TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lesson Plan 1: NAMING THINGS! ..................................................... 2

Fast Forward! ........................................................................ 2
Male and Female Words ............................................................ 2
Living Things ......................................................................... 4

Par Exemple (For Example) ........................................... 4

D’autres Exemples (Other Examples) ................................ 4

Non-Living Things.................................................................... 5

Par Exemple ............................................................. 5

Quelques Exceptions! (Some Exceptions!) .......................... 5

When There’s More than One - Plurals........................................... 6
Action Replay! ....................................................................... 7
More Audio!........................................................................... 8

Extra Words .............................................................. 8

Les Activités (The Activities) ...................................................... 9
Male or Female?................................................................... 9
Le or La?............................................................................ 9
More Le or La?....................................................................10
Translation Time!................................................................11
Le or La? Some Exceptions! ....................................................12
Les Réponses (The Answers) ......................................................13
Male or Female?..................................................................13
Le or La?...........................................................................13
More Le or La?....................................................................13
Translation Time!................................................................14
Le or La? Some Exceptions! ....................................................14

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Lesson Plan 1: NAMING THINGS!
Fast Forward!
Nouns are words used to name or identify a person, animal, place, thing, or
idea. Examples include: girl, cat, flower, window, and hotel.
The first thing to learn about French is that all nouns have a gender. In
other words, all objects and living things are grouped as either;
► masculine (male) words,
► or feminine (female) words.
Just as in English, French nouns can either be singular, such as “cat”,
“chat”, or plural (i.e. more than one), like “cats”, “chats”.
The second thing to learn is that French has pronunciation principles
(explained in detail in your Learning Companion). Briefly, the important
points are:
► Consonants are silent at the end of a word, when each word is spoken
individually,
► All h’s are silent at the beginning of a word.

Male and Female Words

Gender definition is at the heart of French communication. This is what
gives the language balance and harmony as you learn to speak it and write
it.
The concept of gender can feel confusing for new students of the French
language. Having a gender does not mean that nouns actually refer to male
or female things, although, in most circumstances, the nouns that refer to
males (such as a male doctor or a male animal) are masculine, while nouns
that refer to females are generally feminine (such as a female doctor or
female animal).

Le soleil La lune
In many situations, you will be able to distinguish between masculine and
feminine nouns by the distinctive association to a gender. For example, the
sun tends to be associated with masculine imagery, and in French we find
that its gender is also masculine: “le soleil”. The moon tends to be
associated with feminine imagery, and, in French, it is feminine: “la lune”.

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In this Lesson Plan, there will be repeated clues to help you understand this
concept better with word endings and the short words used before the
noun, known as the article “the” in English and “Le” and “La” in French.
► Le = masculine article, the, e.g. Le soleil.
► La = feminine article, the, e.g. La lune.
It is important to note that without “le” in front of “soleil”, and “la” in
front of “lune”, the words are incomplete and incorrect!
You may find it impossible to figure out the gender of other nouns, however.
For example, how would anyone know whether “a table” or “a cup” is
masculine or feminine? (“La table” and “la tasse” are both feminine.)

La table La tasse

You won’t be able to figure out the gender of most nouns from their English
equivalents. Once you know the word in French, however, you’ll be able to
figure out the gender by becoming familiar with its sound and where it fits
in the rhythm of a sentence.
In everyday conversation and communication, we use nouns all the time.
As we continue to talk about nouns in French, it’s useful to talk about both
living things and abstract things so that we can understand the concept of
gender.
As mentioned previously, the article (“the”) before a noun in French is not
only an integral part of the root word, but is also a major clue to the gender
of the word. In other words, as you learn new words, you will always be
learning them with either a Le in front, as in “Le soleil”, “the sun”, or a
“La” in front, as in “La lune”, “the moon”. This will help you to begin
categorizing genders as you build your conversation skills.
► As a general guide, groups of words termed masculine often end with
a consonant, and groups of words termed feminine often end with the
vowel e. Note that there are plenty of exceptions to this guideline!
► Le is always in front of a masculine noun, and La is always in front of
a feminine noun, unless the noun is a plural, or the noun begins with a
vowel (this is explained fully in the next Lesson Plan).

