Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Masculine and Feminine French Nouns How to Tell Them Apart
A noun is a word that represents a person, place, or thing, whether concrete (e.g., chair, dog) or abstract (idea, happiness). In French, all nouns have a genderâ€â€they are either masculine or feminine. The gender of some nouns makes sense (homme [man] is masculine, femme [woman] is feminine) but others dont: the words personne [person] and victime [victim] are always feminine, even when the person or victim is a man! It is very important to learn a nouns gender along with the noun itself because articles, adjectives, some pronouns, and some verbs have to agree with nouns; that is, they change depending on the gender of the noun they modify. The best way to learn the gender of French nouns is to make your vocabulary lists with the appropriate definite article or indefinite article. That is, rather than a list like this: livre - bookchaise - chair Make French vocabulary lists like this: un livre - bookune chaise - chair This will help you learn the gender with the noun. The gender is part of the noun and you will be much better off learning it now, as a beginner, than trying to go back after years of study and memorizing the genders of all the words youve already learned (we speak from experience). Also, there are quite a few French nouns with different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine. Gender of French Nouns French nouns are always masculine or feminine, and you usually cant determine the gender just by looking at the word or thinking about what it means. While there are some tendencies in the gender of French nouns - see the table below - there are always exceptions. Please dont use these patterns as a way to avoid learning the genders of nouns - just learn each word as gender noun and then youll know them forever. Nearly all French nouns have different forms for singular and plural. In addition, many nouns that refer to people and animals have both a masculine and a feminine form. Ending is usually: -age masculine Exceptions: une cage, une image, une nage, une page, une plage, une rage -eau masculine Exceptions: l'eau, la peau -à ©e feminine Exceptions: un lycà ©e, un musà ©e -ion feminine Exceptions: un avion, un bastion, billion, un million, un lion, un scion -tà © feminine Exceptions: un comità ©, un invità © In addition, most countries and names that end in e are feminine. French Nouns With Irregular Feminine Forms Most French nouns become feminine according to regular patterns, but there are a number of irregular nouns, based on the final letter(s) of the masculine singular noun. Nouns that end in a vowel plus L, N, or T usually become feminine by doubling the consonant before adding E. Ending: en  enne   Noun: le gardien (guard)Masculine singular   le gardienFeminine singular   la gardienneMasculine plural   les gardiensFeminine plural   les gardiennes Ending: el  elle   Noun: le colonel (colonel)Masculine singular   le colonelFeminine singular   la colonelleMasculine plural   les colonelsFeminine plural   les colonelles Nouns that end in er need a grave accent: Ending: er  à ¨re   Noun: le boulanger (baker)Masculine singular   le boulangerFeminine singular   la boulangà ¨reMasculine plural   les boulangersFeminine plural   les boulangà ¨res The final letters eur have two possible irregular feminine endings: Ending: eur  euse   Noun: un danseur (dancer)Masculine singular   un danseurFeminine singular   une danseuseMasculine plural   des danseursFeminine plural   des danseuses Ending: eur  rice   Noun: un acteur (actor)Masculine singular   un acteurFeminine singular   une actriceMasculine plural   des acteursFeminine plural   des actrices Notes These rules are similar for making adjectives feminineThe rules for making nouns feminine apply only to people and some animals. They do not apply to objects, which have only one form: masculine or feminine.Compound nouns have their own gender rules. French Nouns With Irregular Plurals Most French nouns become plural according to regular patterns, but there are a number of irregular nouns, based on the final letter(s) of the singular noun. The endings al and ail change to aux in the plural: Noun: un cheval (horse)Masculine singular   un chevalMasculine plural   des chevaux Noun: un travail (task, job)Masculine singular   un travailMasculine plural   des travaux The endings au, eau, and eu take an X for plural: Noun: un tuyau (pipe, tip)Masculine singular   un tuyauMasculine plural   des tuyaux Noun: un chà ¢teau (castle)Masculine singular   un chà ¢teauMasculine plural   des chà ¢teaux Noun: un feu (fire)Masculine singular   un feuMasculine plural   des feux
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