Les Articles définis

The French definite article corresponds to the in English. There are four forms of the
French definite article:

Singular

Before vowel Plural

Masculine Feminine
or mute h

le la l' les

le garçon la fille l'ami, l'amie les garçons

le père la mère l'homme, l'histoire les filles

Which definite article to use depends on three things: the noun's gender, number, and
first letter. If the noun is plural, use les. If it's singular starting with a vowel or mute h,
use l'. If it's singular and starts with a consonant, use le if it's masculine and la if it's
feminine.

Meaning and usage of the French definite article

The definite article indicates a specific noun.

Je vais à la banque - I'm going to the bank.

Voici le livre que j'ai lu - Here is the book I read.

The definite article is also used in French to indicate the general sense of a noun.
The article is not used in this sense in English.

J'aime la glace - I like ice cream

C'est la vie ! - That's life!

The French definite article is used much more often than its English counterpart. In
the introduction to the French definite article, we learned that it is used to indicate a
specific noun (Je vais à la banque) or to talk about a noun in a generic sense (J'aime la
glace). The French definite article has a number of other uses, which this lesson will
discuss in detail.

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Vocab:

- la banque = bank

-la glace = ice-cream

Note: When there are two or more nouns listed in a French sentence, the definite
article must be listed in front of each one.

The French definite article is used in front of the following kinds of nouns, whereas it
is often not used here in English. 

I.  Concrete nouns   

A. Specific objects

Le livre que je viens de lire est amusant.

The book I just read is funny.

Le papier et les stylos sont dans le tiroir.

The paper and pens are in the drawer.

B. Nouns used in a generic sense

L'essence est très chère en France.

Gas is very expensive in France.

J'aime la glace, le chocolat et le gâteau.

I like ice cream, chocolate, and cake.

Definite article contractions

The definite article changes when preceded by the preposition à or de - the

preposition and article contract into a single word.

Vocab:

- le tiroir = drawer

- l’essence = gas

- venir de inf = just do smt

( Je viens, Tu viens, Il/On vient, Nous venons, Vous venez, Ils viennent)