Stage 1 · A1
Level A1
Articles before a vowel — identify and understand
Identify the elision of le/la to l’ before vowels or silent h in common French nouns.
1. Objective
By the end, you will identify when le or la changes to l’.
2. I discover
Compare: la gare/l’adresse; le café/l’hôtel. What do adresse and hôtel have in common?
3. I understand
Before a singular noun beginning with a vowel or silent h, le and la become l’: l’école, l’adresse, l’hôtel. This elision avoids adjacent vowel sounds.
l’écolel’adressel’hôtell’amiel’entréel’heure
Watch out
Not every h-word takes l’: some have aspirated h, such as le héros. Start by learning frequent silent-h words.
4. Guided practice
5. Independent practice
6. I write / I speak
Now apply the feature in three personal sentences and briefly justify each choice.
7. Check my learning
8. What I remember
le/la → l’ before a vowel or silent h: l’école, l’adresse, l’hôtel, l’heure.
9. Now I can…
- I can move from the rule to a real sentence.
- I can explain why my form is correct.
