French Definite Article

Lesson 1. French Definite Articles
Lesson 2. More about the difference between French and English
Lesson 3. Contractions with definite articles: au, aux
Lesson 4. Contractions with definite articles: du, des

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1. How to say “THE” in French

For masculine words we say LE:

The bread = le pain
The bean: = le haricot

In front of a vowel LE becomes L’

The friend = l’ami
The hotel = l’hôtel

Hôtel starts with a plugged H and Haricot with an unplugged one.

For Feminine words we say LA:

The car = la voiture
The axe = la hache

Again in front of a vowel LA becomes L’

The friend = l’amie
The hostess = l’hôtesse

Hôtesse starts with a plugged H and Hache with an unplugged one.

For plural words either masculine or feminine LE and LA become LES:

The friends = les amis
The beans = les haricots

Differences between English and French:

President John Smith = LE président John Smith (always with the definite article in French)

France = la France

French people = LES Français

2 Contractions

I go to the cinema, to translate ‘to the’, we don’t say “à le” but “au’ instead = je vais au cinéma
There is no contraction for feminine word: à la, je suis à la maison
For plural, we say aux, l’aide aux enfants

From the cinema to the supermarket, to translate ‘from the’ we don’t say “de le ” but “du” instead = du cinéma au supermarché
There is no contraction for the feminine form “de la”
And for plural we say “des” instead of “de les”

Next lesson: More about the difference between French and English

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