Reminder:
- Nouns are words that identify a person, a place or a thing.
- In French, nouns are either feminine or masculine. It is advised to learn the gender as you learn new words. There are a few patterns though; for instance, most nouns ending in -tion are feminine and most nouns ending in -eau are masculine.
Ex: la récréation (fem.) = the break time, un bateau (masc.) = a boat.
- Obviously, all nouns referring to a male person / male animal are masculine and all nouns referring to a female person / female animal are feminine.
Ex: 'J'ai une sœur = I have a sister' is feminine and 'Je suis un garçon = I am a boy' is masculine.
- In front of the nouns, we use indefinite and definite articles:
Indefinite = a/an and some. In French: un for a (masc.), une for a (fem.) and des for some.
Definite = the. In French: le for the (masc.), la for the (fem.) and les for the plural form.
Ex: J'ai un chien (masc.) = I have a dog. Je vois le chien = I see the dog,
Ex: Il y a des chiens = there are some dogs. Les chiens ont faim = The dogs are hungry.
Test your understanding below with a quick starter question!