Week 2, Day 1: Definite/Indefinite Articles, Food and Beverage Copy Copy
In French, nouns have a gender: either masculine or feminine. When written in singular form, the article that comes before the noun helps to identify its gender — this is not the case when the noun is plural because the word “les” is used for all plural nouns.
Listen to Week 2 Day 1 Track 1
Definite articles:
le (masculine singular)
le tableau - the board
la (feminine singular)
la table - the table
l’ (before a vowel or h*, usually masculine)
l’hôtel - the hotel
les (plural)
les tableaux, les tables, les hôtels*
Please note: In French, the letter “h” at the beginning of a word is not pronounced, therefore words that begin with “h” are pronounced starting from the vowel, which is usually the next letter in the word.
*L’ for h is only used in singular form. In plural form, it would be les hôtels and not l’hôtels.
Speaking Practice 1
Listen to Week 2 Day 1 Track 2
Indefinite articles:
un (masculine singular)
un livre - a book
une (feminine singular)
une chaise - a chair
des (plural)
des livres, des chaises
General Rules
A definite article like “La” or “Le” is used to refer to something specific, which means something that has already been mentioned in the conversation — you know exactly what you are talking about.
An indefinite article would be used for something that is not specific, such as “a chair.” If you were to be more specific about the chair, e.g. saying “the big, red chair”, then you would use a definite article instead of an indefinite one. The rules in French are mostly the same as in English.
Now, listen to this dialogue:
Before we proceed to the next topic in this lesson, let's review some more examples of what we have discussed above.
Speaking Practice 2
Listen to Week 2 Day 1 Track 4
Definite articles
le mur (masculine singular) - the wall
les murs (masculine plural) - walls
la porte (feminine singular) - the door
les portes (feminine plural) - doors
Listen to Week 2 Day 1 Track 5
Indefinite articles
un cochon (masculine singular) - a pig
des cochons (masculine plural) - pigs
une table (feminine singular) - a table
des tables (feminines plural) - tables
Listen to Week 2 Day 1 Track 6
In plural form, definite and indefinite articles will remain the same as you can see in the examples above.
le / la
les
un / une
des
Food and Beverage
France is not only known for its beautiful language — it is also well known for its delicious cuisine.
Speaking Practice 3
Listen to the following dialogue to help you memorize your new vocabulary:
Listen to Week 2 Day 1 Track 11
| La nourriture (verbs) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ajouter | to add | Je préfère ajouter davantage de chocolat dans cette recette. | I prefer to add more chocolate to this recipe. |
| assaisonner | to season | Vous pouvez utiliser du poivre et du sel pour assaisonner votre plat. | You can use pepper and salt to season your meal. |
| battre | to beat | Il faut battre les œufs pour faire une omelette. | You have to beat/whisk the eggs to make an omelet. |
| beurrer | to butter | Vous pouvez beurrer ces petits pains avec du beurre salé pour avoir un meilleur goût. | You can butter these buns with salted butter for a better taste. |
| bouillir | to boil | Ajoutez le reste des ingrédients et faites bouillir pendant 30 minutes. | Add the rest of the ingredients and boil for 30 minutes. |
| chauffer | to heat | Ces aliments doivent chauffer au micro-ondes avant d'être mangés. | This food needs to heat up in a microwave before being eaten. |
| couper | to cut | Elle a promis de couper tous les légumes avant de sortir. | She promised to cut all the vegetables before going out. |
| cuisiner | to cook | C'est plus amusant de manger que de cuisiner. | It is more fun to eat than to cook. |
| faire cuire | to cook | Il faut faire cuire cette viande environ 1 heure. | This meat needs to cook for approximately 1hr. |
| griller | to grill | Nous avons attrapé du poisson frais et l'avons fait griller. | We caught fresh fish and grilled it. |
| mélanger | to mix | Tous les ingrédients secs doivent être mélangés avant d'ajouter les ingrédients liquides. | All dry ingredients need to be mixed together before adding the liquid ingredients. |
| rôtir | to roast | Pour rôtir une dinde, il est important de préchauffer le four à la parfaite température. | To roast a turkey, it's important to preheat the oven to the perfect temperature. |
| servir | to serve | Ils attendent plus d'une centaine de personnes à servir lors de la réunion. | They are expecting to serve more than a 100 people at the gathering. |
| trancher | to slice | Je trouve agréable de trancher un gâteau. | I find slicing a cake enjoyable. |
| verser | to pour | Il veut verser plus de vin dans son verre. | He wants to pour more wine into her glass. |
Speaking Practice 4
A Quick Recap of this Lesson
Sharpen Your Knowledge with Exercises
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
True or False
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions.
Responses