les déterminants: les articles définis

Forms

In French, most nouns need to  be introduced or 'determined' by an article. As in English, an article  is either definite; le, la, l’, les  ('the') or indefinite un, une, des, d’  ('a', 'an'). 

French articles are also masculine or feminine, singular or plural , according to the gender and number of the noun they determine. Here are the definite articles in French:

Masculine singular: le (l')

Masculine/feminine singular before a vowel:  l’ 

Feminine singular: la (l')

Masculine and feminine plural: les

élision and liaison

In the examples above, note that le and la both become l' when they precede a noun beginning with a vowel or a silent h: l'escargot, l'université. This is called elision.

Unlike le and la, les does not have a contracted, reduced form. When les is followed by a word starting with a vowel, the normally silent final s of les is pronounced, making a / z/ sound. This additional sound linking two words is called liaison. Listen to the following examples:

Note that elision and liaison occur with most words starting with h: l'homme, les hommes, l'hiver, les hivers. Exceptions to this rule are words beginning with an aspirate 'h’ (there are very few.  One is :  le haricot [green bean]).

to express likes and dislikes

The French also use the definite article with verbs of preference, such as aimer, préférer, détester. English omits the article in such general statements. For example:

to indicate habitual recurrence

The definite article is used in French with moments of the day, days of the week, and seasons to indicate habitual recurrence. For example:

in a series

The article is usually repeated in a series, in contrast to English. For example:

no article

Cities usually do not require an article in French. For example:

Continents, countries, states, regions, and oceans usually require an article (l'Afrique, la France, l’Illinois, le Québec (the province), l'Atlantique etc.), but there are a few exceptions, usually islands: Haïti, Israël, Madagascar. See prepositions with place names for more information.

Months never require an article: janvier, février, mars, etc.

Days of the week do not require an article in instances where they do not indicate habitual recurrence. For example: if it’s something you are doing one time.