In french language, there are two definite articles for nouns in singular. Its easy to get carried away with the categories masculine and feminine in language. I will try to give examples using both vocabulary and grammar. Aug 12, 2015 is the french word masculine or feminine. French genders, the masculine and feminine and how to use them. A lot of nouns that refer to men take their feminine form simply by adding an e e. Masculine or feminine gender march 9, 2018 june, 2016 by pascal dherve how to know if a word in french is masculine or feminine, not that easy, you need to learn them but we have some tips taking into account the end of these words. The gender of some nouns makes sense homme man is masculine, femme woman is feminine but others dont.
The masculine singular noun, whose feminine equivalent is actrice, means actor in english. What are the origins of classifying nouns into masculine. Struggling to remember which french words are feminine and which are masculine. You can get it now and fill it before reading the article, just to fun and to see how. In addition to that, i included a vocabulary list about clothes and finally common phrases about origins. Linguasorb is free and ad supported, without ad revenue we cant exist. Une date is feminine, but the dates themselves are always masculine.
Occupations or professions in french for both masculine. English translation of cycliste collins frenchenglish. Please disable your ad blocker for this site if you wish to use the premium features. How to remember masculine and feminine french nouns. It is better to check a dictionary for the feminine form in case it already exists. Why is the french word for vagina a masculine noun. There are a few safe suffixes that are mostly used with one of the genders. Family is one of the first topics of conversation that will come up when you meet frenchspeakers. Choose from 500 different sets of and masculine masculine french masculine feminine endings flashcards on quizlet. How to tell if a french noun is masculine or feminine part 2 ive designed a free printable worksheet to test your knowledge about the french masculine vs feminine nouns.
That way it will be easy for you to see the words when they are separate and when they are in a sentence. Basically you will have to learn the gender by heart. One of the best things about french gender checkers is that they continually expose you to masculine and feminine nouns in contexts that matter to you. A quick presentation to introduce pupils to the concept of gender masculinfeminine of nouns in french. When used in the masculine singular, nouveau becomes nouvel before a word beginning with a vowel. English translation of cycliste the official collins frenchenglish dictionary online. A noun is a word used to name a person, place, thing, idea, or quality.
A noun in french is considered either masculine or feminine, and is not related to the gender of the person who possesses that object. Most french teachers and fellow french speakers will tell you that theres no rhyme or reason to whether a noun is masculine or feminine. Part ii blog, french grammar, french nouns, improving your french, vocabulary by fayli last week, we wrote about the importance of learning french noun gender and presented multiple categories of. Occupations or professions in french for both masculine and. How to remember masculine and feminine french nouns flashsticks. To avoid hiatus, the form bel is used before masculine singular nouns that begin with a vowel or mute h. Home languages french family vocabulary in french family is one of the first topics of conversation that will come up when you meet french speakers. English translation of partenaire collins frenchenglish. Both latin and german have three grammatical genders. Nowadays, in french like in most other languages with feminine and masculine genders, masculine and feminine usually match biological gender when applied to people or animals, but carries no implication when applied to other nouns. Masculine or feminine random language or french quiz can you name the gender of these nouns.
See all formats and editions hide other formats and editions. Le calendrier is masculine, as are all days of the week, months of the year, and seasons. Nationalities in french nationalite we should be very proud to say our country and nationality in french, of course it is very simple. Quiz french gender general rules this quiz is interactive at fh. How to tell if a french noun is masculine or feminine part 1 fyw 033. What are the origins of classifying nouns into masculine and.
That way it will be easy for you to see the words when they are separate. The pronunciation will be aktuhr in the masculine and aktreess in the feminine in french. In french, all nouns have a genderthey are either masculine or feminine. Revise and improve your french with detailed content, examples, audio, personalised practice tests and learning tools. How to know if a noun is feminine or masculine in french. For example, eleve student can be either masculine or. Over 100,000 english translations of french words and phrases. French native speakers know mostly intuitively what the article of each noun is. Oct 05, 2019 nouveau masculine singular before vowel nouvel, feminine singular nouvelle, masculine plural nouveaux, feminine plural nouvelles new.
In fact, consider yourself lucky that youre studying french. In a bilingual dictionary, nouns may be designated by an n. All of these words end in e, but spoiler alert they are all masculine. Aug 02, 2014 its easy to get carried away with the categories masculine and feminine in language. To form a feminine word from the masculine in french, you simply add e if the word ends in a consonant. Bonsoir elise, while your observation appears to be true about musical instruments, it also holds true for many countries, regions etc. If the word already ends in an e, there is no need to add an extra one. As vexing as this subject is for nonnative speakers, we simply have to accept that french gender is here to stay. These words and a few others, however, defy that suggestion.
