French language question?

Question

When using un or une which means "a " in English, when do you know when to use the proper "a?" Thanks!

Also, de and des which both mean "from" in English.

Answer 1

un/une are masculine and feminine indefinite articles. If one uses "Le" (masc) for a word, you also use "un." Likewise, "La" and "une" would be used for the same words. L-apostrophe words can be either; it depends on the gender.

"de" and "des" can be "from" but are usually "of."
"de" is singular; "des" is plural.
mixing "de" and "le" results in the contraction "du," while "de la" and "de l' " are okay. "de les" becomes "des."

Answer 2

Une = feminine
Un = masculine

It's basically just memorization, when knowing the difference between a feminine and masculine noun, in the French language.
Here's an example using sentences including feminine and masculine nouns, utilizing 'une' and 'un.'

- C'est un chat! (It's a cat!)
- Tu est une belle personne. (You are a beautiful person)

Hope this helped! :)

Answer 3

You simply have to memorize the correct article WITH each noun you learn. This is true of all languages that differentiate objects by gender. That way when you say the noun, you automatically say the appropriate article/gender.