Nouns and Pronouns in French

 French Lessons

Nouns and Pronouns in French

Nouns (Les Noms)

- Every noun in the French language has a grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine, denoted by the article le/un or la/une.

- If there is a vowel or silent h before the noun, the articles le and la contract to l'.

- Formation of plural usually involves addition of a silent -s; however, there are exceptions, such as the change from -al to -aux.

Pronouns (Les Pronoms)

In French language Subject pronouns (je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles) make up the basic building blocks of a French sentence.

The use of tu or vous holds cultural significance, with tu being used for close ones and vous used for strangers.

Object Pronouns come before verbs in French language, unlike in English grammar.

Gender

Masculine vs Feminine

Every French NOUNs are either masculine (masculin) or feminine (féminin). The article changes accordingly:

Masculine

LE / UN

1. le livre the book
2. le garçon the boy
3. un chat and cat
4. un stylo a pen

Feminine

LA / UNE

1. la maison the house
2. la fille the girl
3. une board and board
4. une fleur a flower

💡 notice: Before a vowel or silent h, both le and la become l'.

_e.g. l'ami (the friend), l'heure (the hour).

- s Plural Nouns

Most French nouns are made plural by adding -s (usually silent). The article changes to les for all plurals, and un/une becomes des.

le chat → forest chats
→ the cat → the cats

une maison → des maisons
→ a house → (some) houses

un journal → des journaux
→ a newspaper → newspapers

Exceptions: Nouns ending in -al change to -aux (journal → journaux). Nouns ending in -s, -x, -z don't change in the plural.

Personal Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns (pronoms sujets) replace a noun that performs the action of the verb.

Person                      French                   English                                     Notes
1st sing.                    is (j')                             I                                         (  j')  before vowels
2nd sing.                   tu                               you                                       informal
3rd sing.                    il / elle / on             he / she / one                          on = informal "we"
1 st pl.                         nous                         we formal                             plural
2nd pl.                         vous                       you (pl.)                                 also formal singular
3rd pl.                        ils / elles                    they                                      ils = mixed/masc. group

Tu vs Vous - Formal & Informal

One of the most important distinctions in French. Getting this right shows cultural awareness.

TU - informal
Friends, family, children, peers. Do you speak français? (Do you speak French?)

VOUS - formal / plural
Strangers, elders, authorities, or 2+ people. Vous parlez français?

Object Pronouns

Object PRONOUNS supersede NOUN which receives the action. They appear before the verb in French.

Type                                                Pronoun                                                                         Example
Direct order                                 le, la, les Je le vois.                                                        I see him/it.
Indirect order                              lui, leur Je lui parle.                                                    I speak to him/her.
Reflexive                                    me, te, se, nous, vous Il se lave.                              He washes himself.

Word order; Unlike English, the object pronoun comes before the verb; Je le mange (I eat it), not Je mange le.

Practice

 Can you translate these?

Noun + Gender

The dog → .............. chien | The school → ........... école

Pronoun Choice

Speaking to a professor; tu or vous?

Object Pronoun

"I see her." It is ........ vois.