The articles

Everything you need to know about le, la, l’, les and un, une, des…

In French, like in English, there are definite and indefinite articles. The definite article “the” can be translated in French by « le, la, l’, les ». It varies according to the word that follows: what is its genre, masculine, feminine? And is it plural or singular? Those are the questions you need to answer, in order to choose the good article.

The same logic applies for indefinites articles: “a” or “an” are translated with « un, une » and at the plural form « des ».

Definite articles - les articles définis

The following word is...	Definite articles	Exemples
Masculine and singular	le, l’	le café (the coffee) l’hôtel (the hotel) l’effort (the effort)
Femine and singular	la, l’	la boulangerie (the bakery) l’histoire (the story) l’erreur (the mistake)
Masculine or feminine, and plural	les	les cafés (the coffees) les boulangeries (the bakeries) les hôtels (the hotels) les histoires (the stories) les efforts (the efforts) les erreurs (the mistakes)

Indefinite articles - les articles indéfinis

The following word is...	Indefinite articles	Exemples
Masculine and singular	un	un café (a coffee) un hôtel (a hotel) un effort (an effort)
Feminine and singular	une	une boulangerie (a bakery) une histoire (a story) une erreur (a mistake)
Masculine or feminine and plural	des	des cafés (coffees) des boulangeries (bakeries) des hôtels (hotels) des histoires (stories) des efforts (efforts) des erreurs (mistakes)

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