The word for book in french is livre and is a masculine noun. If you are young, be prepared to tell about your parents and siblings their age, jobs, and where they live and if you look old enough to have children, expect to talk about them or. Mar 21, 2019 as vexing as this subject is for nonnative speakers, we simply have to accept that french gender is here to stay. It so happens that animate beings are split according to biological sex. Occupations or professions in french for both masculine and feminine professions liberales listing out all the professions or occupations in the world is an impossible task however keeping our pride in our country india, i am listing out few professions or occupations in french. Alternatively you can become a supporter and remove the ads completely. How to know if a noun is feminine or masculine in french quora. Good news theres a plural the les, but it stays the same for groupsthings of either gender. Learn more in the cambridge englishfrench dictionary. Masculine french nouns memorizing french gender lawless. In french all nouns will be either masculine or feminine and there is no neutral. After hours trying to figure out why feminisme feminism is masculine and masculinite masculinity is feminine, youve come to the most logical conclusion. French noun endings can be a telltale sign of gender. It depends on the word, but the feminine form is most likely identical to the masculine one in this situation.
While theres some truth to this, largely due to the longterm evolution of the french language, there are some rules and exceptions to get most nouns on lock. Setting your language level helps other users provide you with answers that arent too complex or too simple. Both languages are part of the indoeuropean family and derive their gender system from the same root. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Given this history, it isnt surprising that protofrench started out with these three genders. Wikipedia has a list of languages by type of grammatical gender. Mar 29, 2019 it depends on the word, but the feminine form is most likely identical to the masculine one in this situation. How the hell am i supposed to tell the gender of french nouns, to guess that the word telephone is masculine whereas the word television is feminine. Getting the gender right is important in order to avoid confusion and to speak the language correctly. Writing in french with masculine and feminine nouns dummies.
Her pieces combine the masculine and feminine in sometimes provocative, always original creations ses pieces melent masculin et feminin dans des creations parfois provocantes, toujours originales key points. Apr 29, 2020 beau masculine singular before vowel bel, feminine singular belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles handsome, fine, attractive. Certain features such as audio, directly cost us money and so are disabled for ad block users. How to know the gender of french nouns with 80% accuracy. English translation of partenaire the official collins frenchenglish dictionary online. Masculine and feminine quiz todays french french etc. The 5th french lesson teaches the use of the gender by creating the feminine from the masculine form. Adjectives in french dont just conform to the gender, but also the quantity. If you are young, be prepared to tell about your parents and siblings their age, jobs, and where they live and if you look old enough to have children, expect to talk about them or explain why you dont have any. New learners of french are often unsettled or scared when they find out very early that every noun had a gender. There was a more complete discussion of this issue recently on y.
With every french noun you learn, you must memorise the gender that corresponds with it. Unlike english, french nouns are either masculine or feminine this is known as the gender 2. That is the question you often ask yourself as a french learner. These are simply noun classes, and every french noun belongs to one or the other.
French gives us precious few regles rules, and one of them is that words that end in e are generally feminine. With flashsticks, every sticky postit note is colour coded to help you with this precise problem. All french adjectives agree in number singular or plural and gender masculine or feminine with the nouns they describe. To avoid hiatus, the form bel is used before masculine singular nouns that begin with a. If, for example, the noun or pronoun is singular, its verb and any adjectives describing it must also be singular. Feminine french nouns are coloured pink, obviously. This is the most common way adjectives are modified for gender and quantity. French 1 paperback march 8, 20 by taylor r baldry author 5. For englishspeakers, this can make learning french difficult. Introduction one of the main differences between english and french is the existence of gender in french nouns. Introduction in french language, there are two definite articles for nouns in singular. There are no real rules or logic to help you decide which article to use, statistically there are more masculine than feminine nouns. Is the word book in french masculine or feminine answers. However, in the plural, only les is used whatever the gender is.
The language level symbol shows a users proficiency in the languages theyre interested in. Use the search function above enter professeur, choose newest, and see if anything comes up. It is introduced by a determiner, which usually indicates the gender of the noun. What is book in french and is it masculine or feminine. Our following list contains basic french nationalities french translation in both masculine and feminine so that you font offend anyone while referring to there nationality. However, certain words have an already specific feminine form. In fact, in french, all words in a sentence must agree with each other. Une prof most nonproper nouns have a masculine and feminine in french and all adjectives have a masculine and feminine. How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine.
Nationalities in french nationalite namaste french. Rate 5 stars rate 4 stars rate 3 stars rate 2 stars rate 1 star. Part ii blog, french grammar, french nouns, improving your french, vocabulary by fayli last week, we wrote about the importance of learning french noun gender and presented multiple categories of words that tend to be either masculine or feminine. Mar 23, 2016 a quick presentation to introduce pupils to the concept of gender masculin feminine of nouns in french. French gender is a headache for many students of french. In childrens books, masculine and feminine gender representations offer children selfimages for the present and the future. Feminine nouns flefamily and irregular feminine nouns le genre des noms. An ongoing dialogue between masculine and feminine dress codes. In other words, youll learn french genders while you search for new vocabulary or while you write in french, rather than simply memorizing a long list of words and their genders. As you might have guessed, the word for woman, femme, is feminine. Jun 18, 2010 all of these words end in e, but spoiler alert they are all masculine. All nouns in plural have the article les french native speakers know mostly intuitively what the article of each noun is.