, The majority of words that end in -e or -ion. Isn’t there some Greek or Latin connection? l’orteil (m): toe (plural: les orteils) – (Also known as doigt de pied) English is more difficult (to comprehend, not to learn) for latinos, because sometimes it doesn’t define clearly what thing you are talking about, until you use more words, which we don’t need to. Just read, that’s the best way to get grammar without breaking your brain trying to remember abstract and boring rules that always have tons of exceptions. Popular. I would like to know why the french word for water: “eau” is considered feminine when it doesn’t meet the feminine word criteria (doesn’t end with an “e” or an “ion”). Still, nothing’s impossible – or, as the French like to say, impossible n’est pas français. masculine.). Based on the gender, the word “monde” ends with e but this word is masculine word. - I love you. I am confused with the é ending cause fraternité, egalité are females….are those exceptions? Can you give examples? Féminins are different. Instead, bookmark this page and regularly look at the list. And I think Finnish has 13.Crazy :D. French is easy in comparison. However, it’s important to note that words ending in “isme” or “age” for example tend to be masculine. So, yes, this does all mean that French noun genders are completely arbitrary in many cases. This is also true for other compound tenses. Cléa, Hélène, Rose, and Paul like movies. You could probably master hangul in less than a week. I put ma because it ended in a vowel la peau: skin Take the word “Légume” when you say it, “Lay-g-ew-m” it sounds like it ends with “m”. What you need to know is that the word has a gender, not the concept it represents. Regardless of your gender, if you’re someone who wants equality for everyone (a.k.a. Actually, this is somewhat correct, as we’ll see a little later in this article! But doesn’t it then confuse you when you speak English? -œur: la sœur, la mœur (but le cœur); According to a study by McGill University, a noun’s ending indicates its gender in 80% of cases . Thank you for that! le doigt: finger (plural: les doigts), Les cinq doigts de la main sont: – words that end with ‘ion’ are feminine The things which are Nouns with le or un are masculine, and nouns with la or une are feminine. Over 100,000 French translations of English words and phrases. Using the Word Stomach in French: In French, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. For Masculin Feminine singular: triste She let me borrow her car for the day.) Yeah French is actually one of the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn. Examples: généreux, généreuse; peureux, peureuse. – strong Finally, while you say “some”, as in “a portion/piece of”, you need to make the distinction between du (masculine) and de la (feminine) in French. Fortunately, there are methods that you can use to learn, memorize, and guess the genders of French nouns. There’s a linguistic theory that as languages evolve, they become less complex. These differences are only noticeable in written French since the pronunciation remains the same. I took French for three years in High School and have been to France nearly 15 times, as well as French speaking Quebec. le cœur: heart FEMININE: the great majority of words that end in -e or -ion. Most of the nouns ending is eau are 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. Now making a list of French endings that show a French noun is feminine is not easy since there are so many exceptions! Here we are with ‘un aigle’, now. These are adjectives you can use to guess how other adjectives with similar endings will change. le visage: face, l’aisselle (f): armpit (plural: les aiselles) le talon: heel (plural: les talons) Hello, what did you mean by “(but not after s/c¸)” in the first line of the masculine list? le coude: elbow (plural: les coudes) As a French linguist, I do appreciate coming back to the bases of the French language. ending ‘e’ – feminine Elle m’a prêté sa voiture pour la journée. When it comes to learning genders in French, I feel like I’m living proof of what the McGill study found. Quick summary: most French words ending in E, a vowel + a double consonant, or ssion or tion are feminine. Welcome to the fifth French lesson about gender.This time we will view a list of people, feminine and masculine, followed by grammar rules, finally a list of expressions in French to help you practice your daily phrases. Not really, for example: une chanson, un fleuve. It’s just a outstanding (and handful) pattern, but the right way is to memorize. Hungarian grammar is one of the trickiest there is (even though nouns don’t have genders), but I must say, that writing is way more logical than French. Also spelling/pronunciation makes no sense because I can’t find rules e.g. Relating to feminine and masculine, when you have a collective noun such as “Mes cousines.” Do you use feminine or masculine adjectives.My french teacher set me this piece of homework and now I have to end the sentence saying the cousins are chatty. This being said, there are some feminists and activists who think that feminizing a profession is sexist unto itself and that all professions in French should simply be a single word, not two