Knowing the names of different nationalities (les nationalités) will not only allow you to tell something about yourself but also it will help you to get to know better the person you are talking to, especially if he/she is a foreigner.. Note that these pronouns aren’t just used with people, but with any noun, since they all have genders. So, even if you go to a female doctor, she would be referred to as un médecin. If there’s only one thing you take away from this article, it should be that the majority of words ending in -e or -ion are feminine while words with other endings are mostly masculine. mur-wall what is it C’est un vrai cadeau. As it happens, it ends with an “e”, so it’s feminine then? Learn how to say that someone is tall, thin, or has blue eyes in this language lesson. Elle n’est vraiment pas confortable. No matter how much research you do or how many linguistics classes you take in college (trust me), you’ll never get a definitive answer to this. Discover the uniqueness, meaning, and of course their names. There are many approaches to learning the genders of French nouns. Choose the right one for you and you’ll get them right a vast majority of the time. Still, whether there’s logic to them or not, genders are a part of the French language and knowing them is essential when it comes to speaking and writing correctly. -eur (when not describing someone’s profession): la fleur, la couleur, la chaleur, la valeur; Feminine singular: triste The gender of words in French – as well as their grammatical and social implications – can be complicated. Plus you’ll get the added benefit of the input of possibly great literature, depending on what you chose. (For all other word endings: the great majority are masculine). I took French for three years in High School and have been to France nearly 15 times, as well as French speaking Quebec. Glass , mirror, pen, pencil Examples: un étalon (a stallion), un cerf (a stag), une chatte (female cat), un chat (a male … i have noticed that most feminine nouns end in vowels, usually “e”. If you would like to describe their personality, there is a separate lesson for that. (Nadine is so kind. For Masculin what does it matter to know whether a word is masculine or feminine – unless of course you are learning the language? Un chat, une chatte. Want more practice, or different ways to practice? While us non-French tend to think of style, perfume, […] Ils is the standard if it’s a mixed group. This is an un- common type for a Basque, since most of them are Atlanto-Mediterraneans and Dinarics. So, for example, orange is masculine when it’s a color and feminine when it’s a fruit. please! In French, you have a masculine “the” (le) and a feminine “the” (la). Remember that if a word in a particular category has another meaning, the gender of that second meaning probably won’t be the same (we’ll talk more about this a little later on). C’est génial, je ne l’avais pas dans ma grammaire. Richard is right and the reason there is no explanation is that the gender of a noun isn’t related to its meaning, it’s simply the gender of the word. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-vocabulary-how-to-describe-people-4079201. Your site is very useful. because I’m a french teacher living in Nigeria and I discover that while teaching my student and I was stranded to provide answer to their questions. Of course, not everything can be neatly put into a category that has all or mostly masculine or feminine nouns, but there are a decent amount of categories out there, and maybe, as you learn French, you’ll notice patterns and come up with categories that make sense and work for you, in addition to the established ones. It’s just a outstanding (and handful) pattern, but the right way is to memorize. !” (GNU/Linux’s penguin ‘course ^^). That’s definitely something I want to work on though. The instance of French men willingly reciprocating this is nothing short of startling to people who think the French of today are "supposed to" look down on Americans. To the contrary, explains Carol: “French culture appreciates both the sensual and the intellectual." On the other hand, it is at least consistent – a letter always signifies the same sound. Except words ending in -age, -ege, -é, or -isme (these endings often indicate masculine words). Here are some categories of French words that are typically masculine: Here are some categories of French words that are typically feminine: For more details about these categories, you can have a look at this list or this one, which includes links to two French podcasts about how to tell what gender a word is. Merci Beaucoup! You can see some signs of social change in in the French language itself. Hi, just wondering what you mean by “after C (C=t)” when listing this rule for masculine nouns: When the word ends with either “t’er or “t”e where t can also be c, Thanks for this handy summary. France (officially, the French Republic) is divided into 18 integral administrative regions (regions, singular - region). French Jobs Vocabulary: Basic rules . Nevertheless his general racial classification is with the Alpine group. The other way that I would like to suggest you all. Feminine plural: bonnes. You can compare this to the way the word “actor” is being used more and more frequently to describe both males and females with this profession in the Anglophone world. I observed that some inanimate french objects that have Pair Properties (double sides) are feminine, while others are masculine. But before you do, here’s how to easily know the gender of French words. I think one of the most confusing though is remembering that un chat is masculine – why on earth is a cat considered masculine in French when pretty much every other language even English refers to it as feminine and a “feline” (although just noticed even the French word for feline is masculine!!). There’s a linguistic theory that as languages evolve, they become less complex. ThoughtCo. French Translation of “feature” | The official Collins English-French Dictionary online. For example: Masculine singular: triste It’s thought that as time went on and religion became more organized and, in most places, less animistic, gender seemed like a good way to keep nouns organized. Except words ending in -age, -ege, -é, or -isme (these endings often indicate masculine words). Finally, some logic! The more you read and hear French, the most you will be able to automatically determine whether a word is feminine or masculine. ThoughtCo. And as you start memorizing words this way, you may notice that certain types of words tend to be one gender or another, which will give you more of a chance of guessing, if you ever have to. Isn’t it?! Of course, some words change very little when it comes to the noun they’re modifying. Feminine plural: fatiguées, Masculine singular: bon bass pronounced as “base”. Alcohol, wine, almost all of the fruits in sour taste, the time you can see the sun as morning, noon, evening, and the meals we eat in day time etc. Yeah German has a third gender too. Male chauvinism is the belief that men are superior to women.The first documented use of the phrase "male chauvinism" is in the 1935 Clifford Odets play Till the Day I Die.. Besides that, this a good strategy for beginners, who will sound foreign no matter what anyway. Marion Cotillard (30 September 1975) - French actress.. 