Using le, la, l', les with continents, countries & regions names (definite articles)

Thank you for pointing this out Claudia .

There is indeed a mistake in the video as it is-  La Chine ( not La China) but as it is a third-party resource , we can't correct it .

It says something similar here:

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/grammar/continents-countries-regions-states-names-are-either-feminine-masculine-or-plural-gender

Hi Hilary,

The largest category of countries in French are feminine ones. Those ending in 'ie' are normally feminine because of their latin root 'ia'.

Often, when a country ends in a consonant,  it will be masculine but not always, you may find exceptions to all of these rules.

Here are some examples of countries who might appear to be feminine but are in fact masculine.

Le Mexique, Le cambodge, Le Mozambique, Le Vénézuela, Le Nicaragua etc...

Hope this helps!

Hi Ian,

The country is 'Le Pays de Galles' and its inhabitants are 'les gallois' . I have never heard 'de Galles' used .

I think in Rugby they sometimes shorten it to 'Galles' when they speak of it in a match.

Maybe someone else can add to this?

Hi Julianne!

"I dislike California and Provence" is not the correct translation for "Je déteste la Californie ou la Provence".

Actually, there is something wrong about the French sentence here. We cannot say "Je déteste la Californie ou la Provence", but rather "Je déteste la Californie et la Provence" ou bien "Je déteste la Californie comme la Provence" (I dislike California just as I dislike Provence) 

'ou' could be used in this kind of sentence: "Je déteste le Sud: que ce soit la Californie ou la Provence" 

"I hate being in the South: whatever if it's California or Provence" (sorry for the clumsy English syntax!)

Thanks. So the text in the lesson needs to change then - that's where I got the French statement and incorrect it appears English translation from. Julianne 

You mean, why it doesn't take an article? Good question. I am also waiting for Aurélies answer. But I'm afraid that there probably isn't a good reason except for "that's how it is".

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Hi Gwynn,

Israel's long form in French is 'l'Etat d'Israel' which is a bit long so that maybe the reason for shortening to Israel! ( sorry my computer doesn't want to do a 'tréma' on the 'e' today)

Islands and groups of islands don't have an article either...

e.g. Cuba, Haïti, Chypre (Cyprus)

Hope this helps!

HI Robert

You can see all of our lessons on the rules around French adjectives - including position - here: https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/grammar/by-area/adjectives-adverbs

Hope that helps!

Hi Robert, the situation in French is a bit more varied. The vast majority of adjectives follows the noun. Then there are some which always come before the noun (e.g., grand, belle, nouveau, etc.). And then there are some which even change meaning depending on whether you put them before or after the noun. "Propre" means "one's own" when it vomes before the noun and "clean" when put after it. Best to study the exercises Gruff has posted. -- Chris (who is not a native speaker).

Bonjour Arman ! There is indeed a difference between "d'Espagne" and "de l'Espagne". The distinction here is between d' to express "from", or de l' which means "of [the]". So when you express where the thing comes *from* (its origin), you'll use d', but when you want to say that thing *belongs to* this country, you'll use de l' . Thus "je viens d'Espagne"; either "les coutumes d'Espagne" (where these customs come from) OR "les coutumes de l'Espagne" (its own customs) => here you would more colloquially say "les coutumes espagnoles"; "Sous l'influence de l'Espagne" I hope that's helpful! À bientôt !

Bonjour Ben ! On an enveloppe, you'll simply add the name of the country on its own: "67, rue des Lilas 45 467 PIERREVILLE FRANCE" (This isn't a real address.... I think!) I hope that's helpful! À bientôt !

Oui, Bonnie, exactement ! Bravo, continue comme ça !

Bonjour Boon Hong ! That's a very good question: the answer is no, you don't use articles with names of cities. "J'aime Paris et Londres." À bientôt !