French articles and noun gender
Every French noun is masculine or feminine, and the article in front of it shows which: le or la, un or une. Gender also changes the adjectives and pronouns that go with the noun.
There's no shortcut that works every time, but endings are a strong clue, and learning each noun with its article makes it automatic.
The essentials
- Definite: le (m), la (f), l' before a vowel, les (plural).
- Indefinite: un, une, des. Partitive for amounts you don't count: du pain, de la confiture, de l'eau.
- Endings in -tion, -té, -ette, -ure are usually feminine; -ment, -age, -eau, -isme usually masculine.
- No article with professions after être: elle est médecin.
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A0 (the A0 course)
- Definite articles: 'The' agrees with the noun
- Indefinite articles: 'A', 'an', and 'some'
- Nouns: Add a silent -s
- Zero article with professions: Il est médecin – no 'a'
A1 (the A1 course)
- Partitive articles: Some bread, some water
- Contracted articles: Au, aux, du, des
C2 (the C2 course)
- Nominalisation: the noun-heavy style of formal French: « Le gouvernement a annoncé la fermeture des écoles »
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised until you get them right on three separate days, and brought back when your own French shows a mistake on them.
Other topics
- The French subjunctive, explained
- French past tenses, explained
- French future and conditional, explained
- French pronouns, from je to lequel
- French verbs and tenses
- French adjectives and adverbs
- French negation
- Asking questions in French
- French prepositions and conjunctions
- French numbers, time and dates
- French idioms and useful structures