Your email address will not be published. une aide - help, assistance, female assistant, la barde - bard (armor for a horse, fat wrapped around meat), la capitale - capital city, capital letter, le central - center court, (telephone) exchange, le claque - opera hat, (familiar) brothel, la critique - criticism, review, female critic, une enseigne - sign, ensign (flag, banner), la garde - guard duty, custody, private nurse, le gte - shelter, cottage; bottom round (meat), la kermesse - fair, bazaar, charity party, la manille - (card game) manille; Manille shackle, la manque - (familiar) crummy, second-rate, la mari - marijuana (apocope of la marijuana), la micro-onde - microwave (electromagnetic radiation), le nocturne - night hunter (bird), nocturn (religion), nocturne (music, art), la nocturne - late night store opening, sports match, meeting, la platine - turntable, deck, strip of metal, le poison - poison, (informal) unpleasant man or boy, la poison - (informal) unpleasant woman or girl, la raie - line, furrow, scratch (fish) skate, ray, le rclame - (falconry) the cry to recall the bird, la rclame - publicity; en rclame - on sale. And if you want to know more about how to learn French, take a look at my book. sierra-lonaise. I may have to study your site a bit longer! However, some job titles only use the masculine form for both men and women. For plural nouns, we use des. Here are some example phrases using languages. Thats why we put together this guide to help you better understand this subject. The word you use for a or the depends on whether it's with a masculine or feminine noun. __CONFIG_colors_palette__{"active_palette":0,"config":{"colors":{"eb08a":{"name":"Main Accent","parent":-1},"19fff":{"name":"Accent Transparent","parent":"eb08a","lock":{"lightness":1}}},"gradients":[]},"palettes":[{"name":"Default","value":{"colors":{"eb08a":{"val":"var(--tcb-skin-color-0)"},"19fff":{"val":"rgba(254, 32, 98, 0.05)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":342,"l":0.56,"s":0.99}}},"gradients":[]},"original":{"colors":{"eb08a":{"val":"rgb(55, 179, 233)","hsl":{"h":198,"s":0.8,"l":0.56,"a":1}},"19fff":{"val":"rgba(55, 179, 233, 0.05)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":198,"s":0.8,"l":0.56,"a":0.05}}},"gradients":[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__, __CONFIG_colors_palette__{"active_palette":0,"config":{"colors":{"f3080":{"name":"Main Accent","parent":-1},"f2bba":{"name":"Main Light 10","parent":"f3080"},"trewq":{"name":"Main Light 30","parent":"f3080"},"poiuy":{"name":"Main Light 80","parent":"f3080"},"f83d7":{"name":"Main Light 80","parent":"f3080"},"frty6":{"name":"Main Light 45","parent":"f3080"},"flktr":{"name":"Main Light 80","parent":"f3080"}},"gradients":[]},"palettes":[{"name":"Default","value":{"colors":{"f3080":{"val":"var(--tcb-skin-color-4)"},"f2bba":{"val":"rgba(11, 16, 19, 0.5)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":206,"l":0.06,"s":0.27}},"trewq":{"val":"rgba(11, 16, 19, 0.7)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":206,"l":0.06,"s":0.27}},"poiuy":{"val":"rgba(11, 16, 19, 0.35)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":206,"l":0.06,"s":0.27}},"f83d7":{"val":"rgba(11, 16, 19, 0.4)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":206,"l":0.06,"s":0.27}},"frty6":{"val":"rgba(11, 16, 19, 0.2)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":206,"l":0.06,"s":0.27}},"flktr":{"val":"rgba(11, 16, 19, 0.8)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":206,"l":0.06,"s":0.27}}},"gradients":[]},"original":{"colors":{"f3080":{"val":"rgb(23, 23, 22)","hsl":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09}},"f2bba":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.5)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.5}},"trewq":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.7)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.7}},"poiuy":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.35)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.35}},"f83d7":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.4)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.4}},"frty6":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.2)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.2}},"flktr":{"val":"rgba(23, 23, 22, 0.8)","hsl_parent_dependency":{"h":60,"s":0.02,"l":0.09,"a":0.8}}},"gradients":[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__, 99 Nationalities & Country Names In French: +Gender & Capitalization Rules. A table is not a woman, a horse is not a man. In Northern Africa, there are three French-speaking countriesAlgeria, Morocco and Tunisia. 1 The basic rules. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Why France is the best country in the world? Tea can be made using nearly anything. Au revoir! l'oiseau bird le chat cat le poulet chicken la vache cow le chien dog le canard duck l'elephant elephant le poisson fish la grenouille frog la chvre goat le cheval horse le cochon pig le lapin rabbit le serpent snake la dinde turkey la tortue turtle And if you pay attention, you might find some patterns there. Tone. Now for beginners, youre set. Not only do things have genders in French, but cities, states, and countries do, too! very nice this helped me a lot in my exams thank you soo much! Whether it's to pass that big test, qualify for that big promotion or even master that cooking technique; people who rely on dummies, rely on it to learn the critical skills and relevant information necessary for success. A lack of empathy or compassion for . How can smoking affect your emotional health and wellbeing? She currently teaches French at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.
