french

noun begins with a vowel or silent "h" (both masculine or feminine). It is similar to english, where "a"
changes to "an" before a vowel.
French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •78 kb • help)
The Definite Article L'article défini
singular
feminine la la fille the daughter
masculine le le fils the son
singular, starting with a vowel sound l’ l’enfant the child
les filles the daughters
plural
les les fils the sons
les enfants the children
Note: Unlike English, the definite article is used to talk about something in a general sense, a general
statement or feeling about an idea or thing.
The indefinite article
In English, the indefinite articles are "a" and "an". "Some" is used as a plural article in English.
Again, indefinite articles in French take different forms depending on gender and plurality. The articles "Un"
and "une" literally mean "one" in French.
French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •55 kb • help)
The Indefinite Article L'article indéfini
singular
plural
feminine une une fille a daughter
masculine un un fils a son
des filles some daughters
des
des fils 1 some sons
1 "des fils" does mean "some sons" but is a homograph: it can also mean "some threads"
Also note that des, like les is used in French before plural nouns when no article is used in English. Let's
imagine you are looking at photographs in an album. In English, we would say "I am looking at
photographs." In French, you cannot say, "Je regarde photographies," you must tell which photographs you
are looking at using an article. If you were looking at a set of specific pictures, you would say "Je regarde les
photographies." ("I am looking at the photographs.") If you were just flipping through the album, looking at
nothing in particular, you would say, "Je regard des photographies." ("I am looking at some photographs.")
Subject pronouns
French has six different types of pronouns: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
person plural.
French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •61 kb • help)
Subject Pronouns Les pronoms soumis
1st person
singular je I