NOUNS & ARTICLES

A. The Definite Article

• The definite article agrees with the noun in gender and number

Singular Plural
Masculine Le Les
Feminine La Les
Both masculine, feminine before: L’ Les
(1) vowel sound or (2) mute h

1. Masculine Nouns – le, les, l’

Le chat The cat Le chien The dog

Le cinéma The cinema, film, Le cours The course,
movies class
Le football Soccer le frère The brother
Le garcon The boy Le livre The book
Le téléphone The telephone Le vin The wine

2. Feminine Nouns – la, les, les

Le banque the bank La boutique The store, shop

La chemise The shirt La femme The woman,
wife
La jeune fille The girl La lampe The lamp
La langue The language La sœur The sister
La table The table La voiture The car

3. Masculine and Feminine Articles Before a Vowel Sound or Mute h – l’, les

L’ami (m) The friend L’amie (f) The friend

L’anglais (m) English L’architecte (m,f) The architect
L’empoi (m) The job L’ènergie (f) The energy
L’enfant (m,f) The child L’histoire (f) The story,
history
L’homme (m) The man L’hôtel (m) The hotel
L’île (f) The island L’orange (f) The orange
fruit
L’université (f) The university L’usine (f) The factory

B. Singular Nouns and the Definite Article

• Definite article indicates specific, person, place, thing, or idea. It also

precedes nouns that are used in general sense
➢ C’est l’amie da me mere. That’s (she’s) my mother’s friend.
➢ Les Français adorent le football et le cyclisme. The French love soccer
and cycling
C. The Mute and Aspirate H

1. Mute h – general rule; letter h is always silent in French. Words like

l’homme are pronounced beginning with the first vowel sound.

2. Aspirate h – exception; the article does NOT elide the –e or –a. Still also
silent letter. such as:
➢ La harpe (the harp)
➢ Le héros (the hero)
➢ La honte (shame)
➢ Le hors-dœuvre (the appetizer)

NOTE: Elide the definite article in mute h. No elision in aspirate h.

D. Gender of Nouns

1. Gender is linked to noun word, rarely to the physical thing or the person

2. Learn the gender of a noun with its article: le livre and la fenêtre

3. Genders of nouns starting with a vowel need to be memorized separately:

l’âge (m; the age), l’hôtel (m; the hotel), l’horloge (f; the clock)

4. Nouns that refer to males are usually masculine nouns (l’homme) while
nouns that refer to females are usually feminine (la femme)

5. The ending of a noun can be a clue

a. Masculine nouns:
(1) –eau le bureau, le châtaeu (NB: l’eau and la peau is feminine)
(2) –isme le tourisme, l’idéalisme
(3) –ment le moment, le départment

b. Feminine nouns:
(1) –ence la difference, l’existence (NB: le silence is masculine)
(2) –ie la tragédie, la compagnie
(3) –ion la nation, la function
(4) –té l’université, la diversité
(5) –ude l’attitude, la solitude
(6) –ure la literature, l’ouverture

6. Nouns adopted from other languages are usually masculine

➢ le jogging, le tennis, le jazz, le basket-ball
➢ EXCEPTION: la pizza

7. Some nouns referring to people indicate gender by their ending. The

feminine form ends in –e

L’Allemand the German l’Allemande the German

L’Americain the American l’americaine the American
 L’ami the friend l’amie the friend
L’étudiant the student l’étudiente the student
Le Français the Frenchman la Française the Frenchwoman

8. Some nouns that end in –e and the names of some professions have only
one singular form, used to refer to both males and females.
➢ The article remains the same whether actual person is male or female

L’auteur (m) the author la personne the person

L’écrivain (m) the writer le professeur the teacher, professor
L’ingénieur (m) the engineer la sentinelle the guard, watchman
Le médecin the physician la victime the victim

9. For certain nouns referring to people, the gender of the individual is

sometimes indicated by the article alone.
➢ Such nouns most often end in –e
➢ Spelling of noun does NOT change when gender changes

Le journaliste/la journaliste the journalist

Le secrétaire/ la secrétaire the secretary
Le touriste/ la touriste the tourist

E. The Indefinite Article

1. Corresponds to the a(an) in English; the indefinite article is the same for
nouns beginning with a consonant or vowel

Singular Plural
Masculine Un Des
Feminine Une Des

2. Masculine Nouns

Un ami a friend un hôtel a hotel

Un autobus a bus un jardin a gardin
Un billet a ticket un musée a museum
Un dictionnaire a dictionary un pianist a pianist
Un fauteuil an easy chair un salon a living room

3. Feminine Nouns

Une amie a friend une librairie a bookstore

Une bibliothéque a library une mére a mother
Une heroine a heroine une page a (book) page
Une Hollandaise a Dutchwoman une valise a suitcase
Une leçon a lesson une ville a city

NB: l’heroïne is pronounced with mute h and elides its definite article.
In le héros, the h is aspirate so no elision.
F. Plural Nouns

