French Conversation · Level 1
82 words
French word
la
Pronunciation
IPA/la/
Meaning
- articlethe
Example
Donne-moi la clé.
Give me the key.
More examples
J'ai fermé la porte.
I closed the door.
Core concept
A small pointer that either marks a known feminine noun or stands in for that noun as a direct object.
Common phrases
la clé
the key
la porte
the door
la voiture
the car
Similar words
le: Marks a specific masculine noun known to both speaker and listener.
les: Marks multiple specific nouns known to both speaker and listener.
l': Marks a specific noun beginning with a vowel or silent h using a contracted form.
une: Marks one unspecified feminine noun.
Definition in French
Forme invariable qui sert soit d'article défini féminin singulier placé devant un nom, soit de pronom complément d'objet direct féminin remplaçant ce nom, le sens se déterminant par le contexte.
Word origin
French la descends from the Latin demonstrative forms illa and illam, whose Old French developments produced both the feminine article and the object pronoun.
Usage tips
- Before a feminine singular noun, la is an article, but before a conjugated verb it is usually a direct object pronoun, as in Donne-la-moi.
Other meanings
- herpronoun
- itpronoun
Opposites
- uneaarticle