Feminine nouns in French take the definite article «la». Masculine French nouns come together with «le» as the definite article.

If the noun starts with a vocal (a/e/i/o/u) or the consonant 'h', both definite articles are shortened to «l'».
But you should always know the grammatical gender of the noun – we therefore like to suggest:
Please, pay extra attention to the grammatical gender of these words nevertheless.

Please note:
There are some exceptions to the above mentioned rule.
You should learn these by heart:

• la haine – the hatred
• le héros – the hero
• le hibou – the owl

As the table above shows, the definite article in French is «les» – for both genders.
→ Les grenouilles (f, pl) sont au bord de l'étang.
– The frogs are by the pond.