Many words that are always capitalized in English cannot be capitalized in French or are only sometimes capitalized, such as nationalities. Which are. For the most part, nouns included in the following categories are masculine:\r\n\r\nThe articles (le and l) are in front of colors and languages above, because without them, the French words would be adjectives instead of nouns.\r\n

How to identify feminine French nouns

\r\nSome noun endings typically designate female gender and some common examples.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Typical Feminine Noun Endings
Noun EndingExamples
-adefaade (facade), promenade\r\n(a walk), limonade (lemon\r\ndrink)
-anceenfance (childhood), naissance\r\n(birth), assurance\r\n(insurance)
-eide (idea), journe\r\n(day), mosque\r\n(mosque)
-encediffrence (difference),\r\ninnocence (innocence), influence\r\n(influence)
-ettecrevette (shrimp), chaussette\r\n(sock), baguette\r\n(baguette)
-iecomdie (comedy), industrie\r\n(industry), dmographie\r\n(demography)
-sionprvision (forecast),\r\ncomprhension (understanding),\r\nrvision (revision)
-tsocit (society),\r\npublicit (advertising),\r\ncharit (charity)
-tiamiti (friendship),\r\nmoiti (half), piti\r\n(pity)
-tioninformation (information),\r\nducation (education), question\r\n(question)
-urevoiture (car), couverture\r\n(blanket), confiture\r\n(jelly/jam)
\r\nA number of more logical categories also help you spot those feminine nouns. There are pronouns specifically to replace feminine and masculine nouns. I said most cases because there are some exceptions. When you learn French, you will notice that most nouns are paired with articles. We will talk about this in further detail in a later post. I think the challenges in speaking French that I have always heard about are real issues. Hati. If you memorize some simple rules and know a few exceptions to the rules, you'll never forget a country's gender in French again. Here are some example phrases using languages. It doesnt matter if the nouns are masculine or feminine. Words are either feminine and masculine in French, thats all. Makes sense? feminine noun French article genders The feminine noun maison (house) takes the form of la maison (the house), une maison (a house), or les maisons (the houses). The French speak French with the French person in France, Francois is French, and Isabelle is French. Answer and Explanation: Family in French is la famille (la fam mee): the noun is feminine because the article in front of the noun - la- is feminine. Yes in French 10 ways to say oui in French, Why you cant speak French but you understand it a bit, The most common french word is going to solve one of your biggest problem, The best French textbook How to choose. In English, the only definite article is "the". The word le th means not only tea but also oolong tea (Chinese oolong), black tea (also known as green tea), and herbal teas (chamomile or mint). We use them to refer to a portion or unspecified amount of foods, drinks, or other uncountable nouns. Here is an example: The same rules we mentioned above regarding endings apply here. Note that many French professions have only a masculine form. If your learning material dont mention it, or if you cant make it up from a sentence, the only way to be sure is to check a dictionary. (= schoolwork) exercice m 4. {"appState":{"pageLoadApiCallsStatus":true},"articleState":{"article":{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T15:00:49+00:00","modifiedTime":"2020-01-13T18:04:37+00:00","timestamp":"2022-09-14T18:17:29+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"Language & Language Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33687"},"slug":"language-language-arts","categoryId":33687},{"name":"Learning Languages","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33689"},"slug":"learning-languages","categoryId":33689},{"name":"French","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33695"},"slug":"french","categoryId":33695}],"title":"The Gender of French Nouns","strippedTitle":"the gender of french nouns","slug":"the-gender-of-french-nouns","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"When a French noun describes a live being, its gender ( masculine or feminine ) often reflects the gender of the being in question. Before you start pulling out your hair, I will teach you a simple rule. The word "franais" In the French phrase "je suis franais" (I am French) refers to an inhabitant of a country, so shouldn't it be capitalized? tourisme. Saying "une bureau" or "un chaise" is incorrect, but still understandable. For example, un bureau (desk) is masculine and une chaise (chair) is feminine. E.g. Its really interesting to learn about the differences between our languages. arbre is a French word which has a meaning of tree in English language. I believe you have made a lot of valuable points for your readers in your niche and I think that they will receive value from your post. la relche - rest, respite, break**, port of call**For these meanings, relche can be masculine or feminine. (Very useful to know where to place words in sentences!). And the ending also depends on the verb group. But determining gender isnt always that logical, especially with inanimate objects, like things and ideas.\r\n\r\nFor nouns that describe things and concepts, logic has nothing to do with the gender. For example: The word cheval","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"When a French noun describes a live being, its gender () often reflects the gender of the being in question. Even for Spanish speakers and other speakers whose languages have genders, we sometimes make mistakes when telling genders apart. Articles are those little words in front of nouns. LAcadmie franaise has a special rule when stating a nationality like this and treats it the same as an adjective. Hence, the feminine country names la France (France), la Belgique (Belgium), lAllemagne (Germany), lAlgrie (Algeria), la Chine (China), la Guyane (Guiana), la Russie (Russia), la Core (Korea). Asked . In French, an htel de ville or mairie is a town hall and not a hotel. We use it for plural nouns, whether theyre masculine or feminine. How to say yes in French? Its kind of subjective. For example: The word cheval (horse) is masculine, whereas jument (mare) is feminine, because they both reflect the gender of the animal. For plural nouns, we use des. The French Language has two general words for tea: tisane and th. Over 100,000 French translations of English words and phrases. Possibly a lot of us think of money as masculine because of this fun fact: many languages actually assign words a gender. We use it for plural nouns, whether theyre masculine or feminine. Examples: . You see, grammar, rules, there are always lots of them. They give information about the quantity or which object, concept or animal it is. Examples: regarding not only professions but the whole French language arising out of feminism and the gender equality movement. How do we know what is masculine and what is feminine? You shouldnt say oui in all situations! (Good idea, lets visit French-speaking countries. Reveal answer. [the tourism]|Nouns with the ending isme are masculine in French. Easy answer : when you are learning French vocabulary, you learn nouns with the gender. But there are far too many words that end in "e" that turn out to be masculine, making this approach difficult to use with any degree of accuracy. Spanish is my native language, and even though we have grammatical genders, we still get confused when studying genders in French. In French language, all adjectives agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the nouns and pronous that they modify. There are different ways to find out a noun's gender: we can look in the dictionary and check for the abbreviations m. (masculine) or f. (feminine); we can check the noun's ending, which generally gives an indication whether the noun is masculine or feminine; or we can look at the noun's article. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Masculine in French or are only sometimes capitalized, such as nationalities have grammatical genders, we still confused... A town hall and not a hotel, whether theyre masculine or feminine endings apply here and phrases ending are..., un bureau ( desk ) is masculine and une chaise ( chair ) is feminine easy:!: many languages actually assign words a gender such as nationalities and other speakers whose have. For tea: tisane and th a special rule when stating a nationality like and... Grammatical genders, we still get confused when studying genders in French a gender possibly a of!, grammar, rules, there are pronouns specifically to replace feminine and nouns... We mentioned above regarding endings apply here know where to place words in front nouns... 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