Definite articles (le, la, les)

English has one word for "the". French has four, because every noun has a gender (masculine or feminine) and a number.

The rule

Form	Use for	Example
le	masculine singular	le chat (the cat)
la	feminine singular	la maison (the house)
l'	singular before a vowel or silent h	l'eau, l'homme
les	plural, any gender	les chats, les maisons

Key points

• You can't guess gender from meaning — learn each noun with its article: not chat but le chat.
• l' replaces both le and la before a vowel sound: l'ami, l'école.
• les is the only plural form, so plurals are the easy part.

Watch out

• ❌ le eau → ✅ l'eau (elision before a vowel)
• ❌ la homme → ✅ l'homme (a silent h counts as a vowel sound)
• French keeps the article where English drops it: J'aime la musique. — I like music.

In context

• Le pain est sur la table. — The bread is on the table.
• J'aime la musique. — I like music.
• J'aime l'eau. — I like water.
• Les chats dorment. — The cats are sleeping.