The use of the definite article Unit 4, Lesson 10

What is the definite article? The definite article is the word THE

You already know two of the definite articles in French! The for a masculine noun le Examples: le baladeur – the CD player le livre – the book le chien – the dog le cahier – the notebook

The for a feminine noun is la Examples la raquette la moto la calculatrice la voiture

What happens if the noun starts with a vowel sound? The le or la becomes l in front of any vowel sound Examples lordinateur laffiche lhotel

WAIT!!!! You know, I have more than one book and more than one notebook and more than one pencil and more than one pen and more than one CD and more than one DVD….what do I do about that???

Calm yourself! There is a simple solution! First thing: to make almost any noun in French plural, add an S to the end of the word. Second thing: Change the LE or the LA to LES

Check this out! le livre les livres la guitare les guitares lappareil-photo les appareil-photos le sac les sacs

Do I have to keep repeating the noun? No, you can replace the noun with a subject pronoun, il or elle depending on the gender of the noun. Où est lordinateur? Il est sur le bureau. Où est la radiocassette ? Elle est dans ma chambre ? Masculine nouns are replaced by il Feminine nouns are replaced by elle (Well work on plural nouns later…)

Besides saying the----- There are 2 times the French use the definite article where we do not use it in English.

Compare the French and the English Jaime le français. Je préfère les maths Tu aimes le rap? Nous aimons les films en classe. I like French. I prefer math. Do you like rap? We like movies in class.

The rule: Use the definite article (le, la, l, les) when you are talking about nouns in a general sense, aka where we do not use a the in English. (used a lot after aimer, préférer and adorer) Why do the French do this? Because every noun has to have some sort of article before it. PS – We do not know all of these articles right now

2 nd time to use the definite article: Use le before a day of the week to say On (day of the week)… or Every (day of the week)…?

Examples Le jeudi, je regarde Greys Anatomy. On Thursdays, I watch Greys Anatomy.

Le dimanche, je regarde Rock of Love Every Sunday, I watch Rock of Love.

Le vendredi, je dîne au restaurant. On Fridays, I eat at a restaurant.