Les noms et les articles (nouns and articles)
Video
Notes
Articles and gender
- In the French language, there are two possible genders of nouns: masculine or feminine.
- As you can remember, you can learn the gender of a noun by looking it up in the dictionary.
- Un/une/des are the indefinite articles. Un and une mean "a/an" and des means "some."
- Indefinite articles are talking about a noun that is not specific, or is "undefined."
Ex: a dog = un chien - Le/la/les are the definite articles. Each means "the."
- The different articles are used for the different genders and numbers of nouns.
le/un = masculine
la/une = feminine
les/des = plural
Changing the gender of nouns
Changing the number of nouns
- Nouns referring to items can only have one gender, but nouns referring to people and animals can be either, depending on the biological gender of the person or animal.
Ex: une table is always feminine, but you can have un chien (boy dog) or une chienne (girl dog). - For nouns referring to people or animals, there are a few rules for how to change a noun's gender.
- Generally, you can make a masculine noun feminine by adding an "e," but there are a few exceptions:
> Nouns ending in an unaccented e: add nothing!
> Nouns ending with a vowel + L, N, or T: double the L, N, or T and add an e
> Nouns ending in -er: the er turns to ère
> Nouns ending in -eur: EITHER -eur changes to -rice or -euse (for this rule, you simply have to memorize which -eur nouns take -euse and which ones take -rice) - Then, there are a few different irregulars:
> un homme (man) = une femme (woman)
> un garçon (boy) = une fille (girl)
Changing the number of nouns
- All nouns in French also have a number, singular or plural (it is the same in English).
- It is rather easy to make singular nouns plural. The general rule is to change the article from le/la to les or from un/une to des, then add an -s to the end of the singular noun.
Ex: un chien > des chiens - When changing your article, make sure you pay attention to whether the article was definite or indefinite.
- Nouns ending in -al or -ail, change -al/-ail to -aux
Ex: un travail (a job) > des travaux (some jobs)
Ex: le cheval (horse) > les chevaux (horses)
There are some exceptions, like "carnaval" (carnival), "bal" (ball) - Nouns ending in -au, -eau, and -eu, add an x for the plural.
Ex: un bateau (a ship) > des bateaux (ships)
There are some exceptions like "pneu" (tire) - Nouns ending in -ou can take either -s or -x for the plural
Ex: un bijou (a jewel) > des bijoux (jewels)
Here are the nouns ending in -ou which take -x, all others just take an -s at the end
bijou (jewel), joujou (children's toy), pou (lice), caillou (small rock), genou (knee), hibou (owl), chou (cabbage) - For nouns already ending in -s, -x, or -z, do not add anything!
Ex: le fils (the son) > les fils (the sons) - Family names are never pluralized in French.
Ex: The Probsts > les Probst
Activities
Le Dictionnaire
Get students to look up words in a bilingual dictionary to practice identifying the gender and the part of speech of French words.
Directions:
Materials: a class set of dictionaries, or an online dictionary like Word Reference.
Get students to look up words in a bilingual dictionary to practice identifying the gender and the part of speech of French words.
Directions:
- Students choose 15 letters from the French alphabet and find 15 French words that start with those letters.
- For each word, students must identify the English definition, part of speech, and gender (if a noun) of the word.
- Alternately, you can choose to have students find a word for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet, but it takes quite a long time.
Materials: a class set of dictionaries, or an online dictionary like Word Reference.
Additional sites
French for Dummies
More information about how to make singular nouns plural.
French.About
Information about masculine and feminine endings of French nouns. This list is not fool-proof, as there are many exceptions to every rule in French, but it is helpful nontheless.
French-Linguistics
More information about masculine and feminine ending patterns.
French Together
Some tips and clues to help you determine the gender of a French noun.
More information about how to make singular nouns plural.
French.About
Information about masculine and feminine endings of French nouns. This list is not fool-proof, as there are many exceptions to every rule in French, but it is helpful nontheless.
French-Linguistics
More information about masculine and feminine ending patterns.
French Together
Some tips and clues to help you determine the gender of a French noun.