Homework in French: les devoirs and the words around it

Homework in French is les devoirs, from the masculine noun devoir [1]. This page covers the word, then the teacher, the verbs for teach, and the objects on a school desk, each with its gender and most with a recording. For more starter words, see basic French words. For why every noun has a le or a la, see French articles and noun gender. For the furniture in the room, see house in French.

How do you say homework in French?

Say les devoirs. Larousse’s French dictionary gives devoir as a masculine noun with a school sense: “travail, exercice d’écolier qui se fait par écrit et en dehors des cours”, with the example “des devoirs de vacances” [1]. The same dictionary has other senses of devoir, such as a moral duty [1].

The usual verb is faire. A Larousse French-Chinese entry lists “faire ses devoirs” as an example of the school sense, next to “un devoir de français” [2]. Our own sentences, built from those:

• Je fais mes devoirs. (I am doing my homework.)
• Tu as fini tes devoirs ? (Have you finished your homework?)
• J’ai un devoir de français. (I have a French assignment.)

One more school word helps: Larousse defines le cahier de textes as the notebook each pupil keeps with the lessons, exercises and homework for each day [3].

How do you say French homework in French?

French homework in French is un devoir de français [2]. The pattern is devoir de plus the subject, so a maths assignment follows the same shape. The subject name is general vocabulary, not a dictionary finding.

How do you say teacher in French?

Teacher in French is usually le professeur . Larousse defines it as a person who teaches knowledge of a subject, and gives enseignant, éducateur, maître and pédagogue as synonyms [4]. It also lists a second sense, a member of the teaching staff at the secondary level [4].

Larousse adds that in everyday speech, especially in collèges and lycées, professeur is shortened to prof and used for both genders: “la prof d’histoire-géo” [4]. It also says the corps of professeurs des écoles, created in 1990, is meant to replace the instituteurs gradually [4].

How do you say to teach in French?

To teach in French is enseigner enseigner when the subject is a discipline. Larousse defines it as making someone learn a science, an art or a discipline, by giving lessons, and gives “Enseigner les mathématiques à de jeunes enfants” [7]. With no object, it means to work as a teacher: “Il enseigne à l’université” [7].

How do you say how to teach someone to do something in French?

To teach someone to do something is apprendre apprendre à quelqu’un à faire quelque chose. The Larousse English-French entry for teach gives “to teach somebody something” as apprendre quelque chose à quelqu’un and “to teach somebody (how) to do something” as apprendre à quelqu’un à faire quelque chose [8]. For a school subject it gives enseigner and être professeur de, and the example “she taught us French” as “elle nous a appris or enseigné le français” [8].

Larousse also notes a spelling trap in enseigner: keep the “gn” and the “i” in the imperfect and subjunctive forms: nous enseignions, vous enseigniez [7].

How do you say pen in French?

Pen in French, for writing, is le stylo . The Larousse English-French entry for “pen” lists stylo m as the first sense, for writing [9]. Larousse’s French entry defines stylo as a masculine noun, an instrument for writing whose body holds a reserve of ink [10].

English “pen” has other senses, so check which one you mean. For an enclosure for animals, the same entry gives enclos m and parc m, as in “sheep pen: parc à moutons” [9].

What are the classroom objects in French, and their gender?

Learn the article with each noun. This table uses only entries from Larousse.

Larousse defines la gomme as a small block of rubber used to erase pencil or ink [12], and l’école as an institution that gives general teaching to children [13]. Hear le livre, and for the room itself la classe and la chaise.

Pupil and student are not the same. Larousse’s entry for écolier says élève is someone taught in a school (école primaire, collège, lycée), while étudiant is someone taught at a university institution [14]. Hear le collège and le lycée.

How do you ask for school things in French?

These sentences are our own, built from the words above.

• Je n’ai pas de stylo. (I don’t have a pen.)
• Tu peux me prêter ton cahier ? (Can you lend me your notebook?)
• Le professeur enseigne le français. (The teacher teaches French.)
• Elle m’apprend à écrire. (She is teaching me to write.)
• Où est ma gomme ? (Where is my eraser?)

Common mistakes

• Using the singular for all homework. Larousse lists the school sense under devoir, with a plural example, “des devoirs de vacances” [1]. Learn the phrase with the plural article, les devoirs.
• Saying “pen” means stylo in every sentence. The Larousse entry also gives enclos and parc for an animal pen [9].
• Calling a school pupil un étudiant. Larousse reserves étudiant for a university institution and uses élève for school [14].
• Dropping the “i” in nous enseignions. Larousse warns about the group “gn” followed by “i” [7].
• Relying on a vocabulary page from a blog, including this one. Dictionary entries change between editions. Compare each entry’s date with the date at the top of this page.

Sources