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HOW TO UNLOCK YOUR FRENCH?
French Grammar

How to Unlock your French?

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

If you are one of many learners struggling with spoken French, you might wonder what you’re doing wrong and as a beginner, you wonder how to understand grammar and how to Unlock your French?

You might feel like the trouble you’re having is all your fault, or assume you’re just not any good at languages.

After years of learning myself I have found success by following 5 simple steps.

This free lesson gives you an understanding and appreciation of French grammar and verb conjugation that will be valuable for you for a lifetime.

Take a look inside this French class and discover these 5 tools to unlock your French.

Our training will increase your potential of speaking French and improve your understanding of French grammar and conjugation.

How to unlock your French and learn how to speak like a native!

Whether you are just a beginner, or someone who has spent a number of years learning French, it is important to keep your language skills well shaped, and to find ways to improve these skills as often as possible.

And you can follow these steps to advancing your knowledge of French.

1. Vocabulary

Words, words, words!

Language is made up of words, and French is not an exception.

To improve your French vocabulary follow these three steps

  • • Keep words in mind! write down all the new words you have learnt on your smartphone or Ipad or use the old-fashioned method, a small notebook with a pen.
  • • One word-a-day! Follow us on Facebook and learn one word-a-day.
  • • Use the fridge! Paste your word of the day on your fridge and keep it there for a week. It will help memorisation.

2. Grammar

Grammar offers us rules and structure that makes describing the world around us so much easier. It is one of the most terrifying aspects of the French language. It seems that it’s the reason why many learners give up. But it doesn’t have to be that way. French grammar isn’t that complicated.

All you need is to start the right way and follow a few important rules.

I. Nouns

All French nouns have a gender! Masculine and feminine. This applies even for words that are inanimate.

HOW TO UNLOCK YOUR FRENCH?

In French sentences, the article of the word is mentioned all the time. Articles change depending on the gender of the word. To make a correct sentence the articles will need to match word genders.

Un chat (a cat) une chaise (une table) une entreprise (a firm)

II. Verbs

If you’re a new French learner, there are two mandatory verbs you’ll have to use from the first day. They are avoir (to have) and être (to be) which are both irregular verbs.

“Conjugation”, describes the way that a verb changes to reflect who the subject is in any sentence.

Conjugation is what is behind the change from “I do” to “he does” in English, so again the concept’s not actually a French thing. It happens in most European languages.

To unlock your French you just have to practice and learn the most common verbs.

III. Pronouns

A pronoun is the word that represents something unnamed in a sentence.

Pronouns are used to make in a sentence to avoid repeating the subject.

To start your French journey grammar, you must know these subject pronouns.

3. Conjugation

In the life of all language learners, there comes a time when you just can’t hide.

 

You have to look things in the eye, take a deep breath and face it :

The verb tables!

In French there are three different groups which keep repeating the same endings and reliably change in the same way.

To learn online your verbs table you can use the Bescherelle or this link

http://bescherelle.com/conjugueur.php

A handy solution is to download the fabulous online App Bescherelle App for Iphone or Android.

4. Pronunciation

Good pronunciation help ensure that you are easily understood.

Ways to improve your pronunciation include:

  • • Listen to a native French speaker, listening radio, music or movies every day, even for 5 minutes only.
  • • Practice as much as you can with your teacher (a native French Teacher).

5. Stay connected

Finally, how to Unlock your French? & in order to learn a language if you need to practice!

So, Surround yourself with French.

  • • Listen to the French radio using podcast!
  • • Watch French movies using streaming!
  • • Sing French song with lyrics using YouTube!
  • • Listen to or read an easy French audiobook

Stay connected and speak French.

Find a good conversational partner to speak with or if you do not have any French friend Enroll to practice your French and join us at French lessons Australia.

Interrogative Adjectives-
French Grammar, Learning New Language

How to use interrogatives Adjectives in French?

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

Quelle histoire !!!

What are the interrogative adjectives ?

Quelles Quels Quelle Quel !! If you are asking yourself how to use interrogative adjectives and what are their different forms, follow this guide today !

In our French lesson today we will explain how many forms interrogative adjectives can have and how to ask questions with them.

Throughout our class today you will learn some common examples which will help you in everyday French conversation.

There is no need to attend.

What film do you want to watch?

