Demonstratives: ce, cet, cette, ces

French folds "this", "that", "these" and "those" into one demonstrative with four written forms. The choice depends on the noun, not on distance: its gender, its number and its first sound. This page is the practice companion to the French demonstrative adjectives reference.

• ce livrethis book
• cet hommethis man
• cette maisonthis house
• ces enfantsthese children

The two-question check

Before every demonstrative, ask two questions of the noun.

Plural comes first because it ends the question: both genders share ces.

• Ces hommes mangent. - These men are eating.
• Ces choses sont à moi. - These things are mine.

The vowel override

One override sits on top: a masculine singular noun that starts with a vowel or silent h takes cet, never ce. French will not let the vowel of ce run into the vowel of homme, so the word grows a bridging t, just as le becomes l'.

• Cet homme est mon père. - This man is my father.
• Cet ami parle français. - This friend speaks French.
• Cet enfant mange. - This child is eating.

Two traps hide in the override. It is masculine only: a feminine noun keeps cette before a vowel.

• Je ne travaille pas à cette heure-là. - I don't work at that time.

And cet and cette sound the same, so speech never tells you which to write. Only the noun's gender does, which is why the noun gender page insists on learning every noun with its article.

Three slips the drill is built to catch

The first slip lasts longest, because ce is the form you meet first.