A few word endings tend to indicate whether a noun is masculine or feminine. How do you calculate working capital for a construction company? The following nouns are generally feminine. A woman is feminine, and you'd use "her, she, her" to talk about her. Wow! Exception: Most shrubs are also masculine, but vines are feminine (la vigne). This applies to both masculine and feminine nouns. I dont understand why one object is feminine while another is masculine. You can check out this article for more ideas. Modern English is much simpler and does not distinguish between them. Formal instruction for a language is important to teach the proper use. It's impossible to list all possible professions, but there are some common ones you should know. They use the article -la (or -l' if the country starts with a vowel.). Je vais la plage : Im going to the beach. Dont worry, though. Here are some example phrases using languages. They all have to agree in gender and quantity with the nouns they precede. One such appliance is the Human body and mind are inseparable. I tried to study Russian a couple of years ago but didnt continue. Un grand garon : a tall boy. Words that are spelled the same way, pronounced the same way, but dont mean the same things. Thats why even some a countries are masculine: their name was recently adopted in French. For the most part, nouns included in the following categories are masculine:\r\n
\r\n \t- \r\n
Names of trees: chne (oak tree), olivier (olive tree), pommier (apple tree)
\r\n \r\n \t- \r\n
Names of metals: or (gold), acier (steel), fer (iron)
\r\n \r\n \t- \r\n
Names of metric units: mtre (a meter), kilo (a kilo), centimtre (centimeter)
\r\n \r\n \t- \r\n
Names of colors: le rouge (red), le vert (green), le bleu (blue)
\r\n \r\n \t- \r\n
Names of languages: le chinois (chinese), lallemand (german), le franais (French)
\r\n \r\n \t- \r\n
Nouns of English origin: tennis (tennis), parking (parking lot), football (soccer)
\r\n \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
Typical Feminine Noun Endings\r\n\r\n\r\nNoun Ending | \r\nExamples | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ade | \r\nfaade (facade), promenade\r\n(a walk), limonade (lemon\r\ndrink) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ance | \r\nenfance (childhood), naissance\r\n(birth), assurance\r\n(insurance) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-e | \r\nide (idea), journe\r\n(day), mosque\r\n(mosque) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ence | \r\ndiffrence (difference),\r\ninnocence (innocence), influence\r\n(influence) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ette | \r\ncrevette (shrimp), chaussette\r\n(sock), baguette\r\n(baguette) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ie | \r\ncomdie (comedy), industrie\r\n(industry), dmographie\r\n(demography) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-sion | \r\nprvision (forecast),\r\ncomprhension (understanding),\r\nrvision (revision) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-t | \r\nsocit (society),\r\npublicit (advertising),\r\ncharit (charity) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ti | \r\namiti (friendship),\r\nmoiti (half), piti\r\n(pity) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-tion | \r\ninformation (information),\r\nducation (education), question\r\n(question) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n-ure | \r\nvoiture (car), couverture\r\n(blanket), confiture\r\n(jelly/jam) | \r\n
\r\n\r\n
\r\nA number of more logical categories also help you spot those feminine nouns. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Vegetables French vocabulary list. Saying "une bureau" or "un chaise" is incorrect, but still understandable. Genders are common in Romance languages like Spanish and French, and they can be hard to grasp for English speakers. We use l for both masculine singular and feminine singular nouns. Are You Quiet Quitting Your Own Business? is a lie. Same thing for "rose.". You will have to memorize them. Others are always feminine, like une voiture (a car), une maison (a house), and une cole (a school). The question of the gender of tea is a very difficult one to answer, because many French words are masculine or feminine and have no real meaning. Note: They are sometimes called determiner. However, there are some appliances that are specifically designed to make tea. to be in the money (informal) (= have plenty of money) se faire beaucoup d'argent to have money to burn avoir de l'argent perdre And if you want to know more about how to learn French, take a look at my book. You will receive an email asking to confirm your subscription. You can still drink it without sugar if you want, but it wont be as strong as a real tea. 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. Allons-y! In French, nouns are gendered: They are either masculin (masculine) or fminin (feminine). Is hotel a French word? If country name ends in (-en): Add (ne) to end. The idea is surely appealing to learn. But now, you are wondering, how can you know which countries are feminine and which are masculine? Thats why we put together this guide to help you better understand this subject. 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 is an example: For example, here are few country names in French you might recognize. "French Nouns With Two Genders." When you learn French, you will notice that most nouns are paired with articles. 1 Which countries in French are feminine? Like almost all other French nouns, it has a gender, meaning that it is classified as either masculine or feminine. The English equivalent is some. l'asperge asparagus la betterave beet le poivron bell pepper le broccoli . Finally, for plural we use des. Thats not the case in French. Its kind of subjective. You see, grammar, rules, there are always lots of them. "c'est l'arbre qui cache la fort" (proverb): this is the tree which is hiding the forest. As a total novice this is the first time I have been able to make sense out of this language, that doesnt mean it will be easy for me but Im getting closer to understanding. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Masculine Feminine Definite Articles with the Names of Countries in French. Lets see the differences between le masculin and le fminin. Asked . Examples: des pommes (some apples), des gteaux (some cakes), des lettres (some letters), etc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. . The general rule is that country names that end in silent "e" are feminine. There are a lot of options when it comes to language learning textbooks. She currently teaches French at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.","hasArticle":false,"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9721"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"
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