1. The plural definite article of all nouns is les; while the plural indefinite
article is des

2. General rules:

a. Mostly, pluralization is done by adding an –s to the singular form

b. Nouns that end in –s, -x, or –z in the singular stay the same in plural

Un choix des choix a choice, (some) choices

Le cours les cours the course, the courses
Le nez les nez the nose, the noses

c. Some plural noun endings are irregular

Le bureau les bureaux the desk (or office), the desks (or offices)
Un hôpital des hôpitaux a hospital, (some) hospitals
Le lieu les lieux the place, the places
Le travail les travaux the work, the tasks (or jobs)

d. The masculine form is always used to refer to a group that includes at

least one male

Un étudiant et six étudiantes des étudiants students

Un Français et une Française des Français French
I. DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES

A. General Rules

1. Used to describe nouns.

2. Usually follow the nouns they modify
3. They may also follow forms of the verb être (to be)

Un proffeseur intéressant an interesting teacher

Un ami sincere a sincere friend
Il est pratique He/it is practical
Elle est sportive She is athletic

B. Agreement of Adjectives in Gender and Number

1. Adjectives agree in BOTH gender and number with the nouns they modify
• Feminine form of adjectives usually ends in –e
• The regular plural adds an –s

Masculine un ami intelligent des amis intelligents

Feminine une amie intelligente des amies intelligentes

2. If masculine singular form of adjective ends in an unaccented or silent –e,

ending remains the same in the feminine singular

C’est un homme extraordinaire. He’s an extraordinary man.

C’est une femme extraordinaire. She’s an extraordinary woman.
Paul est optomiste. Paul is optimistic
Mais Claire est pessimiste. But Claire is pessimistic.

3. If singular form of adjective ends in –s or –x, plural ending remains the same

Bradley est anglais; les amis de Bradley sont aussi anglais.

Bradley is English; Bradley’s friends are also English.

M. Blin est généreux; ses enfants sont aussi généreux.

M. Blin is generous; his children are also generous.

4. If a plural subject or group contains one or more masculine items or people,

the plural adjective is masculine.

Suzanne et Georges sont intelligents.

Suzanne and Geroges are intelligent.

Suzanne et Amélie sont intelligentes.

Suzanne and Amélie are intelligent.

5. Invariable adjectives or adjectival phrases do not change in gender or number.

Ce sont des chaussures chic et bon marché.

These are stylish and inexpensive shoes.
 6. Some descriptive adjectives have irregular forms

Masculine Feminine
Conservateur; conservateurs conservatrice; conservatrices
Courageux; courageux courageuse; courageuses
Fier; fiers fière; fières
Gentil; gentils gentille; gentiles
Naturel; naturels naturelle; naturelles
Parisien; parisiens parisienne; parisiennes
Sportif; sportifs sportive; sportives
Travailleur; travailleurs travailleuse; travailleuses

C. Adjectives of Color

1. Adjectives of color normally follow the noun and agree with it in gender and
in number

Une chemise bleue a blue skirt

Des livres gris gray books
Des chaussures vertes green shoes

2. Two adjectives of color, blanc and violet, have irregular feminine forms

Un crayon blanc a white pencil

Une chemise blanche a white shirt
Des cahiers violets purple notebooks
Des voitures violettes purple cars

3. Adjectives of color ending in silent –e are spelled the same in both masculine
and feminine

Des cahiers jaunes yellow notebook

Des fleurs jaunes yellow flowers
Une chaise rouge a red chair
Un manteaux rouge a red coat
Des pull-overs roses pink sweaters
Des chausettes roses pink socks

4. Two adjectives of color, marron and orange, are invariable in gender and
number

Des chaussures marron brown shoes

Des sacs orange orange handbags

5. The names of colors are masculine when used as nouns

J’aime le rose et le bleu I love pink and blue

D. Adjectives that Precede the Noun

1. GENERAL RULE: Descriptive adjectives follow the noun

EXCEPTION: The following adjectives usually precede it
Autre other joli(e) pretty
Beau (m.s.) beautiful, handsome mauvais(e) bad
Bon(ne) good même same
Grand(e) big, tall, great nouveau (m.s.) new
Gros(se) fat, big petit(e) small, short
Jeune young vieux (m.s.) old

2. The adjectives beau, nouveau, vieux are irregular. Each has a second
masculine singular form that is used before a vowel sound or mute h

Beaux Singular Plural

Masculine Beau Beaux
Masculine before vowel sound Bel Beaux
Feminine Belle Belles

Nouveau Singular Plural

Masculine Nouveau Nouveaux
Masculine before vowel sound Nouvel Nouveaux
Feminine Nouvelle nouvelles

Vieux Singular Plural

Masculine Vieux Vieux
Masculine before vowel sound Vieil Vieux
Feminine Vieille vieilles

C’est une belle maison. It’s a pretty house.

C’est un vieil homme. He’s an old person.
C’est le nouveau professeur. That’s the new teacher.

3. When plural adjective precedes a plural noun, des shortens to de or d’

De grandes autos (some) big cars

De nouvelles idées (some) new ideas
D’autres amis (some) other friends

4. A few adjectives that usually precede nouns can also follow them. This
change in position changes the meaning.

Un ancien professeur (a former teacher)

Une maison ancienne an ancient house
Le dernier exercice the final exercise
L’année dernière last year
Un pauvre garcon an unfortunate boy
Un garcon pauvre a poor boy
Une chére amie a dear friend
Un repas cher an expensive meal