What time does your train leave?

If you want to know more about all the French interrogatives Adjectives just click on the link here this and you will know how to speak and write French properly.

No need to attend a French class to understand the French interrogative adjectives.

It’s very simple with French Lessons Australia.

“Quel” is an interrogative French adjective that means which or What

 

WHAT ARE THE INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVES ?

Like most adjectives, it has four forms

Masculine singular Quel

Masculine plural Quels

Feminine singular Quelle

Feminie plural Quelles

Singular Plural
Masculine Quel Quels
Feminine Quelle Quelles

Have a look on the following examples!

Quel jour sommes nous ?

What day is it ?

Quels livres lis-tu?

Which books are you reading ?

Quelles expositions préfères-tu ?

What exhibitions do you prefer?

Quelle heure est-il ?

What time is it?

If you want to ask questions with Quel follow these simple rules.

  • • Questions with QUEL may be asked with est-ce que or inversion:

Quel film veux-tu aller voir ? ou Quel film est-ce que tu veux aller voir ?

  • What film do you want to watch?

Quelles chansons aime-t-elle ? Quelles chansons est-ce qu’elle aime ?

  • Which songs does she like ?
  • • Quel + a noun may be used with a preposition such as à or de

If you want to ask questions with Quel follow these simple rules.

  • • Questions with QUEL may be asked with est-ce que or inversion:

Quel film veux-tu aller voir ? ou Quel film est-ce que tu veux aller voir ?

  • What film do you want to watch?

Quelles chansons aime-t-elle ? Quelles chansons est-ce qu’elle aime ?

  • Which songs does she like ?
  • • Quel + a noun may be used with a preposition such as à or de

À quelle heure part ton train ? À quelle heure est-ce que ton train part ?

  • What time do your train leave?

De quel train parles-tu ?

  • Which train are you talking about?

To ask What is or What are you have to use Quel with être

Quel est le problème ?

What is your problem ?

Quels sont les règles du jeu ?

What are the rules of the game?

If you want to practice your French join us at French Lessons Australia and enroll into one of our amazing classes

Interrogative Pronouns
French Online Courses, French Vocabulary

What are Interrogative Pronouns?

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

How to ask question about the identity of a person or an object

Lequel? What does that mean?

Did you know that Lequel has to agree in gender and number, and as a result, there are several forms of Interrogative Pronouns?

Do you know how to use interrogative pronouns in French? And what are they?

Lequel, which usually means which, is one of the most difficult French pronouns.

But with a clear French lesson, we can make it easy for you.

The French interrogative pronouns

How can we use interrogative pronouns to speak and write French properly?

Follow this free French lesson and you will discover all about French interrogative pronouns.

Interrogative pronouns can be either simple – qui que quoi or compound – lequel laquelle lesquelles and so on.

Lequel is an interrogative pronoun as well as qui que quoi.

It has to agree in gender and number with the noun it replaces.

Take a look at the simple table :

The most common interrogative pronouns are qui (for people) and que (for everything else).

Singular Plural Indefinite
Masculine lequel lesquels; qui, que, quoi
Feminine laquelle lesquelles

Here are a few examples;

“Qui ?” means “Who ?” Is most of the time masculine singular, and applies only to people.

  • Qui est là ? Who’s here ?

“Que ?” Is neutral, it means What.

  • Que fais-tu ? What are you doing?

“Quoi ?” Is usually neutral and singular. It is employed with a preposition such as à or de.

  • A quoi penses-tu? What are you thinking about?
  • De quoi parles-tu? What are you talking about?

“Lequel ?”

Lequel can replace quel + noun.

The interrogative pronoun Lequel means Which. It represents one or more people or things already refered to immediately after the pronoun.

It involves a choice between several members of a group (people or things). Lequel agrees in gender and number with the name that replaces.

Singular Plural
Masculine Lequel chantera ce soir ?

Which one will sing tonight?

 Lesquels sont Australiens parmi vous ?

Which ones are Australians among you?
Feminine Laquelle de vous est Laura ?

Which one of you is Laura?

 Lesquelles de vos filles jouent du piano ?

Which ones of your daughters play the piano?

If you want to learn more or just practice your French, contact us at French Lessons Australia, we can offer new courses so the opportunities to learn and improve are always growing. Do not hesitate and enrol now for your first French Class.