separate, male and female versions. The gender of an inanimate object sounds like an impossibility to an English speaker but as is the case in the English “an igloo” vs “a house made of ice” it is not about the object but about the word chosen for that object. On the other hand, it is at least consistent – a letter always signifies the same sound. One easy way to keep up what you’ve learned about genders in French is to choose a word, guess if it’s masculine or feminine, then look it up online or in a print dictionary to check if you’re right. Isn’t it?! The other way that I would like to suggest you all. Nouns in red are feminine, nouns in blue are masculine. So, even if you go to a female doctor, she would be referred to as un médecin. please! Although French people don’t use articles every single time they say a word, memorizing words along with an article is a very easy way to ingrain in your memory if a word is masculine and feminine. While there’s some truth to this, largely due to the long-term evolution of the French language, there are some rules (and exceptions) to get most nouns on lock. Learn more in the Cambridge English-French Dictionary. This is another strategy that has helped me quite a bit. Finally, while you say “some”, as in “a portion/piece of”, you need to make the distinction between du (masculine) and de la (feminine) in French. If you’re not, try saying or writing the word with its masculine or feminine article a few times. Feminine plural: tristes. That’s definitely something I want to work on though. cause then there is this abandonné and it is male adjective…..can you help me out? Your lists (full and simplified) of masculine and feminine nouns is extremely useful. In any case, here is a quiz. I checked to be sure, it isn’t there!!! You may have heard that there is only one way to know the gender of a noun: to learn it by heart. la langue: tongue But before you do, here’s how to easily know the gender of French words. And for all nouns starting with a, vowel, you use the masculine possessive adjective, whether the word actually is masculine or not. French also has masculine and feminine articles; le, les, and un are the masculine articles, while la, les, and une are the feminine ones. What makes Hungarian writing an eyesore is that there are several compound letters and accentuation marks, which are needed express all 44(!) My advice, learn the gender – masculin or feminine – at the same time you learn a new word. My French teachers in school made us memorize endings that are typically masculine or feminine, and that has continued to help me through my years of learning French and becoming fluent. As a French high school teacher, I teach my students the above simple rule, and they know this is a “high percentage” guess — (high likelihood of being correct) — to use if they aren’t sure of the gender of a new noun. Let’s explore why genders exist in the French language, why they’re important, and how you can finally be sure of which gender to use a vast majority of the time. But maybe this method doesn’t work for you. That would probably work in most cases. 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. French Together founder and genuinely nice guy Benjamin Houy has created a simplified list that’s easier to remember. Thanks. The more you read and hear French, the most you will be able to automatically determine whether a word is feminine or masculine. 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. once you get the gender of the noun, you should bear in mind that other determinants agree with the noun. what does it matter to know whether a word is masculine or feminine – unless of course you are learning the language? I need to know if cereal is masculine or feminine so I can state my opinion about it (ex. I made a wrong example, writing in English instead of French language, but still I think it shows the meaning that I wanted explain. This would have been a great tool in learning the language in school no doubt… but my question is now – today…. le nombril: belly button In certain cases, gender can be used to clarify the meaning of a word with two very distinct definitions. Remove ads. Masculine and Feminine – Quiz Masculin et Féminin – Interro. Of course, some words change very little when it comes to the noun they’re modifying. She has taught English and French for more than ten years, most notably as an assistante de langue vivante for L'Education Nationale. le ventre: belly. Musée , lycée etc think museum lyceum …suggests masculine? For example, la lune, ta plume, un mot, ta porte. Un chat, une chatte. You can vent your frustration with a scream if you’d like, or maybe a French swear word. He suggests the Hangul alphabet is not so difficult to learn compared to other oriental languages. 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”. le nez: nose Unlike English, there are two ways to say “they” in French: Note that in French, masculine nouns take precedence over feminine ones. Yeah, I have no doubts about what you say. OK. What about you? These are two different words, although their meaning and origin are similar. It’s often arbitrary, so you just have to learn them by heart. 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