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Living Things
When talking about living things, gender is usually obvious:

Par Exemple (For Example)

Masculine nouns (ending with a silent consonant)
1.1 Le chat
The (male) cat
1.2 Le chien
The (male) dog
1.3 Le musicien
The (male) musician
1.4 Le garçon Le chat
The boy
Feminine nouns (ending with vowel “e”)
1.5 La chatte
The (female) cat
1.6 La chienne
The (female) dog
1.7 La musicienne
The (female) musician
1.8 La fille
The girl La fille

D’autres Exemples (Other Examples)

1.9 Ou est le chat?
Where is the (male) cat?
1.10 La chanteuse accompagne le musicien
The singer (a woman) accompanies the
musician (a man)
1.11 La fille pleure
The girl is crying La fille pleure
1.12 Le garçon habite en France
The boy lives in France

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Non-Living Things
When talking about non-living things, gender clues are not so obvious! Who
could guess that the word “problem” would be masculine? Or that the word
“destruction” would be feminine? Non-living things can be quite tricky to
assign a gender to.

Par Exemple
Masculine nouns ending with a silent consonant
1.13 Le gant
The glove
1.14 Le clavier
The keyboard
1.15 Le rasoir
The razor
1.16 Le four
Le clavier
The oven
Feminine nouns ending with vowel “e”
1.17 La chaise
The chair
1.18 La porte
The door
1.19 La guitare
The guitar
1.20 La fenêtre
The window La guitare

Quelques Exceptions! (Some Exceptions!)

Masculine nouns ending with vowels
1.21 Le pinceau
The paintbrush
1.22 Le neveu
The nephew
1.23 Le problème
The problem
1.24 Le fromage Le pinceau
The cheese

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Feminine nouns ending with consonants
1.25 La conversation
The conversation
1.26 La vapeur
Steam
1.27 La fleur
The flower
Remember that in French, all nouns need to be
defined by “Le” or “La” even when you wouldn’t La conversation
necessarily do this with the English equivalent
“the”.
For example in English you might say “there is steam coming out of the
kettle”, in French you would refer to “steam” as “La vapeur” and not
“vapeur”.

When There’s More than One - Plurals

How do you take a singular noun in French and make it plural?
Amazingly enough it’s not that different from English. Just as you add an –s
in English (such as with cats or dogs), you often add the same ending in
French. The other frequent indication of a plural word in French is to add
an “x”.
► For nouns ending in a consonant, add an s to make them plural. E.g.
chat becomes chats.
► For nouns that end in eu, au, and eau add x to make them plural.
E.g. neveu becomes neveux, pinceau becomes pinceaux.
And just to make things interesting there are a few exceptions too, which
we will talk about as your vocabulary increases later in the program.
► Gender also plays its part in plurals! For a group of mixed gender
items or people, always use the masculine plural.
E.g. 1 chat + 2 chattes = 3 chats

Le chat Les chats

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Action Replay!
► Gender
► In French all nouns have a gender, that is, nouns are either
feminine or masculine.
► As a general guide, groups of words termed masculine often
end with a consonant, and groups of words termed feminine
often end with the vowel “e”.
► Pronunciation
► Consonants are silent at the end of a word, when each word
is spoken individually,
► All h’s are silent at the beginning of a word.
► Le and La
► In English we use the as the article, in French we use Le as
the masculine article and La as the feminine article.
► Le is always in front of a masculine noun, and La is always in
front of a feminine noun, unless the noun is a plural, or the
noun begins with a vowel (this is explained fully in the next
Lesson Plan).
► Plurals
► For nouns ending in a consonant, add an s to make them
plural.
► For nouns that end in eu, au, and eau add x to make them
plural.
► For a group of mixed gender items or people, always use the
masculine plural.

