LEARN

FRENCH
BY PODCAST
AUDIO PODCASTS
FOR LEARNERS
OF FRENCH Lesson
01
AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE

Starter Pack
Nouns and
indefinite articles

Plus Publications
Bramley
Douglas Road
Cork
Ireland
(t) 353-(0)21-4847444
(f) 353-(0)21-4847675
(e) editor@learnfrenchbypodcast.com
(i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com
 Starter Pack: lesson 1
Topic : the indefinite articles
• un : [masculine singular indefinite article]
• une: [feminine singular indefinite article]
• des: [plural indefinite article]
Dialogue

This very short lesson deals with one of the real basics in French – the Note
gender of nouns. In fact, speakers of Romance languages like Italian,
Spanish and French, for example, have something of an instinct for un garçon
noun gender given that this is an integral part of their languages. [= a boy]
Not so, however, for English speakers. It’s imperative, therefore, when
learning French, that we learn not only nouns themselves, but their Note that the cedilla accent makes the ‘c’ sound like
an -s. Consider also:
gender, too. In other words, that we learn a noun, accompanied by its ça.
indefinite article. And, just before we continue, let’s point out – if you [= this / that]
don’t already know – that a noun is generally a person place or thing un Français
and an indefinite article is either ‘a’ or ‘an’ in English. [= a French person]
un maçon
Amélie, in French we have both masculine and feminine nouns. Each [= a builder]
has its own indefinite article. For a masculine noun, this article is…
un
un Note
un roi
Let’s note that there’s a nasal ‘n’ sound. Once again, its… [= a king]
un
The sequence of vowels (or ‘diphthong’) ‘oi’ is similar in
… and, for a feminine noun, we have: pronunciation to the English ‘wah’. Consider also:
une une fois
une [= one time / once]
moi
[= me / myself]
Now, it’s sometimes easy to know whether a French noun is une noix
masculine or feminine. Obviously, the word for ‘boy’ is masculine. [= a walnut]
In French, we’ll say…
un garçon
un garçon
Note
Similarly, for ‘a brother’, we’ll say…
un frère une reine
un frère [= a queen]

Finally, for ‘a king’, we’ll say… This word is pronounced like:

la peine
un roi [= the pain / sorrow]
un roi la Seine
[= the [river] Seine [in Paris]]
When talking of feminine nouns, we’ll be using the feminine la haine
indefinite article, ‘une’. For ‘a queen’, Amélie, we’ll say… [= the hatred]
une reine
une reine
Note
For ‘a girl’, we’ll say…
une fille une soeur
une fille [= a sister]

This word is pronounced like :

Where you see And finally, for ‘a sister’ we’ll have… le beurre
this symbol  … une soeur [= the butter]
une soeur la peur
  … it’s your turn [= the fear]
to repeat what
un leurre
you’ve heard.
[= a lure]
Then we’ll
repeat once
more.

2 © Plus Publications, 2008. All rights reserved.

 Starter Pack: lesson 1
Topic : the indefinite articles
• un : [masculine singular indefinite article]
• une: [feminine singular indefinite article]
• des: [plural indefinite article]

Note
Dialogue

But what about all the other nouns which do not have an obvious
gender? ‘Chair’ or ‘car’ or ‘phone’? Well, there’s no easy answer other than
to make sure to learn the gender when learning the noun. Often, we’ll une collaboration
[= a collaboration]
find that the ending of the word will indicate its gender: for example,
nouns ending in ‘–age’ are usually masculine, like ‘a dam’ Amélie, which Listen carefully to the pronounciation of the ending.
is: Though the French and English words appear similar,
un barrage the pronunciation of the ending, in particular, is
un barrage markedly different.
Consider similar words, ending in -ation:
une nation
… or, ‘a cloud’, which is: Attention!
un nuage une information
un nuage

… or ‘a floor’, or ‘a storey’, which is:

un étage
un étage

On the other hand, nouns ending in ‘–ation’ and ‘–ade’ are usually
feminine, like the word for ‘a hesitation’ which is:
une hésitation
une hésitation

