l?indienne
-lle
the Indian
Unfortunately, there are many exceptions in French which can only be learned. There are even words that are spelled the same, but have a different meaning when masculine or feminine; for example, un livre (m) means a book, but une livre (f) means a pound! Some words that appear to be masculine (like la photo, which is actually short for la photographie) are in fact feminine, and vice versa. Then there are some that just don't make sense; la foi is feminine and means a belief, whereas le foie means liver. To help overcome this hurdle which many beginners find very difficult, be sure to learn the genders along with the words.
Definite and indefinite articles
The definite article
In English, the definite article is always ?the?.
In French, the definite article is changed depending on the noun's:
1. Gender
2. Plurality
3. First letter of the word
There are three definite articles and an abbreviation. "Le" is used for masculine nouns, "La" is used for feminine nouns, "Les" is used for plural nouns (both masculine or feminine), and "L' " is used when the
noun begins with a vowel or silent "h" (both masculine or feminine). It is similar to english, where "a"
changes to "an" before a vowel.
French Grammar ? Print version ?
audio (info ?78 kb ? help)
The Definite Article L'article défini
feminine
la la fille
the daughter
singular
masculine
le le fils
the son
singular, starting with a vowel sound l? l?enfant
the child
les filles the daughters
plural
les les fils
the sons
les enfants the children
Note: Unlike English, the definite article is used to talk about something in a general sense, a general statement or feeling about an idea or thing.
The indefinite article
In English, the indefinite articles are "a" and "an". "Some" is used as a plural article in English.
Again, indefinite articles in French take different forms depending on gender and plurality. The articles "Un"
and "une" literally mean "one" in French.
French Grammar ? Print version ?
audio (info ?55 kb ? help)
The Indefinite Article L'article indéfini
feminine
une une fille
a daughter
singular
masculine
un
un fils
a son
des filles
some daughters
plural
des des fils1 some sons
1"des fils" does mean "some sons" but is a homograph: it can also mean "some threads"
