Learn French Articles « Le, la, les, un, une, des »

When you are a beginner of a language, there are some basic rules you need to learn very quickly.

Today, we are offering you a beginner’s lesson with Patrice, one of our French teachers at the school alpha.b.

He specialises in teaching French for beginners and just before coming to alpha.b, he worked in Japan.

To find out more about our teachers at alpha.b, visit the ‘Our Team’ section of our website here.

In this video, you will learn French articles and Patrice will explain to you how to use definite and indefinite articles in French.

What are articles?

We use articles to identify a noun.

Articles are always placed before the noun.

The rule is: Article + Noun

Le chat (m)

La maison (f)

L’université (f)

L’hôtel (m)

Les enfants (pluriel)

Un chat (m)

Une maison (f)

Des enfants (pluriel)

But how do we choose between a definite and an indefinite article?

Definite Articles: LE, LA, LES

A definite article describes something unique.

For example: le ciel, le soleil

À Paris il y a la Tour Eiffel

À Nice il y a la mer

The articles LE and LA describe a generalisation without exception.

Le chat est un animal.

The article LES describes a generalisation with exception(s).

Les chats sont mignons… mais pas tous les chats sont mignons

Les français aiment le fromage … mais moi je n’aime pas le fromage.

Finally, we use definite articles with verbs that describe feelings and emotions:

Aimer, adorer, préférer, détester.

We say:

J’aime le cinéma

J’aime la musique

Je déteste les leçons de français.

But – be careful, with animals, we must use the article LES.

J’aime les chats

J’aime les chiens

Indefinite Articles: UN, UNE, DES

Indefinite articles describe an object amongst other objects.

Hier j’ai lu un livre intéressant.

Il y a un style sur la table.

Indefinite articles express, like definite articles, a generalisation:

Un chat est un animal = le chat est un animal 

Des chats sont mignons = quelques chats sont mignons

Indefinite articles are used with certain verbs of possession:

Avoir, Prendre, Acheter

Hier j’ai acheté un livre, maintenant j’ai un livre.

Summary to learn French articles :

We use definite articles:

• to describe/label something unique
• to express a generalisation
• with verbs expressing feelings and emotions (aimer, détester, préférer, adorer)

We use indefinite articles:

• to describe objects amongst other objects
• to express a generalisation
• with verbs of possession (avoir, acheter, prendre)

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