","authors":[{"authorId":9721,"name":"Veronique Mazet","slug":"veronique-mazet","description":"Véronique Mazet has a doctorate in French from the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of two successful grammar books. However, it also means tea in English, which is not a feminine word. Je suis Marie and I'm on a mission to make learning French simple. To make sure all the words of a sentence are singing the same tune. Definite Articles When you learn French, you will notice that most nouns are paired with articles. We use la for feminine singular nouns. Spanish is my native language, and even though we have grammatical genders, we still get confused when studying genders in French. They use the article -la (or -l' if the country starts with a vowel.). This applies to both masculine and feminine nouns. All of this may seem like a lot, but even French speakers make mistakes with gender. Copy The gender of the French word montre is feminine. In the two phrases above, "franais(e)" is used as an adjective, so it's NOT capitalized. "Voiture" is feminine so the adjective "franais e" must agree and is in the feminine form. Island that is part of the Comoros archipelago off the coast of Africa, Located 900 miles (1,500 km) east of Australia, Located in the South Pacific Ocean halfway between California & Australia, Island in the Indian Ocean about 900 km from Madagascar, Island in the Caribbean Sea about 400 from Puerto Rico, Island in the Caribbean Sea about 374 from Puerto Rico, Terres australes et antarctiques franaises. Gender of nouns is here to make it all sound beautiful together. If you are a native speaker of the many languages that do have grammatical gender (like Spanish, Portuguese, hell even Romanian), then good! Why are fried eggs in France always Sunny Side up? By the way, what language do you speak if you dont mind my asking? Its actually a very interesting and practical thing to know. French - Fruit Nouns in red are feminine, nouns in blue are masculine . : The car is red. All male family members are masculine. (2021, December 6). For example, man is un Homme (masculine), and girl is one fille (feminine). Adjectives are words that give you more information about the noun. NO, grammatical gender in French is NOT crucial. And some words are the tricksters of the bunch, taking on different meanings with different genders, like livre, which is a book when masculine but a pound when feminine! And the ending also depends on the verb group. in most cases where it precedes a noun starting with h. Examples: . You also learned that several words are always or generally masculine/feminine depending on specific circumstances. like France, we say en. Lets break this down. Q: Is tomato masculine . Examples: la voiture (the car), la chaise (the chair), la table (the table), etc. The word restaurant in French is a masculine noun. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. They need to agree on some level. But it can also be masculine. . Masculine Feminine Definite Articles with the Names of Countries in French. Names of trees: chne (oak tree), olivier (olive tree), pommier (apple tree), Names of metals: or (gold), acier (steel), fer (iron), Names of metric units: mtre (a meter), kilo (a kilo), centimtre (centimeter), Names of colors: le rouge (red), le vert (green), le bleu (blue), Names of languages: le chinois (chinese), lallemand (german), le franais (French), Nouns of English origin: tennis (tennis), parking (parking lot), football (soccer). You can still drink it without sugar if you want, but it wont be as strong as a real tea. I didnt get far enough in my lessons to learn the articles and masculine and feminine. The French word "Film" is masculine so the nationality "franais"must also be masculine. The fact is that many more people typically attribute a masculine energy to money. Do you need to say le. We wont cover that here but will probably do in the future. If we never overcome those fears, we wont be able to succeed. There are four articles of this kind: du, de la, de l, and des. In actual fact, English is the odd man out when it comes to gender, as nouns in most languages are either masculine or feminine. The gender of French nouns tends to be a sticky grammar point for students, especially when it does not exist in their mother tongue. The former is used in order to have a refreshing drink while the latter one is preferred for its more ceremonial atmosphere. . There is no reason, no order. I think the hardest part of language learning is that there are those distinctions in masculine and feminine. Examples: de la viande (some meat), de la patience (some patience), de la glace (some ice cream), etc. I said most cases because there are some exceptions. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. It actually surprised me that they have a gender for letters. Possibly a lot of us think of money as masculine because of this fun fact: many languages actually assign words a gender. Unlike English, French nouns have a gender (genre): they can be masculine (masculin) or feminine (fminin). In French language, all adjectives agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the nouns and pronous that they modify. A French teacher tells you what are the best French textbooks. Some aremasculine and some are feminine. So, is the word tea feminine or masculine in the French language? (franais, franaise), (anglais, anglaise), (japonais, japonaise), etc. