Common nouns: the home and food
Thirty-odd everyday objects, each learned together with its gender.
Around the home
Learn each noun with its article. The article and the text style tell you the same thing twice — that redundancy is the point.
- la maisonthe houseMa maison.My house.
- la cuisinethe kitchendans la cuisinein the kitchen
- le salonthe living roomdans le salonin the living room
- la chambrethe bedroomma chambremy bedroom
- la portethe doorferme la porteclose the door
- la fenêtrethe window
- la tablethe tableà la tableat the table
- la chaisethe chairune chaisea chair
What the colours above mean
8 of 10 colours so farA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Describes a noun.
Opens a question — where, when, how, why.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Adverbs and conjunctions are the last two, and they arrive in Week 4.
The room, in one picture
Comenius did this in 1658, in the first picture textbook ever printed: a drawing, numbers on the things in it, the words keyed to the numbers. Tap a number to hear it. Then hide the words and name what you can before you check.
Tap a number, or a word, to hear it.
Food and drink
The essentials for ordering and travelling.
- le painbreaddu painsome bread
- le cafécoffeeun caféa coffee
- le théteaun théa tea
- l'eauwaterde l'eausome water
Feminine, but la has vanished into l'. The slant is the only cue left — memorise it with the word.
- le vinwineun verre de vina glass of wine
- le fromagecheesedu fromagesome cheese
- le caféthe café / bar (the place)au caféat the café
Same word as the drink. Context does the work.
- le menuthe set menule menu, [s'il vous plaît]the set menu, please
- la cartethe list of dishes
À la carte — choosing individual dishes rather than the set menu.
On the table
The food and drink from the list above, laid out. Tap to hear. When the list feels familiar, hide the words and go round the table naming everything out loud.
Tap a number, or a word, to hear it.
Contracted articles
du is de + le, and au is à + le. They are shown in brown and bold: brown because they are doing a preposition's job, bold because they are still carrying masculine gender inside them. Same for aux (à + les) and des (de + les), which carry the plural.
Sentence frames
- 1
Où est la cuisine / les toilettes ?
Where is ___ / where are ___?
- 2
Je voudrais un café / du pain.
I would like ___.
voudrais is the polite would like. Use it and you will always sound courteous.
- 3
L'addition, [s'il vous plaît].
The bill, please.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
InnerFrench, earliest episodes
Podcast apps
Slower, clear Parisian French. Do not try to understand everything. Aim to catch the words you already know.
What stuck?
Check it before you close the page.
Up to 10 of this week's words and frames. Say each one out loud before you look, and say whether you think you have it. Guessing first and then checking is what makes it stick — reading the answer feels better and does less.