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Les noms (Nouns)


Les noms: Le singulier et le pluriel (Nouns: the singular and the plural)

The plural is normally expressed by adding an '-s' to the singular form of the word.

Examples:

Some singular forms, however, are changed before the 's' is added, and some nouns express the plural in other ways then adding an '-s'.

Example:


Les noms: Le genre et le définitif (Gender and definiteness)


There are two genders in French: the masculine and the feminine gender. All nouns have a gender. Indefinite nouns are preceded by the article 'un' (for masculine nouns) or 'une' (for feminine nouns). Definite nouns are preceded by the article 'le' (for masculine nouns) or 'la' (for feminine nouns). If the first phoneme in the noun is a vowel, the article 'l'' is used for both masculine and feminine nouns. Plural nouns (both masculine and feminine ones) have the articles 'des' (nouns with indefinite sense) and 'les' (nouns with definite sense).

Examples:


Exercice 1 (exercise 1)

Les noms: Le genre, Le singulier/le pluriel, Le définitif
Nouns: Gender, Singular/plural, Definiteness
Gap/pair drill exercise - translate the following words to French!

  1. The horse - (1)
  2. A house - (2)
  3. Meadows - (3)
  4. A bench - (4)
  5. Doors - (5)
  6. The shadow - (6)
  7. The shadows - (7)
  8. Splendour - (8)
  9. Forests - (9)
  10. A glance - (10)
  11. The shutters - (11)
  12. The horses - (12)
  13. A lady - (13)
  14. Flowers - (14)
  15. A colour - (15)
  16. Windows - (16)
  17. A garden - (17)
  18. The cups - (18)
  19. A valley - (19)
  20. The suns - (20)
  21. Branches - (21)
  22. The oaktree - (22)
  23. Trees - (23)
  24. A metre - (24)

HELP! Go to singular and plural grammar!


Test 1 (test 1)

Les noms: Le genre, Le singulier,/le pluriel, Le définitif
Nouns: Gender, Singular/plural, Definiteness
Fill in the English equivalents:

  1. The colours (1)
  2. A shutter (2)
  3. Horses (3)
  4. The valleys (4)
  5. A shadow (5)
  6. The splendour (6)
  7. Meadows (7)
  8. The benches (8)
  9. A branche (9)
  10. A flower (10)
  11. The suns (11)
  12. An oaktree (12)
  13. Window (13)
  14. The garden (14)
  15. Meter (15)
  16. The shadow (16)
  17. The glance (17)
  18. Forrests (18)
  19. The tree (19)
  20. A horse (20)
  21. A house (21)
  22. Doors (22)
  23. The cups (23)
  24. The lady (24)


Last update: April 22, 1997. persa@stp.ling.uu.se