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. There are certainly differences in the English language, I would imagine it goes the same in French. Articles are those little words in front of nouns. Nationality And Gender In French (If Used As A Proper Noun), 4) How to write nationalities in masculin and feminine form (cheat Sheat), List of Countries And Nationalities In French with Genders***Starts Here****, List of Countries And Nationalities In French with Genders ***Starts Here****, England in French is Angleterre (On-Gluh-Tear), 71 Most famous French songs of France of all time: That everyone knows, 21 French Idioms that only make sense if youre French. Because you understand genders, you know what to look out for when you build a sentence and want to use the right gender at the right time. A Travel Live Abroad Lifestyle Blog With A French Twist. Feminine and masculine in French. I took one semester of French in college. Formal instruction for a language is important to teach the proper use. While a number of places exist that help people who want to speak French be able to get some insight as to what is required for learning the language. 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. Now, I recommend you use WordReference.com. Its kind of subjective. link to Pick Me Ups - Body and Mind Booster. When a French noun describes a live being, its gender ( masculine or feminine) often reflects the gender of the being in question. Some words also have a feminine version. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Dont worry, though. Sure enough, German speakers described bridges as beautiful, elegant, fragile, pretty, and slender, while Spanish speakers said. Examples: les chiens (the dogs), les arbres (the trees), les mots (the words), etc. Rules are build for a situation that already exist. Over 100,000 French translations of English words and phrases. For masculine singular nouns, we use du. You have a better understanding of what it does and what it means. ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/french-nouns-with-two-genders-1371193. When you are a member of the club, you can send me questions about why and grammar, and Ill do my best to answer! I Love Writing Weird, Wonderful, Interesting, Forgotten, And Fascinating Articles For Intellectually Curious People Amazed By France, French Culture, And World Travel. The gender of the person in the first phrase is masculine "un" so the nationality must agree and also be masculine "Anglais". Finally, for plural we use des. 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. 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. A few word endings tend to indicate whether a noun is masculine or feminine. So I told you nouns have one gender. The word "bridge" is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish. Grammatical gender? Before you start pulling out your hair, I will teach you a simple rule. Notice how the word "FRANAIS" is capitalized and not capitalized in the same sentence. Examples: un portable (a cell phone), un garon (a boy), un plat (a dish), etc. Dummies has always stood for taking on complex concepts and making them easy to understand. African countries being often relatively young (20th century) they are, by consequence, masculine. We use them to refer to a portion or unspecified amount of foods, drinks, or other uncountable nouns. Dummies helps everyone be more knowledgeable and confident in applying what they know. This rule applies to adjectives that end in most consonants as well as all vowels except the unaccented E. Sierra Leone. Likewise, most US states keep their names in French, while a few undergo slight Frenchification. Wow! Gender doesnt matter. Its like adding an -s at the third person of the singular in the present simple in English. Because it does make your French instantly better when you use the right genders. This list has over 100 country names in French and English and their corresponding nationalities in French. When you discover something you love you want to share it with the world, thats only natural. If you want a more complete answer about memorisation: read How to remember French words. Capitalized or Not? 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. What do you think? Well, in most cases, we can know the gender of a word by its ending. For feminine singular nouns, we use de la. This distinction is important, as it can be used to create a variety of different social situations. Then figure out what the total cost of the trip would be.? Learn words with quizzes and games. PS: And join us at the French Club if you enjoyed this article. Same thing for "rose.". This is to indicate a noun is masculine/feminine and singular/plural. Is there a free way to lookup a phone number? A big fat lie that grammar purists like to throw around. Words are either feminine and masculine in French, thats all. It means that when speaking about a specific country, lets take France and Germany for example,. