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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lesson Plan 1: NAMING THINGS! ..................................................... 2
Fast Forward! ........................................................................ 2
Male and Female Words ............................................................ 2
Living Things ......................................................................... 4
Par Exemple (For Example) ........................................... 4
Dautres Exemples (Other Examples)................................ 4
Non-Living Things.................................................................... 5
Par Exemple ............................................................. 5
Quelques Exceptions! (Some Exceptions!) .......................... 5
When Theres More than One - Plurals........................................... 6
Action Replay! ....................................................................... 7
More Audio!........................................................................... 8
Extra Words .............................................................. 8
Les Activits (The Activities) ...................................................... 9
Male or Female?................................................................... 9
Le or La?............................................................................ 9
More Le or La?....................................................................10
Translation Time!................................................................11
Le or La? Some Exceptions! ....................................................12
Les Rponses (The Answers) ......................................................13
Male or Female?..................................................................13
Le or La?...........................................................................13
More Le or La?....................................................................13
Translation Time!................................................................14
Le or La? Some Exceptions! ....................................................14
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Lesson Plan 1: NAMING THINGS!
Fast Forward!
Nouns are words used to name or identify a person, animal, place, thing, or
idea. Examples include: girl, cat, flower, window, and hotel.
The first thing to learn about French is that all nouns have a gender. In
other words, all objects and living things are grouped as either;
masculine (male) words,
or feminine (female) words.
Just as in English, French nouns can either be singular, such as cat,
chat, or plural (i.e. more than one), like cats, chats.
The second thing to learn is that French has pronunciation principles
(explained in detail in your Learning Companion). Briefly, the important
points are:
Consonants are silent at the end of a word, when each word is spoken
individually,
All hs are silent at the beginning of a word.
Male and Female Words
Gender definition is at the heart of French communication. This is what
gives the language balance and harmony as you learn to speak it and write
it.
The concept of gender can feel confusing for new students of the French
language. Having a gender does not mean that nouns actually refer to male
or female things, although, in most circumstances, the nouns that refer to
males (such as a male doctor or a male animal) are masculine, while nouns
that refer to females are generally feminine (such as a female doctor or
female animal).
In many situations, you will be able to distinguish between masculine and
feminine nouns by the distinctive association to a gender. For example, the
sun tends to be associated with masculine imagery, and in French we find
that its gender is also masculine: le soleil. The moon tends to be
associated with feminine imagery, and, in French, it is feminine: la lune.
La lune Le soleil
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In this Lesson Plan, there will be repeated clues to help you understand this
concept better with word endings and the short words used before the
noun, known as the article the in English and Le and La in French.
Le = masculine article, the, e.g. Le soleil.
La = feminine article, the, e.g. La lune.
It is important to note that without le in front of soleil, and la in
front of lune, the words are incomplete and incorrect!
You may find it impossible to figure out the gender of other nouns, however.
For example, how would anyone know whether a table or a cup is
masculine or feminine? (La table and la tasse are both feminine.)
You wont be able to figure out the gender of most nouns from their English
equivalents. Once you know the word in French, however, youll be able to
figure out the gender by becoming familiar with its sound and where it fits
in the rhythm of a sentence.
In everyday conversation and communication, we use nouns all the time.
As we continue to talk about nouns in French, its useful to talk about both
living things and abstract things so that we can understand the concept of
gender.
As mentioned previously, the article (the) before a noun in French is not
only an integral part of the root word, but is also a major clue to the gender
of the word. In other words, as you learn new words, you will always be
learning them with either a Le in front, as in Le soleil, the sun, or a
La in front, as in La lune, the moon. This will help you to begin
categorizing genders as you build your conversation skills.
As a general guide, groups of words termed masculine often end with
a consonant, and groups of words termed feminine often end with the
vowel e. Note that there are plenty of exceptions to this guideline!
Le is always in front of a masculine noun, and La is always in front of
a feminine noun, unless the noun is a plural, or the noun begins with a
vowel (this is explained fully in the next Lesson Plan).
La table
La tasse
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Living Things
When talking about living things, gender is usually obvious:
Par Exemple (For Example)
Masculine nouns (ending with a silent consonant)
1.1 Le chat
The (male) cat
1.2 Le chien
The (male) dog
1.3 Le musicien
The (male) musician
1.4 Le garon
The boy
Feminine nouns (ending with vowel e)
1.5 La chatte
The (female) cat
1.6 La chienne
The (female) dog
1.7 La musicienne
The (female) musician
1.8 La fille
The girl
Dautres Exemples (Other Examples)
1.9 Ou est le chat?
Where is the (male) cat?
1.10 La chanteuse accompagne le musicien
The singer (a woman) accompanies the
musician (a man)
1.11 La fille pleure
The girl is crying
1.12 Le garon habite en France
The boy lives in France
Le chat
La fille
La fille pleure
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Non-Living Things
When talking about non-living things, gender clues are not so obvious! Who
could guess that the word problem would be masculine? Or that the word
destruction would be feminine? Non-living things can be quite tricky to
assign a gender to.
Par Exemple
Masculine nouns ending with a silent consonant
1.13 Le gant
The glove
1.14 Le clavier
The keyboard
1.15 Le rasoir
The razor
1.16 Le four
The oven
Feminine nouns ending with vowel e
1.17 La chaise
The chair
1.18 La porte
The door
1.19 La guitare
The guitar
1.20 La fentre
The window
Quelques Exceptions! (Some Exceptions!)