Check our grammar online course HERE.

Interrogative Adverbs
French Online Courses

Interrogative Adverbs

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

How to ask questions in French with interrogative adverbs?

Are you asking yourself how to ask specific questions such as When Why Where What how many or How much in French Language?

If so, you’re at the right place. French

Lesson Australia will give you all the keys to find out about on the interrogative adverbs.

How to ask questions with Interrogative adverbs?

Asking different kinds of questions will help you manage every kind of day-to-day interactions in French. You need to ask questions in order to find out what’s going on!

Interrogative adverbs are used to ask for new information or facts.

In everyday life, there are 5 (only!!) interrogative adverbs whereas there are 7 in English. You see! French is easy. Let’s learn French now.

French interrogative adverbs are:

• combien (de) – how many/much

• comment – how, what

• où – where

• pourquoi – why

• quand – when

In English, we use helping words like DO / DOES or AM / IS / ARE when asking questions.

In French, this is not necessary because it’s implied in the question.

Examples:

Combien

Combien de personnes as-tu invitées à ton anniversaire ?

Combien de personnes est-ce que tu as invitées à ton anniversaire

How many people have you invited to your birthday party?

Note: When following by a noun Combien requires preposition “de”

Comment

Comment t’appelles-tu ?

Comment est-ce que tu t’appelles ?

What’s your name ?

In certain sentences; Comment means How.

Comment vas-tu ?

Comment est-ce que tu vas ?

How are you?

Où

Où habites-tu ?

Où est-ce que tu habites ?

Where do you live ?

Sometimes the preposition de is required in front of the interrogative adverb où. They should not appear at the end of the sentence!

D’où vient ce chien?

D’où est-ce que ce chien vient ?

From where does this dog come ?

(Where does this dog come from ?)

Pourquoi

Pourquoi pleurez-vous ?

Pourquoi est-ce que vous pleurez ?

Why are you crying?

If you want to answer this question you have to use Parce que (because)

Parce que je suis tombée

Because I fell down.

Quand

Quand part le train ?

Quand est-ce que le train part ?

When does the train leave?

Good to know! Interrogative adverbs are invariable!

Now; you’re ready to speak French and ask questions!

Learn more and practice with our French Classes at French lessons Australia.

French Grammar

How to easily ask questions in French?

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

How to ask questions in French!

Whether you’re working, travellling, learning, or just trying to learn more about someone, questions are an essential part of any conversation.

You must be confident of your ability to ask questions in French: forming questions is done in a different way in French.

There are a number of ways of forming questions in French and the ins and outs of some of them are rather complicated. But 99 per cent of the time, you don’t need the complicated forms. Here are some simple rules to get you through.

How to ask questions in French!

To speak French you need to know How to ask question.

This French class will help you with simple rules to get through forming questions.

Let’s start with basics of forming questions in French

An interrogative sentence has 4 parts to it;

• It ends with a question mark (as in English!).

• It often has an inverted subject.

• It frequently includes an interrogative word (when, what, …)

• It possesses an ascending intonation when spoken (rising voice inflection)

There are two main types of questions:

1. Yes/no questions, also known as closed questions (questions fermées), which ask for a simple yes or no answer.

2. Information questions, also known as or open questions (questions ouvertes), ask for information with question words, like who, what, when, where, why, which, how, how much/many. But that will be part of another French lesson !

So stay tuned with French Lessons Australia.

 

To make it easy when you want to ask something to someone you can use the interrogative sentence Est-ce-que!

In English, the most common way to ask question is to put in a form of the verb ‘do’. Similarly, the French rebuild sentences round the words ‘est-ce que’. This is a very useful and simple way to ask questions:

Est-ce que + subject + verb + predicat

 

Est-ce que tu veux venir au cinéma ce soir ?

Do you want to come to the cinema tonight?

Est-ce que tu aimes le chocolat ?

Do you like chocolate ?

Est-ce que tu joues du piano ?

Do you play piano ?

Est-ce que tu cuisines ?

Do you cook ?

 

You can also ask a question without the question words Est-ce-que just by going up at the end of the sentence

Tu veux venir au cinéma ce soir ?

Tu aimes le chocolat ?

Tu joues du piano ?

Tu cuisines ?

