Nouns and Gender

• In French, nouns (words for people, places, things, or concepts) have a gender: they can be either masculine or feminine.
• The gender of a noun often needs to be memorised, as it does not necessarily relate to the inherent nature of the object or person it describes.
• For example, 'un homme' (a man) is masculine and 'une femme' (a woman) is feminine.
• Masculine and feminine forms of some nouns and occupations are changing and becoming more gender-inclusive in modern French, like 'un·e artiste' (an artist).

Definite and Indefinite Articles

• Definite articles 'le' (masculine), 'la' (feminine), and 'les' (plural) are used when speaking about a specific object or person. For example, 'le chat' (the cat), 'la maison' (the house), 'les enfants' (the children).
• Indefinite articles 'un' (masculine), 'une' (feminine), and 'des' (plural) are used when speaking about an unspecified object or person. For example, 'un chien' (a dog), 'une pomme' (an apple), 'des livres' (some books).

Plural of Nouns

• French nouns typically form the plural by adding an 's' at the end. For instance, 'chat' (cat) becomes 'chats' (cats) and 'maison' (house) becomes 'maisons' (houses).
• Be aware of irregular plural forms. Nouns ending in -eau, for instance, add an 'x' in plural form, like 'bateau' (boat) becomes 'bateaux' (boats).

Subject Pronouns

• The French subject pronouns are 'je' (I), 'tu' (you informal), 'il/elle/on' (he/she/one), 'nous' (we), 'vous' (you formal or plural), and 'ils/elles' (they masculine/they feminine).
• Be familiar with how these pronouns correspond to verb forms in different tenses.

Possessive Adjectives

• French uses different possessive adjectives depending on gender and number. 'My' can be 'mon' (before masculine or feminine noun starting with a vowel or h sound), 'ma' (before feminine noun), or 'mes' (before plural noun).
• Similarly, 'your' could be 'ton', 'ta', or 'tes', and 'his/her' could be 'son', 'sa', or 'ses'.

Demonstrative Adjectives

• Use demonstrative adjectives to point out specific items. These are 'ce' (masculine), 'cet' (before vowel or h sound masculine), 'cette' (feminine), and 'ces' (plural).
• Remember that 'ce' and 'cet' become 'cette' in the feminine and 'ces' in the plural. For example, 'ce chat' (this/that cat), 'cette femme' (this/that woman), 'ces livres' (these/those books).