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Nouns

Introduction 

Nouns are the words we use as labels for people and abstract and concrete things. When used in a sentence, French nouns are nearly always accompanied by a determiner (an article or other little word), while English nouns do not always need one.   Here the nouns are in red italic, the determiners in light grey. 

Sa grand-mère est malade. (Her grandmother is ill.)

Le loup est dans le bois. (The wolf is in the wood.)

J'aime le chocolat. 

Notice that English nouns don't always need a determiner. We say I like chocolate.
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Gender 

All nouns in French have a Gender.  They are either masculine or feminine. The gender affects words that accompany the noun, such as articles and adjectives, which must "agree" with the noun.  Agreeing means simply that they change to indicate the same gender and number. 

le loup

[loup is masculine, therefore le]

la maison

[maison is feminine, therefore la]

le grand loup

la grande maison

[maison is feminine, therefore grande] 

This doesn't mean the French see things as having masculine or feminine characteristics.  It's just a linguistic convention, common to many languages. 

about Gender 

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Types

Common Nouns and Proper Nouns 

A distinction is usually made between common nouns and proper nouns. 
    Common Nouns refer to a class of things.  Chocolate, beer, pen and value are common nouns. 

    Proper Nouns do not refer to a class, but to individuals, usually people or places.  George, Cleopatra, Trudeau, China, Port au Prince are proper nouns. 

When you see chocolate or beer, you can recognize it and say "That looks like chocolate." or "That's beer."  This is not possible with proper nouns.  If you see someone called George, or a place called Acme, you have to be told the name.
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Most Frequent

Here are the 100 most frequent nouns in written French. As you go through the course you should get to know all of these words, because you will come across some of them in any document of a certain length.  You probably know quite a few already. The first 52 are accompanied by common determiners. 

Begin by making a list of the cognates. Then try to group the others in ways that make sense to you (people, for example, and places), write the groups down in your Notebook and try to learn them little by little.  They will keep coming up in the texts we study. 

The first two exercises also allow you to practice your understanding of these nouns.

un homme, le jour, un monsieur, le temps, la vie, le monde, son enfant, l’heure, l’année, la femme, mon pays, une livre [= pound (weight or money)], cette chose, ton travail, ce cas, un cours, ma main, un fait, son état, une part [usual meaning = share], la question, le point, un saint, une partie, mon père, des problèmes, la fille, l’effet, la ville, ce mois, un rapport, l’eau, cette façon, un coup, la maison, le gouvernement, le service, la tête, une place, les écoles, le droit [law], le besoin, le nombre, un exemple, ces raisons, dieu, le lieu, l’église, le doute, l’étude, la mesure, la fin. 

compte, famille, soir, groupe, société, esprit, idée, valeur, nom, forme, nuit, pied, côté, mot, ami, guerre, moyen [= means], personne, gens, histoire, porte, amour, million, vue, ferme, madame, affaire, milieu, conseil, loi, sens, prix, ministre, peine [= trouble], suite, coeur, force, ordre, livre [= book], cause, mère, terre, voix, condition, recherche, mort, membre, chambre, oeuvre, siècle, compagnie, art.   

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Exercises 

Exercises 1 Exercises 2    
           

 

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