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

Hi Joanna, it's the same as in Englich: The Netherlands is formally plural even though it refers to a single country.

I don't think it's the same as English. Generally we use a singular verb with countries like the Netherlands or the United States, but I suppose we'd use a plural verb with the Low Countries.

I believe in French you would use "Les Pays-Bas" for both the Netherlands and the Low Countries, and always with a plural verb.

Thank you! That makes sense.

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:

Continents, countries, regions & states are masculine, feminine 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!