French Grammar – The Gender of Nouns – le, la, l’, les, un, une, des

No matter how long one studies French, the definite and indefinite articles seem to be a challenge for all. Even though they can be directly translated from English to French, there are situations where these articles are not used in quite the same way.    

As a general rule, in French, there is almost always an article in front of a noun. Unlike English, where you can get away with going from the verb to the noun without “the,” “a” or “an.” For example, you can say in English: “I eat escargots when I’m in France” but in French you must add an article in front of escargots so you will have to say “I eat some escargots” (Je mange des escargots).

The French definite articles

The French definite article corresponds to “the” in English. There are 4 forms of these articles depending if the noun is feminine, masculine, plural or if it starts with a vowel or a mute h:
—le is the masculine singular;
—la is the feminine singular;
—l’ goes in front of a noun that starts with a vowel or mute h ;
—les is the plural for both masculine and feminine.

Examples:
Le chien = the male dog.
La femme = the woman.
La table = the table (feminine word).
Les gens = the people.
L’hélicoptère = the helicopter

The French indefinite articles

The singular indefinite articles in French correspond to “a,” “an,” in English, while the plural corresponds to “some.” There are 3 forms of these articles depending if the noun is feminine, masculine, plural:
—un is the masculine singular;
—une is the feminine singular;
—des is the plural for both masculine and feminine.

Examples:
Un arbre = a tree (masculine word).
Une étudiante = a female student.
Une chaise = a chair (feminine word).
Des enfants = children.

Making sentences with the definite and indefinite articles

As mentioned earlier, to express “the” in English, you will use either: le, la or les.
The French will use these articles when:

—Speaking about a specific item or person:
Tu manges le plat que j’ai préparé pour toi   ? = You’re eating the dish I prepared for you?
Tu as vu le maire du village ? = Did you see the mayor of the village?

—To communicate possession:
J’ai le chien de la voisine. = I have the neighbor’s dog.

—When using certain verbs of feelings or emotions such as “love, admire, hate”:
J’aime le chocolat. = I love chocolate.
J’adore les bandes dessinées. = I love comic books.

The articles un, une are mostly used to speak about things or people in a more general sense, or about non‐ specific items and/or quantities:
Je veux un chat. = I want a cat.
Nous recrutons un nouveau chef. = we’re recruiting a new chef.

If the nouns are plural and you’re talking about general things, use des. In English it can be translated as “some”:
Je prends des pommes. = I’ll take some apples.
Je parle avec des Français. = I’m speaking with (some) French people.

Let’s look at examples that show the difference between the 2 types of articles:

—Je vois un oiseau. = I see a bird.
VS
Je vois l’oiseau qui a fait son nid ici. = I see the bird that made its nest here. It’s a specific bird.
—J’achète un poisson pour le dîner. = I’m buying a fish for dinner.
VS
J’achète le poisson que tu aimes : la truite. = I’m buying the fish that you like: the trout.
—Je parle à une femme. = I’m speaking to a woman.
VS
Je parle à la femme de mon voisin. = I’m speaking to the wife of my neighbor