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Nouns: le, la, un, une and mon, ma, mes

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Every French noun is masculine or feminine. Get the little words in front of it right, and every sentence you write at GCSE gets more accurate.

Gender and articles

Plurals

Most nouns add -s, which you do not pronounce: le livre, les livres.
Nouns ending in -eau add -x: le gâteau, les gâteaux.
Nouns ending in -al change to -aux: l'animal, les animaux.
Nouns ending in -s or -x do not change: le fils, les fils.
In speaking you often hear the plural only in the article: le chat / les chats.

My, your, his and her

Worked example

Translate: My brother has a black dog and two white cats.

  1. My brother: mon frère (masculine).
  2. A black dog: un chien noir. Colours go after the noun.
  3. Two white cats: deux chats blancs. Plural noun, so the adjective adds -s too.

Answer: Mon frère a un chien noir et deux chats blancs.

Key idea

le / un (masculine), la / une (feminine), l' before a vowel, les / des (plural). Most plurals add -s; -eau adds -x; -al becomes -aux. mon / ma / mes agree with the noun, and mon is used before a feminine noun starting with a vowel.

The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.

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