… or ‘a collaboration’, which is:

une collaboration
une collaboration
Note
… and ‘a walk’ which is:
une promenade une promenade
[= a walk]
une promenade
Depending on the context, une promenade can mean ‘a
… and ‘a front’ or ‘a façade’, that’s: walk’, ‘a trip’, ‘a trek’, etc. Consider the following :
une façade
une façade une promenade en montagne
[= a walk in the mountains]
une promenade en bateau
Now, in the accompanying Lesson Guide, we have a useful grid with [= a boat trip]
these endings which will give us a good indication – if we don’t already une promenade à cheval
know – of the gender of a noun from its ending. [= a horse trek]

Suffixes indicating the masculine Suffixes indicating the feminine

Examples
–age piratage (piracy), esclavage (slavery), tournage (filming)
–al signal, mal (evil)
–ant restaurant, géant (giant), passant (passer-by)
–ard renard (fox), buvard ((piece of ) blotting paper)
–at pensionnat (boarding school)
–ateur consommateur (consumer), aspirateur (vacuum cleaner)
–eau manteau (coat), morceau (piece)
–et cornet, filet (net)
–ier émeutier (rioter), levier (lever)
–isme séisme (earthquake), bouddhisme (Buddhism)
–iteur moniteur
–ot canot ((life)boat, flot (waves (pl), flood)
Examples
–ade promenade, limonade
–aie haie (hedge), monnaie (change, currency)
–ance espérance (hope, expectation)
–ation fabrication (manufacture)
–ence patience, différence
–erie pâtisserie (pastry shop), boulangerie (baker’s)
–esse délicatesse (delicacy, tactfulness), prouesse (feat, prowess)
–ette calculette (calculator), recette (recipe), navette (shuttle)
–ise cerise (cherry), marchandise (merchandise)
–té volonté (will), vérité (truth), santé (health)
–ude certitude (certainty), étude (study), habitude (habit, custom)

© Plus Publications, 2008. All rights reserved. 3

 Starter Pack: lesson 1
Topic : the indefinite articles
• un : [masculine singular indefinite article]
• une: [feminine singular indefinite article]
• des: [plural indefinite article]
Dialogue

Amélie, before we finish, we must also point out that, along with the singular
indefinite articles ‘un’ and ‘une’, there’s a plural indefinite article. We’ll use it when
referring to several things together, for example when we are referring in English
to ‘pens’ or ‘cars’, or ‘people’, without specifying exactly how many of these things
there are. That plural indefinite article is:
des
des

And note that it’s not a hard ‘d’ sound like we find in the English word ‘day’. The tip
of the tongue hits the front of the palate, softening the sound. Let’s listen again…
des

To put this article into action, when referring to ‘boys’, we’ll say…
des garçons
des garçons

And when referring to girls, we’ll say…

des filles
des filles

So, in the plural, we use the same article, regardless of whether we’re referring to
a masculine or feminine noun.
Amélie, that’s it, in fact, for this lesson. And it’s worth repeating one more
time, when learning new nouns, make sure to learn the accompanying indefinite
article ‘un’ or ‘une’. The gender will play a major role later when we talk about
using prepositions and adjectives. That’s it for this lesson, until next time…
À la prochaine.

If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate  … Vocab extra   !
Now it’s your turn  …

1. … girls • à.............................on, in, to

2. A girl. • bateau (m)..............boat
• cheval (m)..............horse
3. … builders. • information (f).......item of news
4. … boat trips. • montagne (f)..........mountain
5. … nations.

See how you have fared in the exercise above by clicking on the graphic.
(We’ll post the answers on our website shortly after this lesson has been released.)

click!

Got an idea for a lesson ?  … click!

Seen a typo ?  … click!

Tell us what you’d like us to discuss. Please let us know where.

4 © Plus Publications, 2008. All rights reserved.