When learning the gender of french nouns, keep in mind that the meaning of the noun usually has nothing to do with whether it is masculine or feminine. How to determine if a french word is masculine or feminine. However as there are so many exceptions, these gender patterns are not foolproof, but they can help you to guess the gender of many french nouns. There are many exceptions to gender rules in french which can only be learned.
French translation of book the official collins englishfrench dictionary online. Almost every country ending in an e is a feminine country. Determining the gender of nouns in french, all nouns. I fell in love with the book, emerging out of a jungian psychological perspective, which gives such a good feel of the energies associated with these four patterns. What is book in french and is it masculine or feminine. Thats why today we still find some planet, star, and constellation names in the masculine, even though the feminine is today more typical. There are so many exceptions that im pretty sure you. When a french noun describes a live being, its gender masculine or feminine often reflects the gender of the being in question. But did you know some endings can tell you the gender of french nouns.
Traditionally, the names of celestial bodies were masculine, except those that were made up of a feminine determiner or whose name was that of a female mythological figure. You should always learn nouns together with their articles to be sure of their gender. French genders, the masculine and feminine and how to use them. But as a french teacher i should give you some patterns in word endings that tend to indicate masculine nouns, while other endings favor feminine nouns. In french, the words for school supplies, such as paper, notebook, and book, are all nouns that follow the usual. In this blog post, ill go over the masculine endings. Based on popular dictionary le petit robert, the proporti. Frenchgrammarnouns wikibooks, open books for an open world. With reverso you can find the english translation, definition or synonym for masculine and feminine and thousands of other words. French only has two genders masculine and feminine, while german has three.
In french, is the word, literature, masculine or feminin. Adjectives in french dont just conform to the gender, but also the quantity. Masculine and feminine french words and their uses the. Gender oxford research encyclopedia of linguistics. Donaldson 2007 asserts that all nouns of french origin ending in ie, ik and ion are feminine. Additionally, words such as adjectives and articles are usually inflected for gender to agree with the noun they modify for example. If you are taking french in high school or college, be sure to get this book. You more or less have to memorize the gender of each noun, although you can often but not always tell whether a word is masculine or feminine by looking. So it can be especially difficult to get accustomed to french gender rules, where every single noun is designated either masculine or feminine. Masculine feminine definite articles with the names of countries in french. 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. Focus on gender confronts the french gender problem and defines it in the most concise manner possible. French possessive adjectives learn french free french.
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. An english translation of each sketch is given at the back of the book. Is the word book in french masculine or feminine answers. Nouns most often have a gender in french, as they had in latin, a language that heavily influenced french. As such, it serves to confirm or deny previous notions about french gender. Making a list for the endings showing the french noun genders is not an easy thing. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Most literally you can ask about the ratio across all unique french words, in which case you can simply open a dictionary and count words. If, for example, the noun or pronoun is singular, its verb and any adjectives describing it must also be singular. In french, all nouns have a grammatical gender, that is, they are masculine or. French gender choose the correct article for each noun. You all know that in french, even inanimate objects are feminine or masculine.
Displaying all worksheets related to masculine and feminine in french. Is paris masculine or feminine im writing a poem and im describing paris as interesting and old how would you say that also. The upshot of this is that french possessive adjectives will change depending on the gender of. But did you know some french endings can tell you the gender of nouns. What is the particular type of processor model and operating system on which a computer is based called. The french have feminine and masculine words for african. To be able to use the correct article, it is essential to remember the gender of every noun. As with majority of the french adjectives, there is a masculine and feminine form for most of the names of nationalities.
If youre beautiful, sweet and nurturing, then theyre good matches for you. Luckily there is straightforward rule to determining the genders in french with minimal exceptions. The picture is less clear for the masculine and feminine gender, because in the standard. Every noun has a gender genre, either masculine or feminine. One of the hardest things for many students of french to learn is how to tell the difference between masculine and feminine french nouns. How to tell if a german word is masculine, feminine. The preposition depends on the gender of the country youre trying to talk about. While there are some tendencies in the gender of french nouns see the table below there are always exceptions. A textbook is a book about a particular subject that is intended for students. French translation of textbook the official collins englishfrench dictionary. All german nouns are included in one of three genders. That is the question you often ask yourself as a french learner.
Writing in french with masculine and feminine nouns dummies. The rule for gender and number of french adjectives. Society has forced into your head that nice guys are sensitive and care more about you, but the truth is that they dont. Masculine and feminine in french worksheets lesson. French translation of book collins englishfrench dictionary. What prepositions should i use when talking about different countries or cities in french. Learn more in the cambridge englishfrench dictionary. There are even words that are spelled the same, but have a different meaning when masculine or feminine. This was a text book used in one of my classes in a masters program in transpersonal psychology. In english, thats about all there is to know about singular nouns. Thanks to its team of translators residing all around.
You might remember that all french nouns are either masculine or feminine. New learners of french are often unsettled or scared when they find out very early that every noun had a gender. So, when speaking french, do you have put the adjectives in the feminine and masculine. All french adjectives agree in number singular or plural and gender masculine or feminine with the nouns they describe. Feminine french nouns memorizing french gender lawless. Generally, the feminine is formed with e, the masculine or general plural in s and the feminine plural in es. In fact, in french, all words in a sentence must agree with each other. How to know the gender of french nouns with 80% accuracy. In english, we dont need to worry about this kind of thing. Protranslate book translation office is especially proud of its book translation services in french and spanish. Many languages have masculine and feminine words, but the german. In french all nouns will be either masculine or feminine and there is no neutral.
It provides a permanent source of reference and perhaps the only comprehensive documentary evidence on the subject available today. What is the ratio of masculine and feminine words in the. Share flipboard email leocrafts getty images french. In french, the words for school supplies, such as paper, notebook, and book, are all nouns that follow the usual patterns for. Grammatical gender in german refers to the division of german nouns into three grammatical genders. See all formats and editions hide other formats and editions. Learn all about the gender of nouns in french grammar with lingolia, then test your knowledge in the free exercises. Static masculine, dynamic masculine, static feminine, dynamic feminine. Russian, french, spanish, and arabic are all examples of such languages. Setting your language level helps other users provide you with answers that arent too complex or too simple. There are no real rules or logic to help you decide which article to use, statistically there are more masculine than feminine nouns. How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine. A basic, singular noun refers to just one of something.
Over 00 french translations of english words and phrases. How to recognize gender in german using suffixes jakub marian. Home grammar feminine noun gender there are three genders in german. Usually, the gender of a noun is determined by its ending. The language level symbol shows a users proficiency in the languages theyre interested in. This is the most common way adjectives are modified for gender and quantity. How to identify feminine and masculine in french 5 easy. In the dutch language, the gender of a noun determines the articles, adjective forms and. After hours trying to figure out why feminisme feminism is masculine and masculinite masculinity is feminine, youve come to the most logical conclusion. How the hell am i supposed to tell the gender of french nouns, to guess that the word telephone is masculine whereas the word television is feminine. Masculine and feminine french nouns learn how to tell them apart. You can complete the translation of masculine and feminine given by the englishfrench collins dictionary with other dictionaries such as. In this blog post, ill go over the feminine endings.