Genders – un and une Objectives : To get to know the French genders

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Genders – un and une

Objectives :

To get to know the French genders

Read this sentence. What does it mean exactly?

C’est un crayonIt is a pencil.

Which of the words means ‘a ’?

The word ‘un ’ means ‘a ’.

Now read this sentence. Which word means ‘a ’ this time?

This time, the word ‘une ’ means ‘a ’.

C’est une règle

Genders – un and une

There are two words for ‘a ’ in French. Why?

In French, all nouns have a gender.

They are either masculine or feminine.

The word for pencil (crayon) is masculine, so “un “ is in front of it when we say “a pencil “’.

The word for ruler (règle) is feminine, so “une” is in front of it when we say “a ruler”.

Genders – un and une

But how can you tell whether a word is masculine or feminine?

It is impossible to tell just by looking at it.

You have to learn each word with the UNUN or UNEUNE before it, once you know this, it’s not too difficult. You know that each word is preceded by something, and that UNUN is masculine and UNEUNE is feminine. With time it will become a habit for you.

Genders – un and une

Sometimes you will need to check in the dictionary.

If the word is masculine it will have the letters “nm” next to it and if it is feminine you will find the letters “nf ” next to it.

Use a dictionary to find out whether the words below are masculine or feminine. What do they mean in English? Write it in the box provided

AnniversaireBibliothèqueBâtimentPommeDate

Vérifie

Genders – un and une

Plural - des

To make “a/an” plural in French, we use DESDES (don’t pronounce the S) – in English you use “some” but sometimes you don’t use anything.

So if you want to say “you have some books” you will need to say:

J’ai des livres

It does not matter if you don’t know the gender (ie feminine or masculine des is used for both).

Des règlesDes stylosDes dictionnairesDes portables

Ecoutez

Genders : Genders : le – la - le – la -

Sometimes, you want to say “the the pencil “’, instead of “a pencil”.

You must remember to check whether the word is masculine or feminine.

If the word is masculine, you use the word “le”

LeLe crayoncrayon

If the word is feminine, you use the word “la”

LaLa règlerègle

l’ l’ If a word begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), then you can’t use le or la in front of it.

Instead, you put l’ in front of it, whether it is masculine or feminine.

L’ordinateurL’agenda

lesles

This is the word you use when you want to say thethe in the plural, whether the word is masculine or feminine

Le chatLe chat les chatsles chatsLa règleLa règle les règlesles règlesL’ordinateurL’ordinateur les ordinateursles ordinateurs

lesles

Find if these words are singular or plural

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

singular plural

singular

singular

singular

singular

plural

plural

plural

plural

How to say something belongs to someone

Helen’s ruler

In French the sentence is slightly longer:

You need to say ““the ruler of Helen”the ruler of Helen”

La règle d’Hélène

Possession using de

Le stylo de Martin

Le portable de Simone

Try to do this exercise - Write in the box below:

How do you say in French:

1. Sophie’s ruler2. Edward’s cat3. Christina’s dog4. Charles’ fish5. Catherine’s book

Possession using de

Vérifie

Possession using de

Les jeux

Sink the boat Car tune

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klbschoolklbschool

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