In French, as in English, we use definite articles ("the" in English) and indefinite articles ("a," "an," "some," or "any"). They are sometimes called "markers" in your text. French articles (like French adjectives) must agree in number and gender with the word modified.

Here is a simple chart:

The basic rule is that every French common noun must have a marker. We usually put the definite article (le, la, les) with vocabulary words. Both le and la become l' in front of a vowel. However, the definite article may be replaced by the indefinite article (un, une, des), a possessive adjective (mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, etc.), a demonstrative adjective (ce, cette, ces, etc.) or a question adjective (quel, quelle, etc.).

Please remember that only one marker is needed and permitted. Do not double up!

Contractions

Contractions of masculine singular and of plural articles occur with the prepositions de and à. Here is a chart to remind you:

de + le = du

de + les = des

There is no contraction for de la or for de l'.

à + le = au

à + les = aux

There is no contraction of à la or à l'.