Every French noun is masculine or feminine: le livre but la table. The word and its article are one thing — learn them together from the very first noun and gender never becomes the wall it is for learners who bolt it on later. Before a vowel, both shrink to l’.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| lele livre — the book | the (masculine) | luh |
| lala table — the table | the (feminine) | lah |
| l’l’école — the school | the (before a vowel sound) | l |
| le livre | the book | luh LEEVR |
| la table | the table | lah TAHBL |
| l’écolefeminine — une école | the school | lay-KOHL |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
From today, a French noun without its article is half a word. Say le livre, never livre alone — your memory will store the gender for free, which is exactly what the workbook’s copy-rows train your hand to do.
A table is not "female"; la is a property of the WORD. There are patterns (most nouns ending in -e leaning feminine, for instance) but exceptions everywhere — which is why the article-habit beats any rule.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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