 

But a more formal way to ask question without any question words is to invert the verb and the subject and join them with an hyphen:

Veux-tu venir au cinéma ce soir ?

Aimes-tu le chocolat ?

Joues-tu du piano ?

Cuisines-tu ?

You can use inversion to ask negative questions. But it’s not really common in French spoken language.

Ne veux-tu pas venir au cinéma ce soir ?

Don’t you want to come to the cinema tonight ?

N’aimes-tu pas le chocolat ?

Don’t you like chocolate ?

Ne joues-tu pas du piano ?

Don’t you play piano ?

Ne cuisines-tu pas ?

Don’t you cook?

Note :
When using inversion with the third person singular (il, elle, or on) and a verb that ends in a vowel, you must add t-

Elle aime le chocolat.

Aime-t-elle le chocolat ?

N’aime-t-elle pas le chocolat ?

To answer negative invert question you have to use Si instead of Yes.

Joue-t-il du piano ? Oui il joue du piano.

Ne joue-t-il pas du piano ? Si ! il joue du piano.

Cuisine-t-on ? Oui, on cuisine.

Ne cuisine-t-on pas ? Si on cuisine

You can also add questions words such as When, Where… in front of Est-ce que to be more precise.

This gives a pattern of:

 

Question word + est-ce que + subject + verb + other words

Some examples to get you started

  • Est-ce que tu as une grande famille?
  • Est-ce que tu aimes le sport?
  • Qu’est-ce que tu aimes faire?
  • Quand est-ce que tu vas arriver?
  • Où est-ce que tu vas aller?
  • Comment est ta maison?
  • Est-ce qu’il y a un jardin chez toi?
  • Peux-tu envoyer une photo de ta maison?
  • Veux-tu venir en Ecosse?
  • Tu as des frères ou des soeurs?

More about the interrogative adverbs Ou Quand Comment Pourquoi? Click here.

Learn more and practice with our French Lessons at French lessons Australia.

Demonstrative Adjectives in French
French Grammar

Demonstrative Adjectives in French (With exercises)

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

Learning a language necessarily means studying grammar. It’s part and parcel of languages learning.

In this blog, I will highlight some grammar rules on French demonstrative adjectives.

Before doing so, I feel it is important to do a little reminder of what demonstrative adjectives actually are in English and what the difference is between demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns.

It can all be so confusing, we’re better to be safe than sorry! Let’s the grammar fun begins!

 

Demonstrative adjectives in English

There are four demonstrative adjectives in English: this, that, these, those. This and that are the singular form of these and those. They are words used to point out which person or thing is referred to.

This and these are used when speaking about something relatively close.

For example, I like this pair of shoes (the one just here). I like these shoes (the ones just here).

That and those are used when speaking about something further away, something you can point to.

For example, I prefer that pair of boots over there. I prefer those boots over there.

 

Difference between demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives

It is important to understand the grammar jargon and to make a difference between demonstrative pronouns (also called independent demonstratives) and demonstrative adjectives (also called demonstrative determiners).

 

What exactly is a demonstrative adjective?

A demonstrative adjective modifies* a noun.

This and that are used to modify singular nouns whereas these and those are used to modify plural nouns.

For example, I enjoyed this book (this modifies book). She loves those earrings (those modifies earrings).

* a word that modifies a noun is called a modifier. It is a word, phrase, or clause which functions as an adjective or an adverb to describe a word or make its meaning more specific.

What is a demonstrative pronoun?

Just like demonstrative adjectives, demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these and those. They are also used to show specific people or things. However, they don’t actually modify nouns.

They replace other nouns and stand alone. There are used more like pronouns.

For example, This is interesting. I prefer those.

Does it all make more sense? Brilliant. We can start studying French demonstrative adjectives now we know precisely what we are talking about!

Demonstrative adjectives in French

In French, demonstrative adjectives are called “les adjectifs démonstratifs”. They agree in number (singular or plural) and gender (feminine or masculine) with the noun they introduce or modify.

Singular Example Translation
Feminine Cette Cette soupe est délicieuse. This soup is delicious.
Masculine Ce / Cet Ce garçon est coquin.

Cet arbre est vieux.

 This boy is cheeky.

This tree is old.

 

In the masculine singular form, you have to use cet if the following word starts with a vowel. It is to ease the pronunciation thanks to the liaison between the t at the end of cet and the vowel.

