Many artists and crafters like to use French words or phrases in their work. The French language can be tricky, though, and unfortunately I have often seen lovely works of art with beautiful lettering containing spelling mistakes.

This book represents my attempt to help by supplying a collection of words and phrases, and a few tips on the French language.

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See below for excerpts.

The, a, an

In French, all nouns have a gender associated with them. This gender is arbitrary, i.e., there is no way to guess or figure out what it is. The word the translates to le for masculine nouns, and la for feminine ones. The form l' is used when the noun begins with a vowel or a silent h.

Similarly, un is used for masculine nouns, and une for feminine ones.

Note that in the case of horizon, l’ is used. This is because the letter h is silent in French.

The plural of le, la, and l' is les. The plural of un and une is des.

Phrases