French Nouns

Understanding Nouns

A noun is a part of speech that stands for a person, thing, place, concept or idea.
In French, every noun has a gender - it’s either masculine or feminine.
The definite articles ‘le’ (masculine) and ‘la’ (feminine) are used to mean ‘the’.
To form the plural of most nouns in French, you add an ‘s’ at the end, but the pronunciation doesn’t change and the ‘s’ is silent. For instance, ‘chat’ (cat) becomes ‘chats’ (cats).
For nouns ending in ‘au’, ‘eu’, or ‘eau’, the plural is usually formed by adding ‘x’. For instance, ‘château’ (castle) becomes ‘châteaux’ (castles).

The gender of French nouns is not always logical and must often be learnt by heart.
A few rules can help, like many nouns ending in ‘-tion’, ‘-sion’, and ‘-ure’ are feminine.
However, beware of exceptions such as ‘le lion’ (the lion) and ‘l’horizon’ (the horizon) - both ending in ‘-on’ but masculine.

French nouns are introduced by articles.
Definite articles (‘the’ in English) are ‘le’ (masculine singular), ‘la’ (feminine singular), and ‘les’ (plural).
Before a vowel or mute ‘h’, ‘le’ and ‘la’ become ‘l’’.
Indefinite articles (‘a’ or ‘an’ in English) are ‘un’ (masculine) and ‘une’ (feminine). For the plural, regardless of gender, we use ‘des’.

French sometimes contracts the prepositions ‘à’ (to) and ‘de’ (of) with the definite articles. For instance, ‘à le’ becomes ‘au’, and ‘de les’ becomes ‘des’.
Understanding and recognising these contractions is crucial in mastering French grammar.

French uses partitive articles (‘some’ or ‘any’) to express an unspecified quantity.
They are formed with ‘de’ (of) + definite article ‘le’, ‘la’, ‘l’’, ‘les’.
Examples: ‘Du pain’ (Some bread), ‘De la confiture’ (Some jam), ‘De l’eau’ (Some water), ‘Des pommes’ (Some apples).