/lə/
Translation
the (masculine singular)
Word origin
The masculine singular definite article, from Latin ille ('that', masculine), the demonstrative pronoun that weakened into the article across the Romance languages.
- Origin
- Latin
- Root
- ille
Grammar
Examples
.
The book is on the table.
l'.
The sun sets in the west.
J' .
I spoke to the director this morning.
Lyon .
The train to Lyon leaves in twenty minutes.
placard l'.
Put the coat away in the hall cupboard.
Used in
Stories
(14)On a le temps
1 min read · Core 1000
Pas la même chose
2 min read · Core 1000
Seule dans la nuit
2 min read · Core 1000
Cuisiner ensemble
3 min read · Core 1000
La fête surprise
3 min read · Core 1000
Le bus manqué
3 min read · Core 1000
Le dernier train de la nuit
3 min read · Core 1000
Le nouveau docteur
3 min read · Core 1000
Le premier jour de travail
3 min read · Core 1000
Un après-midi de pluie
3 min read · Core 1000
Clara trouve sa place
4 min read · Core 1000
Le café du quartier
4 min read · Core 1000
Un voyage difficile
4 min read · Core 1000
Une rencontre au marché
4 min read · Core 1000
Grammar articles
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French Advanced Grammar (C1-C2): The Constructions That Sound Native
Comparing French Adverbs: plus vite, le mieux, and the Irregulars
French Articles: Definite, Indefinite, Partitive, and the Article English Speakers Drop
French Grammar Cheatsheet: The Essentials, One Page
French Comparatives: plus, moins, aussi and the Three Irregulars
French Conditionnel: Polite Requests, Hypothetical 'Would', and the Same Irregular Stems as the Future
Conjugating French -re Verbs in the Present Tense
French Demonstrative Pronouns: celui, celle, ceux, celles
French Demonstratives: ce, cet, cette, ces and the -ci / -là Distance Split
Reported Speech in French: Tense Backshift (dit que, a dit que)
French Future Tense: Futur Proche, Futur Simple, and the Irregular Stems
French Imparfait: One Stem, One Set of Endings, One Irregular
French Imperative: tu, nous, vous Commands and the Three Irregulars
French Impersonal Verbs: il y a, il faut, il fait and the Dummy Subject 'il'
French Intermediate Grammar (B1-B2): The Things That Stop You at the Plateau
French quel and lequel: Which and Which One
French Negation Beyond pas: ne... que, ni... ni, aucun
French Negation: ne... pas, jamais, rien, personne and the Colloquial ne-Drop
French Noun Gender: Why Every Noun Is Le or La, and the Endings That Give It Away
French Noun Plurals: Add -s, Say Nothing - the Article Does the Work
French Object Pronouns: me, te, le, la, lui, nous, vous, leur and the Preverbal Position
The French Present Participle and Gerund (le participe présent et le gérondif)
French Partitives and 'de': du, de la, des and the Negation Rule
Passé Composé vs Imparfait: How to Choose Between the Two French Past Tenses
The French Pluperfect (le plus-que-parfait): The Past Before the Past
French Possessive Pronouns: le mien, le tien, le sien, le nôtre, le vôtre, le leur
French Possessives: mon, ma, mes and the mon-Before-Vowel Trap
French Prepositions: à, de, en, dans, sur, chez and the Mandatory Contractions
French Pronouns Y and EN: there, some, of it, of them
French Reflexive Verbs: se laver, se lever, s'appeler and the Singular Pronouns
French Relative Pronouns: qui, que, dont, où and How to Glue Clauses Together
French si Clauses: The Three Types of Conditional Sentence
French Stressed Pronouns: moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles
The French Subjunctive After Conjunctions
The French Subjunctive After Doubt, Emotion and Opinion
The French Subjunctive After Necessity and Will
French Superlatives: le plus, le moins, and the Irregulars
French Time Expressions: depuis, pendant, il y a and pour
Venir de + Infinitive: the French Recent Past (to have just done something)
The French Passive Voice (la voix passive)
French Word Order: SVO, the Object Pronoun Inversion, and Six Rules That Cover 90% of Sentences
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 1.