The, a, and where a describing word sits

A naming word names a person, place or thing, and every French one is masculine or feminine. The little word in front is where you see which, and where you hear that there is more than one.

≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Every naming word is masculine or feminine — the word, not the thing. Learn the noun with its little word in front.
The plural s is silent, so only the little word in front says there is more than one.
Most describing words sit after the thing they describe; a few short common ones sit in front. They change shape to match the thing — visible far more often than audible.

The and a

Every naming word in French is masculine or feminine, and these little words in front are where you see which.

English	Masculine	Feminine	More than one
the	le renardluh ruh-nar	la maisonlah meh-zoh(n)	les renardslay ruh-nar
a	un renardu(n) ruh-nar	une maisonewn meh-zoh(n)	des renardsday ruh-nar“some foxes”

Before a vowel both le and la shrink to l'. The plural noun sounds unchanged, so the grammar you can hear sits at the front of the word group.

a small yellow bird

un petit oiseau jaune

u(n) puh-tee-twah-zoh zhohn

petit is one of the short in-front set — petit, grand, bonboh(n)“good” — and its silent t wakes up before the vowel. jaune sits behind, where most describing words go — the opposite of what your eyes expect. With a feminine word the in-front set grows the waking e — bonnebon, where the vowel also leaves the nose. A word already ending in e (jaune, rouge, triste“sad”) has nothing to change.

Say whose it is

These little words say who something belongs to, and they sit where le or la would sit.

English	With one kind of word	With the other kind
my	mon arbremoh(n)-nar-bruh	ma maisonmah meh-zoh(n)
his, her, its	son arbresoh(n)-nar-bruh	sa maisonsah meh-zoh(n)

sa maison is his, her, and its house — only the story tells you which; the shape follows the thing owned.

Read a noun and its describing word

un grand arbre
What happens to the silent d in front of a vowel?
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“u(n) grah(n)-tar-bruh” — a big tree. The silent d wakes, as a t.
une petite maison
Feminine, so the describing word grew an e — and you can hear it.
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“ewn puh-teet meh-zoh(n)” — a small house.
les oiseaux
The noun sounds exactly as in the singular. Only one word changed.
Show answer +Hide answer −
“lay-zwah-zoh” — the birds. The s of les wakes up; the plural x stays silent.

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