Plural Example Translation
Feminine Ces Ces robes sont belles. These dresses are beautiful.
Masculine Ces Ces livres sont passionants. These books are fascinating.

In the plural form, if the words following ces starts with a vowel or an h, you have to do the liaison between the s of ces and the vowel or the h of the following word.

-ci and -là

Just like in English, the French language differentiates things that are close and things that are further away.

As I mentioned before, this and these are used in English to designate something relatively close, and that and those are used to speak about something further away.

It is similar in French. Indeed, you would add the suffix -ci after the modified noun when something is close and the suffix -là when something is further away.

For example,

Aimes-tu de ces chaussures-ci? Ou préfères-tu ces chaussures-là?

Do you like these shoes (here)? Or do you prefer those shoes (there)?

 

Exercise

Let’s practice a little bit to check if you have understood this grammar lesson correctly.

Fill in the blank with the correct French demonstrative adjective (ce, cet, cette, ces).

Then check your answers.

  1. Enzo, as-tu lu ___________ livre?
  1. Noah, aimes-tu ___________ baskets?
  1. Qui est ___________ belle petite fille?
  1. Comment s’appelle ___________ homme?
  1. ___________ chien est agressif!

Answers

1.Enzo, as-tu lu ce livre?

  1. Noah, aimes-tu ces baskets?
  1. Qui est cette belle petite fille?
  1. Comment s’appelle cet homme?
  1. Ce chien est agressif!

So, here you have it, a little grammar lesson about demonstrative adjectives in French. I hope it was clear enough and that you now rock this grammar rule!

Also Read: 17 EFFORTLESS WAYS TO SAY GOODBYE IN FRENCH

French Online Courses

French Possessive Adjectives

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

Mon, Ta, Notre, Leur

How to understand French Possessive Adjectives Better

There are many French possessive adjectives so let’s learn them in this French lesson and make it clear and simple.

In English, you have 8 possessives : My your his her its our your and their.

In French, you have 10 more.

So, If you are asking yourself how to learn French in an efficient and simple way, join us today at French lessons Australia and click here to know more about the French possessive adjectives.

How to understand French Possessive Adjectives Better?

Here we are!

How to speak French like a native.

Just go through this French Learning…

The French possessive adjectives are related to the noun.

They are words that say to whom or to what something belongs.

In English they are:

My Your His Her It’s Our Your (when you’re talking to more than one person) and Their.

In French, they are a few more.

You might remember that all French nouns are either masculine or feminine: As a result, all possessive adjectives in French have to agree with the gender of the noun.

Let’s put all of them in a table so you can understand clearly how it works.

Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine
In front of a consonant In front of a vowel
Singular Persons First Pers MON MA MON MES
Sec Pers TON TA TON TES
Third Pers SON SA SON SES
Plurals Persons First Pers NOTRE NOS
Second Pers VOTRE VOS
Third Pers LEUR LEURS

You might have noticed that there’s no “its” in this table. This is because French possessive adjectives relate to the noun, and every noun has a gender.

There’s no need for the gender-neutral “its

Examples :

My Father
mon père
My mother
ma mère
His father
son père
Her mother
ma mère

She has her book.

Elle a son livre.

It’s my car.

C’est ma voiture.

Our friends come tonight.

Nos amis viennent ce soir.

My Neighbor’s’ cat ; his name is Moustache.

Le chat de ma voisine ; son chat s’appelle Moustache.

Your home is very nice.

Votre maison est très belle.

Their children are adorable.

Leurs enfants sont adorables.

The best way to make it yours is to practice, so click here to register at French lessons Australia.

definite articles
French Grammar

why do we use definite articles in French?

by Amelie Hurford
April 29, 2017

Why do we use definite articles in French ?

Do you want to learn French Grammar?

If the answer is YES, you are at the right place.

French Grammar, definite articles are very simple!! You just need to read this French course to understand how easy it is.

If you want to know more about all the French definite articles LE LA LES L’ just go through this French lesson and you will know how to speak French properly with French Lessons Australia.

Welcome back to our today’s French learning.

French grammar sound difficult so let’s make it easy for you.

 

How can we handle French articles, and more particularly the definite articles, LE LA LES L’ ?

French articles are necessary to determine the gender of the noun. You cannot make a sentence without an article or a noun.

