), la forêt (forest, Forst), l'hôtel (hostel). Use it to guess meanings.

Grammar

Gender and articles: le, la, l', les, un, une, des

Every noun has a gender

French has two genders: masculine and feminine. There is no neuter. German das Haus becomes la maison (f), German die Sonne becomes le soleil (m). Do not translate the gender from German; learn every noun with its article.

Definite articles (the)

Singular Plural
masculine le café les cafés
feminine la table les tables
before a vowel or silent h **l'**homme, **l'**université les hommes, les universités

Like German der/die/das, but simpler: in the plural there is only les for both genders (like German die). With l' you cannot see the gender, so learn it: l'homme (m), l'université (f).

  • Le café est bon. (The coffee is good.)
  • La table est petite. (The table is small.)
  • L'addition, s'il vous plaît. (The bill, please.)
  • Les croissants sont là. (The croissants are there.)

Indefinite articles (a, some)

Singular Plural
masculine un croissant des croissants
feminine une table des tables

Des has no English or German equivalent: English says croissants or some croissants, German just Croissants. French cannot leave the article out.

  • Je prends un café. (I'll have a coffee.)
  • C'est une spécialité. (It's a speciality.)
  • Ce sont des étudiants. (They are students.)

Remember the rule from lesson 1: un /œ̃/ and une /yn/ sound very different. Liaison: un‿homme /œ̃nɔm/, des‿hommes /dezɔm/, les‿universités /lezynivɛʁsite/.

Gender hints from endings

You can predict the gender of many nouns from the ending:

Usually feminine Examples Usually masculine Examples
-tion la nation, la station -ment le moment, le document
-té la société, la priorité -age le fromage, le voyage
-ure la culture, la voiture -eau le bureau, le gâteau
-ence la différence -isme le tourisme
-ette la serviette, la baguette -ier le papier, le quartier

A final silent -e often (not always) signals feminine: la chose, la table, la vie. But le groupe, le problème, le musée are masculine. Exceptions to remember: la page, la plage, l'eau (f), le thé (m).

Strategy: when you learn a noun, say it aloud with le/la or un/une, never alone. Une chose, un jour, une fois.

Plural: just add a silent -s

Most nouns add -s, which is not pronounced: le croissant /kʁwasɑ̃/ → les croissants /kʁwasɑ̃/. Nouns already ending in -s, -x, -z do not change: le temps → les temps. Nouns in -eau take -x: le gâteau → les gâteaux.

You hear the plural in the article (le /lə/ vs les /le/) and in the verb (est vs sont):

  • La spécialité est excellente. → Les spécialités sont excellentes.

de + le = du

You met du and au in lesson 1. They are fused forms: de + le = du, à + le = au, de + les = des, à + les = aux. De la and à la do not fuse.

  • le café du coin (the café on the corner, lit. of the corner)
  • un café au lait (a coffee with milk)
Cognate pattern

-ité = -ity = -ität

French -ité (sometimes just -té) matches English -ity and German -ität. These nouns are almost always feminine, like German die Universität.

Pronounce the ending /ite/ with a closed é and a light stress on it: u-ni-ver-si-TÉ.

French English German
la qualité quality die Qualität
la réalité reality die Realität
la société society, company die Gesellschaft, Firma
l'université university die Universität
l'identité identity die Identität
la possibilité possibility, option die Möglichkeit
la capacité capacity, ability die Kapazität, Fähigkeit
la quantité quantity die Quantität, Menge
l'électricité electricity die Elektrizität
la majorité majority die Mehrheit
la spécialité speciality die Spezialität
l'humidité humidity die Feuchtigkeit
la priorité priority, right of way die Priorität, Vorfahrt
l'intensité intensity die Intensität
l'opportunité opportunity die Gelegenheit
la communauté community die Gemeinschaft
la liberté liberty, freedom die Freiheit
l'activité activity die Aktivität

Traps

  • Masculine exceptions: le côté (side), l'été (summer, m), le comité, le traité (treaty). And le député (member of parliament) is not an -ité noun at all: it comes from the verb députer.
  • La société in business French usually means a company (Firma): une société anonyme = a public limited company (AG).
  • La priorité on road signs means right of way (Vorfahrt): priorité à droite.
  • L'opportunité exists, but everyday French prefers l'occasion for opportunity. And l'actualité means the news, not actuality.
  • Some words go through -té with a changed stem: la beauté (beauty), la santé (health, not guessable).