Identifying objects in French: c'est un, c'est une

Level A1

Identifying objects in French: c'est un, c'est une

You can already start naming things you see. To ask what something is, use Qu'est-ce que c'est ?; to answer, use C'est followed by un or une and the object's name. Le and la help you remember the gender of each noun.

Three objects and their gender labels

Livre is a book, table is a table, and chaise is a chair. Learn them with a small label: le livre, la table, la chaise. Le marks masculine gender here; la marks feminine gender. This is the noun's grammatical gender, not a claim about the object being male or female; English the does not make this distinction.

Listen to the three words below. For visual support, use the World door to open the Explorer, select French, and find café (coffee shop), then espace pour s’asseoir (seating area). Observe one book, one table and one chair in that scene, then return to the examples; the translations here also let you study without opening the scene.

C'est + un or une + the object's name

You have used est, meaning is, to say who someone is or where they are. Here the complete opening is C'est, meaning it's or this is: keep both parts when naming the object. C' is the shortened form of ce before est; listen to C'est together.

For these three identifications, use un with masculine livre, and une with feminine table and chaise. Both un and une correspond to English a here; unlike English a/an, the choice is about gender, not the first sound of the next word. Le/la are the labels you learned with the nouns; in these answers, use un/une: C'est un livre, C'est une table, C'est une chaise. The opening C'est stays the same for all three.

C'est un livre / une table / une chaise

Ask what it is, then name it

Qu'est-ce que c'est ? means What is it? Learn it as one question for now, without building it word by word. Listen, then repeat the whole question.

In this conversation, A points to a different object each time: first a book, then a table, then a chair. B names each object. The same question and answers work with a friend or with someone you do not know; these lines have no tu/vous choice.

Just recognize: l' and ce sont

Before a vowel sound, le and la usually become l', as in this example: l'armoire means the wardrobe, a tall cupboard for clothes. Armoire is feminine, although l' itself does not show the gender. C'est l'armoire identifies a particular wardrobe that the speakers know.

Ce sont des livres means These are books: ce sont introduces several objects here, and des livres is the plural of un livre. Listen to these two examples to recognize them; you do not need to produce l', armoire or the plural in this lesson. The full comparison between c'est and il est comes later.

Your turn: one question, three identifications

Imagine pointing to the chair: ask what it is, then answer in French. Next, name the book and the table, using the same opening. Check the four lines below in that order and listen again.

If you opened the café scene, point out the three objects there and try the same exchange. Keep this small set together: le livre → un livre; la table → une table; la chaise → une chaise. Ask Qu'est-ce que c'est ? and answer C'est + un/une + the name.

Practise this lesson