French · A1 · Grammar
French Definite Articles: Le, La, L’ and Les
Use le with masculine singular nouns, la with feminine singular nouns and les with plural nouns of either gender. Le and la become l’ before a vowel sound or a mute h. Learn the article as part of each noun so gender is available when you make a sentence.
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Examples
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le musée / les musées | the museum / the museums |
| la gare / les gares | the station / the stations |
| l’adresse / les adresses | the address / the addresses |
Choose the noun first
Learn le ticket and la carte. The object does not tell you its grammatical gender. With unmarked l’, it helps to learn an indefinite form too: l’hôtel is masculine, so un hôtel; l’adresse is feminine, so une adresse.
Why French uses an article after aimer
J’aime le café usually means I like coffee in general. English often has no article there. French often uses the definite article for a category. Contrast J’aime le café with Je voudrais un café, a request for one serving.
Try it
Choose the definite article for ticket, adresse and musées.
Show answer
Le ticket, l’adresse, les musées.
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