Masculine nouns ending with vowels
1.21 Le pinceau
The paintbrush
1.22 Le neveu
The nephew
1.23 Le problme
The problem
1.24 Le fromage
The cheese
La guitare
Le clavier
Le pinceau
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Feminine nouns ending with consonants
1.25 La conversation
The conversation
1.26 La vapeur
Steam
1.27 La fleur
The flower
Remember that in French, all nouns need to be
defined by Le or La even when you wouldnt
necessarily do this with the English equivalent
the.
For example in English you might say there is steam coming out of the
kettle, in French you would refer to steam as La vapeur and not
vapeur.
When Theres More than One - Plurals
How do you take a singular noun in French and make it plural?
Amazingly enough its not that different from English. Just as you add an s
in English (such as with cats or dogs), you often add the same ending in
French. The other frequent indication of a plural word in French is to add
an x.
For nouns ending in a consonant, add an s to make them plural. E.g.
chat becomes chats.
For nouns that end in eu, au, and eau add x to make them plural.
E.g. neveu becomes neveux, pinceau becomes pinceaux.
And just to make things interesting there are a few exceptions too, which
we will talk about as your vocabulary increases later in the program.
Gender also plays its part in plurals! For a group of mixed gender
items or people, always use the masculine plural.
E.g. 1 chat + 2 chattes = 3 chats
La conversation
Le chat Les chats
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Action Replay!
Gender
In French all nouns have a gender, that is, nouns are either
feminine or masculine.
As a general guide, groups of words termed masculine often
end with a consonant, and groups of words termed feminine
often end with the vowel e.
Pronunciation
Consonants are silent at the end of a word, when each word
is spoken individually,
All hs are silent at the beginning of a word.
Le and La
In English we use the as the article, in French we use Le as
the masculine article and La as the feminine article.
Le is always in front of a masculine noun, and La is always in
front of a feminine noun, unless the noun is a plural, or the
noun begins with a vowel (this is explained fully in the next
Lesson Plan).
Plurals
For nouns ending in a consonant, add an s to make them
plural.
For nouns that end in eu, au, and eau add x to make them
plural.
For a group of mixed gender items or people, always use the
masculine plural.
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More Audio!
These audio tracks are for all the words in this Lesson Plan that you havent
heard yet! Most of them will be used in the following exercises.
Extra Words
1.28 Le docteur The doctor
1.29 La pluie The rain
1.30 Le crayon The pencil
1.31 Le poisson The fish
1.32 La colre Anger
1.33 La chaleur Heat
1.34 La joie Joy
1.35 Le vent The wind
1.36 La table The table
1.37 La lune The moon
1.38 Le soleil The sun
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Les Activits (The Activities)
Male or Female?
In the first space provided, write whether the word is a male or female
noun. And in the second space write the translation! The first one is done
for you!
Male (M) or Female (F) Translation
Example Le chat M The (male) cat _
Q.1 La musicienne ________ ____________________
Q.2 Le musicien ________ ____________________
Q.3 La chatte ________ ____________________
Q.4 La chienne ________ ____________________
Q.5 La fille ________ ____________________
Q.6 Le chien ________ ____________________
Q.7 Le garon ________ ____________________
Q.8 Le soleil ________ ____________________
Q.9 La lune ________ ____________________
Q.10 La chaise ________ ____________________
Le or La?
In the first space provided, write whether the noun should have la or le in
front of it! And in the second space write the English translation!
Le or La Translation
Example La chaise The chair _
Q.11 ___ four ______________
Q.12 ___ problme ______________
Q.13 ___ gant ______________
Q.14 ___ rasoir ______________
Q.15 ___ fentre ______________
Q.16 ___ conversation ______________
Q.17 ___ clavier ______________
Q.18 ___ porte ______________
Q.19 ___ vapeur ______________
Q.20 ___ pinceau ______________
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More Le or La?
Q.21 ____ docteur Q.22 ____ pluie Q.23 ____ crayon
The doctor rain The pencil
Q.24 ____ poisson Q.25 ____ colre Q.26 ____ chaleur
The fish anger The heat
Q.27 ____ joie Q.28 ____ vent Q.29 ____ lune
The joy wind The moon
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Translation Time!
Q.30 ______________ Q.31 _____________ Q.32 _____________
The table The (male) cat The sun
Q.33 ____________ Q.34 ____________ Q.35 _____________
The singer The chair The (male) dog
Q.36 ____________ Q.37 _____________ Q.38 _____________
The oven The musician The girl
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Le or La? Some Exceptions!
Q.39 ____ fleur Q.40 ____ sourire
The flower The smile
Q.41 ____ nuit Q.42 ____ cadeau
The night The present
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Les Rponses (The Answers)
Male or Female?
A.1 Female The (female) musician
A.2 Male The (male) musician
A.3 Female The (female) cat
A.4 Female The (female) dog
A.5 Female The girl
A.6 Male The dog
A.7 Male The boy
A.8 Male The sun
A.9 Female The moon
A.10 Female The chair
Le or La?
A.11 Male The oven
A.12 Male The problem
A.13 Male The glove
A.14 Male The razor
A.15 Female The window
A.16 Female The conversation
A.17 Male The keyboard
A.18 Female The door
A.19 Female Steam
A.20 Male The paintbrush
More Le or La?
A.21 Le docteur
A.22 La pluie
A.23 Le crayon
A.24 Le poisson
A.25 La colre
A.26 La chaleur
A.27 La joie
A.28 Le vent
A.29 La lune
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Translation Time!
A.30 La table
A.31 Le chat
A.32 Le soleil
A.33 La chanteuse
A.34 La chaise
A.35 Le chien
A.36 Le four
A.37 Le musicien
A.38 La fille
Le or La? Some Exceptions!
A.39 La fleur
A.40 Le sourire
A.41 La nuit
A.42 Le cadeau
La Fin (The End)