French Articles
Learning the French Articles is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the French language. But first we need to know what the role of Articles is in the structure of the grammar in French.
French articles are words that combine with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Generally articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun. Examples are "the, a, and an".
Grammar Tips:
Definite
Article:
Unlike
English, which has only one definite article “the", French has 4 definite articles:
L’ (masculine and feminine singular)
l’arbre / l’université (the tree / the university)
Le (masculine
singular), le livre (the book)
La (feminine
singular) la maison (the house)
Les (masculine and
feminine plural) les arbres / les universités (the trees / the universities)
Indefinite
Article:
While we
have (a / an / some) in English as indefinite articles, we also have un/ une. des in French .
In general,
whenever (a, an) are used in English you, you need to use (un) or (une)
to say the equivalent in French.
Un (masculine
singular), un livre (a book)
Une (feminine
singular) une maison (a house)
Des (masculine and
feminine plural) des livres / des maisons (some books / some houses)
Example:
Les livres que j’ai sont chez
un ami (The books I have are
in one of my friend’s place)
Here are some examples:
| English Articles | French Articles |
| articles | articles |
| the | le |
| a | un |
| one | un |
| some | certains |
| few | peu |
| |
| the book | le livre |
| the books | les livres |
| a book | un livre |
| one book | un livre |
| some books | des livres |
| few books | Quelques livres |
As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Articles in French has a logical pattern. Locate the Articles above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in French.
List of Articles in French
Below is a list of vocabulary where you can use the Definite and Indefinite Articles in French. Try to practice but also memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your French vocabulary.
| English Vocabulary | French Vocabulary |
| Food | nourriture |
| almonds | amandes |
| bread | pain |
| breakfast | petit déjeuner |
| butter | beurre |
| candy | bonbons |
| cheese | fromage |
| chicken | poulet |
| cumin | cumin |
| dessert | dessert |
| dinner | dîner |
| fish | poisson |
| fruit | fruit |
| ice cream | glace |
| lamb | agneau |
| lemon | citron |
| lunch | déjeuner |
| meal | repas |
| meat | viande |
| oven | four |
| pepper | poivre |
| plants | plantes |
| pork | porc |
| salad | salade |
| salt | sel |
| sandwich | sandwich |
| sausage | saucisse |
| soup | soupe |
| sugar | sucre |
| supper | souper |
| turkey | Turquie |
| apple | pomme |
| banana | banane |
| oranges | oranges |
| peaches | pêches |
| peanut | arachide |
| pears | poires |
| pineapple | ananas |
| grapes | raisin |
| strawberries | fraises |
| vegetables | légumes |
| carrot | carrot |
| corn | maïs |
| cucumber | concombre |
| garlic | ail |
| lettuce | laitue |
| olives | olives |
| onions | oignons |
| peppers | poivrons |
| potatoes | pommes de terre |
| pumpkin | citrouille |
| beans | haricots |
| tomatoes | tomates |
Definite and Indefinite Articles have a very important role in French, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with French Articles, you might want to check the rest of our French lessons here: Learn French. Don't forget to bookmark this page.