THE ARTICLES IN FRENCH
I. The Definite Articles
Note that in French, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. There is no neuter gender of
nouns, as there is in English. Therefore, the articles, which describe these nouns are also
either masculine or feminine or plural and will vary according to the word they precede.
The definite articles in French all correspond to the English article ‘the’ and have four forms.
1) Le: is used before all masculine, singular nouns:
Examples:
a) Le père – the father
b) Le frère – the brother
c) Le garçon – the boy
d) Le stylo – the pen
e) Le livre – the book
f) Le professeur – the teacher / the professor
g) Le docteur / le médecin – the doctor
(Note that the names of certain professions like teacher, doctor and engineer can be
used only with a masculine article, in French, even when referring to a woman.)
2) La: is used before all feminine, singular nouns:
Examples:
a) La mère – the father
b) La fille – the girl or daughter
c) La femme – the woman or wife
d) La table – the table
e) La chaise – the chair
f) La règle – the ruler
g) La gomme – the eraser
(Note that most feminine nouns end in an ‘e’, ‘sion’ or ‘tion’)
3) L’: (which is actually the contraction of le and la), is used before all singular nouns
beginning with a vowel or a silent ‘h’.
Examples:
a) L’eau (f) – the water
b) L’arbre (m) – the tree
c) L’école (f) – the school
d) L’enfant (m) – the child
e) L’homme – the man
f) L’étudiant (m) – the (male) student
g) L’oeil (m) – the eye
h) L’ingénieur (m) – the engineer (always masculine)
4) Les: is used before all plural nouns:
Examples:
a) Les femmes – the women
b) Les stylos – the pens
c) Les chaises – the chairs
d) Les yeux – the eyes (irregular plural)
II. The Indefinite Articles
In English, the idefinite articles are ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘some’.
1) Un: (meaning ‘a’ or ‘an’) is used before all masculine singular nouns:
Examples:
a) Un garcon – a boy or a waiter
b) Un livre – a book
c) Un sac – a bag
d) Un professeur – a teacher
2) Une: (meaning ‘a’ or ‘an’) is used in front of all feminine singular nouns:
Examples:
a) Une femme – a woman
b) Une chaise – a chair
c) Une maison – a house
d) Une étudiante – a (female) student
3) Des: (meaning ‘some’) is used before all plural nouns.
Examples:
a) Des filles – some girls
b) Des garcons – some boys
c) Des tables – the tables
d) Des enfants – some children
Notes:
i. The indefinite articles (un, une and des) refer to unspecified group of things, people or
animals, while the definite articles (le, la, l’ and les) refer to a specific group of people,
animal or things.
ii. We do not use ‘un or une’ when stating someone’s nationality, occupation or religion.
Examples:
a) Elle est française. (She is French)
b) Il est médecin, (He is a doctor)
Exception: After C’est, (This is, he is, she is) we use the indefinite articles.
Example: C’est un bon médecin – This is / He is a good doctor.
EXERCISE
I. Fill in the blanks with indefinite articles:
1) Ce n’est pas ____________ test, c’est _____________ quizz.
2) _____________ étudiants contactent Mme Lefèvre.
3) C’est ____________ horloge.
4) _____________ garçon et _____________ fille cherchent _______________ réponses.
II. Fill in the blanks with a definite article:
1) C’est _____________ professeur de français.
2) ______________ directrice parle aux étudiants.
3) Voici _____________ questions. Vous trouvez ____________ réponses.
4) _____________ quizz est pour __________ garçons et _____________ filles français.
5) C’est un quizz sur ___________ Inde.
III. Replace definite articles by indefinite articles:
1) La fille regarde le livre.
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2) L’homme travaille dans la rue.
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3) Le livre de français a les images de Paris.
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4) Le professeur entre dans la classe et demande à l’étudiant son nom.
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