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More Audio!
These audio tracks are for all the words in this Lesson Plan that you haven’t
heard yet! Most of them will be used in the following exercises.

Extra Words
1.28 Le docteur The doctor
1.29 La pluie The rain
1.30 Le crayon The pencil
1.31 Le poisson The fish
1.32 La colère Anger
1.33 La chaleur Heat
1.34 La joie Joy
1.35 Le vent The wind
1.36 La table The table
1.37 La lune The moon
1.38 Le soleil The sun

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Les Activités (The Activities)
Male or Female?
In the first space provided, write whether the word is a male or female
noun. And in the second space write the translation! The first one is done
for you!
Male (M) or Female (F) Translation
Example Le chat M The (male) cat _
Q.1 La musicienne ________ ____________________
Q.2 Le musicien ________ ____________________
Q.3 La chatte ________ ____________________
Q.4 La chienne ________ ____________________
Q.5 La fille ________ ____________________
Q.6 Le chien ________ ____________________
Q.7 Le garçon ________ ____________________
Q.8 Le soleil ________ ____________________
Q.9 La lune ________ ____________________
Q.10 La chaise ________ ____________________

Le or La?
In the first space provided, write whether the noun should have la or le in
front of it! And in the second space write the English translation!
Le or La Translation
Example La chaise The chair _
Q.11 ___ four ______________
Q.12 ___ problème ______________
Q.13 ___ gant ______________
Q.14 ___ rasoir ______________
Q.15 ___ fenêtre ______________
Q.16 ___ conversation ______________
Q.17 ___ clavier ______________
Q.18 ___ porte ______________
Q.19 ___ vapeur ______________
Q.20 ___ pinceau ______________

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More Le or La?

Q.21 ____ docteur Q.22 ____ pluie Q.23 ____ crayon

The doctor rain The pencil

Q.24 ____ poisson Q.25 ____ colère Q.26 ____ chaleur

The fish anger The heat

Q.27 ____ joie Q.28 ____ vent Q.29 ____ lune

The joy wind The moon

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Translation Time!

Q.30 ______________ Q.31 _____________ Q.32 _____________

The table The (male) cat The sun

Q.33 ____________ Q.34 ____________ Q.35 _____________

The singer The chair The (male) dog

Q.36 ____________ Q.37 _____________ Q.38 _____________

The oven The musician The girl

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Le or La? Some Exceptions!

Q.39 ____ fleur Q.40 ____ sourire

The flower The smile

Q.41 ____ nuit Q.42 ____ cadeau

The night The present

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Les Réponses (The Answers)
Male or Female?
A.1 Female The (female) musician
A.2 Male The (male) musician
A.3 Female The (female) cat
A.4 Female The (female) dog
A.5 Female The girl
A.6 Male The dog
A.7 Male The boy
A.8 Male The sun
A.9 Female The moon
A.10 Female The chair

Le or La?
A.11 Male The oven
A.12 Male The problem
A.13 Male The glove
A.14 Male The razor
A.15 Female The window
A.16 Female The conversation
A.17 Male The keyboard
A.18 Female The door
A.19 Female Steam
A.20 Male The paintbrush

More Le or La?
A.21 Le docteur
A.22 La pluie
A.23 Le crayon
A.24 Le poisson
A.25 La colère
A.26 La chaleur
A.27 La joie
A.28 Le vent
A.29 La lune

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Translation Time!
A.30 La table
A.31 Le chat
A.32 Le soleil
A.33 La chanteuse
A.34 La chaise
A.35 Le chien
A.36 Le four
A.37 Le musicien
A.38 La fille

Le or La? Some Exceptions!

A.39 La fleur
A.40 Le sourire
A.41 La nuit
A.42 Le cadeau

La Fin (The End)

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