19. I’m glad you like it :). In French you must make the nationality adjective correspond with your gender – masculine or feminine. That’s a great way to do it, thanks for sharing :). I did start looking at the words seeing if I could figure out anyway to automatically decide which one is feminine and which is masculine and did start noticing that the majority of feminine words I came across mainly seemed to end in e (which is handy ‘cos Elle ends in E and Il doesn’t, and so does une), there was a few that didn’t quite fit into the list like the ones that ended with ion but this page has helped make that more clearer. Nobody uses 100% of a language. Not really, for example: une chanson, un fleuve. Do the French really don't take showers? What you need to know is that the word has a gender, not the concept it represents. Hey! If a word ends with ‘eux’ is it masculine or feminine? Now you know how to identify the gender of French nouns. For example, traditionally, jobs like teachers and writers were only used with masculine nouns. According to a study by McGill University, a noun’s ending indicates its gender in 80% of cases . Socially speaking, however, I personally find that it depends. You can see this, for example, in the case of English, which did have genders in its older forms, as well as a formal and informal “you”. From rule above, maybe there is way to simplify it, all endings with ‘e’ are feminine +90%, As you can see, even though most of the people here are female, just one male means you have to use the pronoun ils when you talk about the group. Describing the physical features of a person in French is easy. It’s really uncomfortable!). Strong as rock, diamond , Jade , sand . No, actually it’s masculine. For example, older generations may not think men should help with household chores, but many of the younger Frenchmen I know do help with chores, as well as taking care of and spending one-on-one time with their children. One of the other ones I couldn’t quite get my head around was mon amie because I gathered that amie must be feminine but it’s not ma amie it’s mon amie – mind you I suppose ma amie would be a bit of a mouthful! You can practice both lessons by describing your friends (les amis (m) or amies (f)) and family (la familie) or anyone that you encounter. French people are easily identified by two prominent physical features; 1) A very short torso caused by a lack of a spine, and. Masculine noun endings, what would oiseau be Perfect for beginners in the French language, by the end of this lesson you will be able to talk about the physical characteristics of people. The balance of the workforce changed during World War II.As men left their positions to enlist in the military and fight in the war, women started replacing them. Well, Richard, see it like this–using this strategy, I can focus on learning the 20% of noun articles that don’t follow these rules.Or even less because let’s be honest? The problem is that a spoken word doesn’t reveal how it ends, because the final one-to-several letters are completely silent. What makes Hungarian writing an eyesore is that there are several compound letters and accentuation marks, which are needed express all 44(!) I checked to be sure, it isn’t there!!! You may also want to check if it belongs on the list of typically masculine or feminine word endings. You would not say "she is hazel eyes," now would you? Some of the most popular are: You’ve probably come across lists of French vocabulary with a definite or indefinite article in front of each word. Powerful as most of the weapons knife, sword, gun, canon, missile, rocket, ‘Wild’ Many languages group nouns by whether they’re animate or inanimate. “Un musée”. most have slightly large eyes and quite a bit of definition in their noses and brows. They could only agree on the gender of 17 of those! Most words with other endings are masculine. Luckily, French law today considers male and female citizens equal, with equal rights. Actually you don’t have to learn ALL those endings… If the word ends with E it is almost certainly feminine. Feminine singular: contente a decent human being), the fact that, in French, masculine nouns take precedence over feminine ones may bum you out a little. Unlike English, there are two ways to say “they” in French: Note that in French, masculine nouns take precedence over feminine ones. After a while, you’ll see that you can intuitively guess the gender of a noun based on its ending. Home. If there is one man in the group, use “ils”. In French, each profession word must correspond in gender (masculine or feminine) with the person it’s describing. Ils/elles sont allé(e)s. As you can see, the verb changes based on the subject’s number and gender. A good amount of French do tend to have a more olive tinted skin with generally dark features. I don’t know why I wrote that. French adjectives change based on the gender and number of the noun they modify, 13 common French mistakes that’ll make you feel awkward, -an, -and, -ant, -ent, -in, -int, -om, -ond, -ont, -on (but not after s/c¸), -air, -er, -erf, -ert, -ar, -arc, -ars, -art, -our, -ours, -or, -ord, -ors, -ort, -ir, -oir, -eur, -aie, -oue, -eue, -ion, -te, – ée, -ie, -ue, -asse, -ace, -esse, -ece, -aisse, -isse/-ice, -ousse, -ance, -anse, -ence, -once, -enne, -onne, -une, -ine, -aine, -eine, -erne, -ande, -ende, -onde, -ade, -ude, -arde, -orde, -euse, -ouse, -ase, -aise, -ese, -oise, -ise, -yse, -ose, -use, -ache, -iche, -eche, -oche, -uche, -ouche, -anche, -ette, -ete, – ête, -atte, -otte, -oute, -orte, -ante, -ente, -inte, -onte. You could imagine, for example, that masculine nouns fall into water while feminine nouns are eaten by a monster. – words that end with ‘e’ are feminine except those that end with ‘ge’ or ‘me’