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# le

«le» in Mova's school dictionary: **«the» in French, used before a masculine word: «le chat»…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

article (French; le, la, les) — not an English word

### meaning for a pupil

1) (French) «Le» means «the» in French, used before a masculine word: «le chat» is «the cat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#m1)

2) It sounds like «luh» to an English ear, with a short soft vowel. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#m2)

3) It is not an English word, but you meet it in French names and phrases that English has borrowed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In French lessons it is one of the first words learnt, with «la» (the, feminine) and «les» (the, plural); every French noun has a gender, and «le» shows that the noun is masculine. In English you meet it in borrowed names and phrases such as «Le Mans», café menus («le menu») and in names of places in Canada (Quebec) and France.

### examples

- In French, «le chat» means «the cat». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x1)
- Our teacher wrote «le livre» on the board and said it means «the book». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x2)
- «Le» sounds a bit like «luh». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x3)
- The Quebec street sign said «Le Vieux-Port». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x4)
- In French class we sorted words into «le» words and «la» words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x5)
- «Le garçon» means «the boy». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x6)
- The café in our town is called «Le Petit Café». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x7)
- From ‘Le Foyer Breton,’ par E. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/#x8)

### note

French, not English. Before a vowel or silent «h», «le» shrinks to «l'»: «l'arbre» (the tree), «l'homme» (the man). Do not confuse it with «la» (feminine the) or «les» (plural the). Gender in French is grammar, not real life: a table is «la table» but a book is «le livre». In English text it is usually in names, so keep the capital: «Le Mans».

### In the corpora

- [Shout «gāi wǒ le» while grabbing and a quarrel starts; say it with your hand up and it's fair.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/13-in-the-playground/3/)
- [gāi wǒ le («GUY waw luh») means my turn; grabbing while you say it starts a quarrel.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/13-in-the-playground/11/)
- [bù wánr le («BOO WAR luh») means I'm not playing any more, the usual end of a quarrel.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/14-games-rock-paper-scissors-hide-and-seek/16/)
- ["dǎ léi le" means "it's thundering"; in slang "léi rén" means shocking or cringe.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/20-weather-and-what-granny-says-to-wear/13/)
- [«nǐ shòu le» (you've got thin!) is worry, and a full plate will follow.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/29-talking-to-the-friends-grandparents/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «le» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/le/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.