Le vent soufflé dans les arbres.

The nouns vent and arbres need the article le and les to fit with the sentence.

The French definite article is used with a noun referring to a specific item when both the speaker and the audience know what the item is.

le for the masculine noun. Le vent. Le chemin. Le pain.

la for the feminine noun. La table. La chaise. La fille.

les for the masculine or feminine plural noun. Les enfants. Les voitures. Les trains.

l’ for the masculine or feminine singular form in front a vowel or a mute H. L’arbre.

L’hôtesse.

Note that the plural definite article is the same for all nouns, whereas the singular has different forms for masculine and feminine.

 

Test your French by doing this test.

What you should put in front of these nouns?

Singe
le
Crabe
le
Herbe
l’
Sol
le
Fenêtre
la
Route
la
Mouches
les
Serpents
les
Hotel
l’
Audience
l’

Caution !

When plural nouns are used in a generalising context English indicates this generalisation by omitting the article.

This is not the case in French !

Animals can be dangerous

Les animaux peuvent être dangereux

Good to know !

The contraction form in front of a preposition

Preposition à + le
au
Parler au voisin
Preposition à + les
aux
Parler aux voisins
Preposition de + le
du
Parler du film
Preposition de + les
des
Parler des films

To make sure you have well understood this French lessons click here to join us at French Lessons Australia and practice our French within one of our online courses  !!

GRAMMAR TOOL OF GENDER IN FRENCH
French Grammar, French Vocabulary

Focus on the valuable grammar tool of gender in French

by Amelie Hurford
April 26, 2017

Feminine or masculine, that is the question you often ask yourself as a French learner.

Why “bureau” (desk) is masculine and “chaise” (chair) feminine?

Learning French grammar tool of gender in French is not that complicated! Here is some simple explanations.

In French, every noun has a gender, masculine or feminine.

You must think that the only one option to speak French properly is to learn by heart all the French nouns. Luckily this is one of many myths about the French language and you can actually know the gender of a French noun just by looking at its ending.

Why does gender in French matter?

Before you discover how easy it is to know the gender of French nouns with accuracy, you need to know that the gender has an influence on:

  • The article you use before a noun
  • Pronouns
  • The ending of adjectives

Did you know that a French word ending is a good indicator of its gender?

When learning the gender of French nouns, keep in mind that the meaning of the noun usually has nothing to do with whether it is masculine or feminine.

To learn grammar tool of gender in French, you need to know that in French grammar rules exit but exceptions remain.

The first one is to look at the ending of a word.

According to several studies, a noun’s ending indicates its gender in 80% of cases.

This could be learnt by heart but it would be boring. Instead write it down on a small note book and keep an eye on it each time you need to speak French.

Best Grammar tool of gender in French. Here is a simplified list that would be easier to remember.

Masculine

  • age (virage)
  • al (arsenal, journal, animal)
  • eau (tableau, chapeau, bateau)
  • ent (sergent, président, client)
  • isme (communisme, optimisme)
  • ment (département, gouvernement

Feminine

  • ade (promenade, salade)
  • aison (combinaison)
  • ance (espérance)
  • ence (providence)
  • esse (adresse, jeunesse)
  • ette, (cigarette, disquette)
  • ie (chimie)
  • tion (action, collection, correction)
  • sion (passion, conclusion, décision)
  • té : vérité, sincérité, université
  • ure (aventure, écriture)

Do you want to know how to speak French properly?

French gender rules explained

Once you know how to easily indentify the gender of nouns, you have to agree all the sentence with this gender. Follow this French lesson and discover all about French articles, pronouns, and adjectives.

The articles and adjectives that we pair with French nouns must agree in both gender and number. Otherwise things sound incorrect to a native French speaker.

• The article you use before a noun

An article is a part of speech that is used very often.

A definite article reveals a specific noun – in English the definite article is the.

I found the box = a specific box that you were looking for, or referred to before.

In French, le, la, and les are all definite articles.

In English, you always use “the”. In French, you have a masculine “the” (le) and a feminine “the” (la). Les is the plural form.

  • Le téléphone
  • La télévision
  • Les objets

An indefinite article doesn’t refer to a specific noun.

In English our indefinite articles are a or an depending on whether the noun starts with a vowel.

