1. French 1: Leçon 1A
Nouns and Articles

2. Nouns and articles: Masculine Singular Masculine Plural
A noun designates a person, place or thing.
Nouns in French have a number (singular or plural) just like in English.
French nouns ALSO have a gender (masculine or feminine.)
Masculine Singular
Masculine Plural
Feminine Singular
Feminine Plural
Le café
Les cafés
La bibliothèque
Les bibliothèques

3. Nouns and Articles
Nouns that designate a male are usually masculine. Nouns that designate a female are usually feminine.
Masculine
L’acteur
The actor
L’ami
The (male) friend
Le chanteur
The (male) singer
L’étudiant
The (male) student
Le petit ami
The boyfriend
Feminine
L’actrice
The actress
L’amie
The (female) friend
La chanteuse
The (female) singer
L’étudiante
The (female) student
La petite amie
The girlfriend

4. Nouns and Articles
Some nouns can be used to designate either a male or a female regardless of their grammatical gender.
Le professeur the male or female teacher
La personne the male or female person

5. Nouns and Articles
Nouns for objects that have no natural gender can be either masculine or feminine.
Masculine
Le bureau
The desk
Le lycée
The high school
L’examen
The test
L’objet
The object
L’ordinateur
The computer
Le problème
The problem
Feminine
La chose
The thing
La différence
The difference
La faculté
The university, faculty
La littérature
The literature
La sociologie
Sociology
l’université
The university

6. Nouns and Articles
You usually form the plural of a noun by adding –s, regardless of gender.
In the case of words that end in –eau in the singular, add an –x to the end to form the plural.
For nouns ending in –al, drop the –al and add –aux.
Singular
L’objet
The object
La télévision
The television
Le bureau
The desk
L’animal
The animal
Plural
Les objets
The objects
Les télévisions
The televisions
Les bureaux
The desks
Les animaux
The animals

7. Articles and Nouns
If a group is made up of boys and girls, you refer to the group with a masculine plural noun.
Les amisthe (male and female) friends
Les étudiants the (male and female) students

8. Articles and Nouns
In English, the definite article the never changes. However, in French the definite article changes form depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or plural.
Singular noun beginning with consonant
Singular noun beginning with vowel sound
Plural noun
Masculine
Le tableau
(the picture, board)
L’ami (the [male] friend)
Les cafés (the cafés)
Feminine
La librarie (the bookstore)
L’université (the university)
Les télévisions (the televisions)

9. Articles and nouns
In English, the singular INDEFINITE article is a/an, and the plural is some. (Although some is often omitted in English, it cannot be omitted in French.
Singular
Plural
Masculine
Un instrument (an instrument)
Des instruments (some instruments)
Feminine
Une table (a table)
Des tables (some tables)

10. Use c’est followed by a singular article and noun or ce sont followed by a plural article and noun to identify people and objects. 10

11. Qu’est-ce que c’est?
C’est un café.

12. Qu’est-ce que c’est?
C’est une bibliothèque.

13. Qu’est-ce que c’est? C’est une femme. C’est un homme. C’est un garçon.
C’est une fille.

14. Qu’est-ce que c’est? C’est une télévision. C’est un ordinateur.
C’est un livre.