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-nouns-with-two-genders-1371193. Not sure, we have that. Others are always feminine, like une voiture (a car), une maison (a house), and une cole (a school). In French, there is more than one definite article to choose from. There is a whole series that end in -ie, they are all feminine. In reality, its the contraction of the articles le and la, but we switch them to l when they precede a noun starting with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u). Many thanks. First, we use it, then we try to make it fit into little boxes. COPYRIGHT 2022 TOPICTEA. Do you know of any easy to use learning programs to help make it a little easier. I have a question If someone is talking to a woman about a man, for example, The maid (a female) walked up to Chloe and told her that she had a visitor (a male) Maybe they like to make you stress, maybe they like to feel superior on the sole basis of their mastery of grammar, or maybe they cannot handle things that arent perfect. 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. You can find a detailed example on this article about the adjective cute in French. Compound tenses are tenses that have several parts to then. I have a hard time learning any language. 3 main islands a number of tiny islets located 280 km northeast of Fiji. What are the disadvantages of shielding a thermometer? Feel free to come back anytime for more tips. Oncle (uncle) is masculine. Required fields are marked *. On the other hand, French has three: . Non! One thing that will definitely help you improve your French is to know the gender of nouns. The following countries are masculine even though they end in -e: For cities, gender is no big deal since there are still some controversies among scholars. An auxiliary, and a participle. What do you think? Language, words already existed, before rules. directrice→ feminine. Is Africa feminine or masculine in French? I dont understand why one object is feminine while another is masculine. However, there are some appliances that are specifically designed to make tea. Masculine nouns use the definite article le and the indefinite article un, whereas feminin nouns use the definite article la and the indefinite article une. I've also included the names of French territories and the names of the continents in French and English. Dont worry, though. Elle est rouge. Ok, now what does feminine and masculine in French matter? It may seem strange to us that chairs and tables are feminine whereas sofas and curtains are masculine, but that is one of the things we have to accept when learning French. How do we know what is masculine and what is feminine? [the kitchen]|Nouns with the ending ine are feminine in French. Its essential to understand the difference between masculine and feminine in French. Is hotel a French word? Une grande fille : a tall girl. Feel free to come back anytime for more French resources. However, there are a number of French nouns which are identical in pronunciation (and often spelling as well) but which have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine. Do you know why ? Names of businesses: boulangerie (bread shop), parfumerie (perfume shop), charcuterie (deli). How do you use the feminine and masculine in French? l'asperge asparagus la betterave beet le poivron bell pepper le broccoli . In English, the only definite article is "the". Asked . Some nationalities change form to feminine. For cars, it highly depends. Saying "une bureau" or "un chaise" is incorrect, but still understandable. On the website, you can hoover on the abbreviation to know what it means. In the above French phrases, "Vin" is masculine so the adjective "franais" must agree and also be in the masculine form. But now, you are wondering, how can you know which countries are feminine and which are masculine? What is the best way to make money with no money? I found your site very informative. In English, the only definite article is the. Choose the correct indefinite article. Wed love to keep you updated with our latest content. For the most part, nouns included in the following categories are masculine:\r\n
Names of trees: chne (oak tree), olivier (olive tree), pommier (apple tree)
\r\nNames of metals: or (gold), acier (steel), fer (iron)
\r\nNames of metric units: mtre (a meter), kilo (a kilo), centimtre (centimeter)
\r\nNames of colors: le rouge (red), le vert (green), le bleu (blue)
\r\nNames of languages: le chinois (chinese), lallemand (german), le franais (French)
\r\nNouns of English origin: tennis (tennis), parking (parking lot), football (soccer)
\r\n| Noun Ending | \r\nExamples | \r\n
|---|---|
| -ade | \r\nfaade (facade), promenade\r\n(a walk), limonade (lemon\r\ndrink) | \r\n
| -ance | \r\nenfance (childhood), naissance\r\n(birth), assurance\r\n(insurance) | \r\n
| -e | \r\nide (idea), journe\r\n(day), mosque\r\n(mosque) | \r\n
| -ence | \r\ndiffrence (difference),\r\ninnocence (innocence), influence\r\n(influence) | \r\n
| -ette | \r\ncrevette (shrimp), chaussette\r\n(sock), baguette\r\n(baguette) | \r\n
| -ie | \r\ncomdie (comedy), industrie\r\n(industry), dmographie\r\n(demography) | \r\n
| -sion | \r\nprvision (forecast),\r\ncomprhension (understanding),\r\nrvision (revision) | \r\n
| -t | \r\nsocit (society),\r\npublicit (advertising),\r\ncharit (charity) | \r\n
| -ti | \r\namiti (friendship),\r\nmoiti (half), piti\r\n(pity) | \r\n
| -tion | \r\ninformation (information),\r\nducation (education), question\r\n(question) | \r\n
| -ure | \r\nvoiture (car), couverture\r\n(blanket), confiture\r\n(jelly/jam) | \r\n