Look at this example :

I found a box = any random box out of an indescribable number of boxes. Similarly, you have a masculine “a” in French (un) and a feminine one (une).

  • Un paquet (a package)
  • Une boite (a box)

If the noun is plural in French, you have to use DES. English does not use any plural article.

  • Des paquets (packages)

Finally, while you say “some” in English. You need to make the distinction between “du” (masculine) and “de la” (feminine) in French.

Exercise yourself

Pronouns

In French , pronouns change according to the gender.

As in English you have a masculine pronoun il (he) and a feminine one elle (she).

However, regarding the plural, you have two different pronouns in French ils or elles.

English will be “they” for both.

Exercise yourself

Try to match with the right pronoun.

…..est poli….Correction….il

…..est polie….Correction….elle

…..sont polis….Correction….ils

The endings of adjectives and verbs

In the previous exercise, you have seen that adjectives can change due to the noun’s gender.

Poli (Polite) changes into Polie at the feminine form.

An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. All French adjectives agree in number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) with the nouns they describe. In fact, in French, all words in a sentence must agree with each other.

Most of the time masculine adjectives can be change to feminine by adding a suffix.

Most adjectives add e to the masculine singular form to get the feminine singular.

Examples

Américain -> américaine

Bleu -> bleue

Content -> contente

Brun -> brune

Blond -> blonde

Fier -> fière

Charmant -> charmante

Idéal -> idéale

Agé -> agée

Dévoué -> dévouée

Fatigué -> fatiguée

Occupé -> occupée

Masculine singular adjectives ending in eux form the feminine by changing -x to -se,

Examples

Affectueux -> affectueuse

Chanceux -> chanceuse

Courageux -> courageuse

Form the feminine singular of masculine singular adjectives ending in f by changing -f to -ve.

Examples

Neuf -> neuve

Sportif -> sportive

Vif -> vive

Actif -> active

Masculine singular adjectives ending in -er form the feminine by changing -er to -ére,

Examples

Léger -> légère

Étranger -> étrangère

Premier -> première

Cher -> chère

Some masculine singular adjectives form the feminine by doubling the final consonant before the -e ending.

Examples

Bon -> bonne

Bas -> basse

Ancien -> ancienne

Européen -> européenne

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How to deal with un, une, des in French ?

by Amelie Hurford
April 4, 2017

Je mange une tarte et je bois un café avec des amies.

If you want to know more about the French indefinite articles  go through this French lesson and you will know how to speak French properly.

Click here

Do you want to learn how to deal with un, une, des in French. There is No need to attend a French class to understand the French indefinite articles!

It’s very simple!! French articles are necessary to determine the gender of the noun. You cannot make a sentence without an article or a noun.

Un café très chaud.

The noun café needs the article to fit with the sentence.

The French indefinite article (un, une, des in French)  is used with a noun referring to an unspecified item, or to a specific item when the speaker and audience both do not know what the item is.

In English there are three kinds of singular articles «a,” “an,” or “one”.

In French there are only two.

Un for the masculine noun.

Une for the feminine noun.

The plural “some” in English corresponds to “des.” In French.

Des   m or f plural

Note that the plural indefinite article is the same for all nouns, whereas the singular has different forms for masculine and feminine.

Learning French & un, une, des in French is easy! Test yourself by doing this simply test.

What you should put in front of these nouns?

Bicyclette                                           une

Ordinateurs                                       des

Pain au chocolat                              un

Leçon de français                            une

Joueur de foot                                  un

Parties de tennis                              des

 

Caution !

In a negative sentence, the indefinite article changes to de or d’ in front of a vowel.

Il mange un pain au chocolat.

Il ne mange pas de pain au chocolat. (negative sentence with ne …pas)

Il mange un artichaut (artichoke).

Il ne mange pas d’artichaut.

 

Once again do the test!

DE or D’

Il ne boit pas … café.                       De       He doesn’t drink coffee.

Ils ne partent pas …. Paris             De       They do not leave from Paris.

Le client n’a pas … argent.            D’        The customer does not have cash.

Pierre n’a pas … amis.                    D’        Pierre does not have friends.

 

When referring to a person’s profession or religion, the indefinite is not used in French, although it is used in English.

Je suis professeure de français.

I am a french teacher.

If you want to learn more about French definite articles Click Here

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