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Breakdown of Le chat marche autour de la maison.
le chat
the cat
la maison
the house
marcher
to walk
autour de
around
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“How does grammatical gender work in French?”
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine, and this affects the articles and adjectives used with it. "Le" is used with masculine nouns and "la" with feminine ones. Adjectives also change form to match — for example, "petit" (masc.) becomes "petite" (fem.).
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Questions & Answers about Le chat marche autour de la maison.
Why do we say le chat instead of la chat?
In French, chat is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine article le. If chat were feminine, you would use la instead (for example, la chatte, which can mean a female cat).
How do you pronounce marche in French?
It’s pronounced a bit like “marsh” in English, with a softer, more throaty r. The final e is usually silent.
Why do we need autour de rather than just autour?
In French, autour (‘around’) is almost always followed by de, which translates to “of” in English. So when you say “around the house,” it must be autour de la maison.
Why is it de la maison instead of de le maison?
Because maison is a feminine noun. For feminine nouns, de + la remains de la. If it were a masculine noun, you would combine de + le to form du (for example, autour du parc).