Sunday, May 24, 2020
Masculine and Feminine French Nouns How to Tell Them Apart
A noun is a word that represents a person, place, or thing, whether concrete (e.g., chair, dog) or abstract (idea, happiness). In French, all nouns have a genderââ¬âthey are either masculine or feminine. The gender of some nouns makes sense (homme [man] is masculine, femme [woman] is feminine) but others dont: the words personne [person] and victime [victim] are always feminine, even when the person or victim is a man! It is very important to learn a nouns gender along with the noun itself because articles, adjectives, some pronouns, and some verbs have to agree with nouns; that is, they change depending on the gender of the noun they modify. The best way to learn the gender of French nouns is to make your vocabulary lists with the appropriate definite article or indefinite article. That is, rather than a list like this: livre - bookchaise - chair Make French vocabulary lists like this: un livre - bookune chaise - chair This will help you learn the gender with the noun. The gender is part of the noun and you will be much better off learning it now, as a beginner, than trying to go back after years of study and memorizing the genders of all the words youve already learned (we speak from experience).à Also, there are quite a few French nouns with different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine. Gender of French Nouns French nouns are always masculine or feminine, and you usually cant determine the gender just by looking at the word or thinking about what it means. While there are some tendencies in the gender of French nouns - see the table below - there are always exceptions. Please dont use these patterns as a way to avoid learning the genders of nouns - just learn each word as gender noun and then youll know them forever. Nearly all French nouns have different forms for singular and plural. In addition, manyà nounsà that refer to people and animals have both a masculine and a feminine form. Ending is usually: -age masculine Exceptions: une cage, une image, une nage, une page, une plage, une rage -eau masculine Exceptions: l'eau, la peau -à ©e feminine Exceptions: un lycà ©e, un musà ©e -ion feminine Exceptions: un avion, un bastion, billion, un million, un lion, un scion -tà © feminine Exceptions: un comità ©, un invità © In addition, mostà countriesà andà namesà that end in e are feminine. French Nouns With Irregular Feminine Forms Most French nouns become feminine according toà regular patterns, but there are a number of irregular nouns, based on the final letter(s) of the masculine singular noun. Nouns that end in a vowel plus L, N, or T usually become feminine by doubling the consonant before adding E. Ending:à enà à enneà à à Noun:à le gardienà (guard)Masculine singularà à à le gardienFeminine singularà à à la gardienneMasculine pluralà à à les gardiensFeminine pluralà à à les gardiennes Ending:à elà à elleà à à Noun:à le colonelà (colonel)Masculine singularà à à le colonelFeminine singularà à à la colonelleMasculine pluralà à à les colonelsFeminine pluralà à à les colonelles Nouns that end inà erà need aà grave accent: Ending:à erà à à ¨reà à à Noun:à leà boulangerà (baker)Masculine singularà à à le boulangerFeminine singularà à à la boulangà ¨reMasculine pluralà à à les boulangersFeminine pluralà à à les boulangà ¨res The final lettersà eurà have two possible irregular feminine endings: Ending:à eurà à euseà à à Noun:à un danseurà (dancer)Masculine singularà à à un danseurFeminine singularà à à une danseuseMasculine pluralà à à des danseursFeminine pluralà à à des danseuses Ending:à eurà à riceà à à Noun:à un acteurà (actor)Masculine singularà à à un acteurFeminine singularà à à une actriceMasculine pluralà à à des acteursFeminine pluralà à à des actrices Notes These rules are similar forà making adjectives feminineThe rules for making nouns feminine apply only to people and some animals. They do not apply to objects, which have only one form: masculineà orà feminine.Compound nounsà have their own gender rules. French Nouns With Irregular Plurals Most French nouns become plural according toà regular patterns, but there are a number of irregular nouns, based on the final letter(s) of the singular noun. The endingsà alà andà ailà change toà auxà in the plural: Noun:à unà chevalà (horse)Masculine singularà à à unà chevalMasculine pluralà à à desà chevaux Noun:à un travailà (task, job)Masculine singularà à à un travailMasculine pluralà à à des travaux The endingsà au,à eau, andà euà take an X forà plural: Noun:à unà tuyauà (pipe, tip)Masculine singularà à à unà tuyauMasculine pluralà à à desà tuyaux Noun:à un chà ¢teauà (castle)Masculine singularà à à un chà ¢teauMasculine pluralà à à des chà ¢teaux Noun:à un feuà (fire)Masculine singularà à à un feuMasculine pluralà à à desà feux
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