THIS IS HOW YOU WILL KNOW QUICKLY WHEN TO USE LE, LA AND LES
So, do you have trouble knowing when to use le, la, les in your French conversations?
Paul asked me this question on Quora.
Read the article to find out when to use le, la, les in your French conversations and watch the video to hear and practice a verb that you should put on your list.
Photo credit: Flickr
With the nouns
This may be one of the hardest topic for francophiles: knowing the genders of the nouns.
The way to learn nouns is always WITH their articles (le, la) which shows their gender.
For instance, never learn:
fleur = flower
livre = book
You won’t be able to know their genders.
Instead, learn them like this:
la fleur = the flower (feminine)
le livre = the book (masculine)
“Les” is the plural of “le” and “la”, so the plural articles are not gender specific.
They are all translated as “the”.
EXAMPLES:
La fleur est blanche.
Le livre est blanc.
Les fleurs et les livres sont blancs.
In place of nouns
When they replace the nouns, “le” and “la” are translated as “it”, and “les” is translated as “them”.
This is another situation where knowing the genders proves very valuable.
EXAMPLES:
La fleur est blanche. Je LA vois. (= I see it.)
Le livre est blanc. Je LE vois. (= I see it.)
La fleur et le livre sont blancs. Je LES vois. (=I see them.)
That is why…
It’s very important to learn the genders of the French words.
Genders are feminine and masculine (not male and female), and all words have a gender.
Read this article for more about the French genders, and download my list of words with two genders.
That’s how we work inside of the J’Ouellette® Intensif program. Check it out – you’ll love it! 🙂
NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
Which part of this article most resonated with you and why? What is the one action that you’ll take today? 🙂
Let me guess.
Do you constantly have the feeling that you can’t hear what the French say and you don’t know how to read all the French words because they are written so much differently than they sound?
Learn 3 secrets that will help you be self sufficient in the way you pronounce French words – even if you don’t know what they mean – so that you can read that sophisticated menu in your favorite French restaurant.
Immerse yourself as you FINALLY reach your dream of becoming bilingual, learn to speak Parisian French on Skype and BREAK your language barrier!
…and now, please SHARE this article with your friends. They’ll love you for it! : )
Always in your corner,
Llyane
Photo credit: Tatyana Markovtsev, A.G. photographe
