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| Language notes | | le, la, l'..., les |
| | le bonjour
the greeting
l'analyste financier (masculine)
the financial analyst
la presse
the press
l'agence immobilière(feminine)
the estate agent's
les relations avec les clients(plural)
customer care (literally 'the relationships with the customers').
| le | client
the customer (male) |
les | clients
(plural) | | l' | analyste financier
(male)
the financial analyst | analystes financiers
(plural)
| | la | cliente
the customer (female) | clientes
(plural) | | l' | agence immobilière
(feminine)
the estate agent's | agences immobilières
(plural)
|
In French all nouns are either masculine or feminine; this is referred to as 'gender'. the masculine word for 'the' is le or l'... before a vowel; the feminine is la or l'... before a vowel. All become les in the plural.
Apart from the nouns with a 'natural' or obvious gender, eg: le monsieur, la dame, the best way to remember is to learn the gender of each new noun as you come across it.
As a very rough guide, there is a fair chance that a word ending in the written form with 'e' will be feminine, eg: la banque.
Note that:
- les (plural) applies to both masculine and feminine,
eg: les clients, les clientes. The s is silent unless the next word starts with a vowel.- A few nouns designating people use the same form for men and women, eg:
le, la propriétaire; le, la responsable du marketing; le, la comptable; le, la collègue; l'analyste.
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