: soeur ("sister"), places, e.g. Find more French words at wordhippo.com! It depends on the word, but the feminine form is most likely identical to the masculine one in this situation. One day a guy told me that to remember that Käse is masculine, I should view in my minds eye an image of Superman (or whatever) that I very much associated with ‘masculine’. 5 – French Nouns Ending in On are Masculine. English words for oiseau include bird, hod, flicker, birdlike and bird-like. — Oranges and lemons are citrus fruit. Rather, they originate from a grammatical pattern of French , in which words of feminine grammatical gender typically end in a stressless syllable and words of masculine gender end in a stressed syllable. You’ll learn how to easily identify if a noun is masculine or feminine, and you’ll also learn how to apply the rules. Revise and improve your French with detailed content, examples, audio, personalised practice tests and learning tools In French, all nouns have a gender: masculine of feminine. In this episode, I’ll introduce to you the main rules on feminine & masculine usage and some of the common exceptions to the rule. Words are either feminine and masculine in French, that’s all. Now, when it comes to people, it can be quite easy to guess if the noun is feminine or masculine in French : La femme, la mère, la sœur are all feminine nouns, whereas l’homme, le père, le frère, are masculine. When the nouns of cities are preceded by the adjectives grand, nouveau, vieux, are used in what form? French nouns and adjectives are gendered – but it doesn’t follow any sense or logic. : Key points: An ongoing dialogue between masculine and feminine dress codes. In this short article, we explain and provide some examples of the most common French verb tenses you'll come across. masculine. Watch out! ... l'oiseau (m) la souris. A bird is a creature with feathers and wings. Watch out! le cheval. : la France ("France"), concrete things, e.g. Nouns in French: The words for birds, insects, spiders, and other animals are all nouns. Il existe deux genres : masculin et féminin. Last 300 years. In French, all nouns have a gender: masculine of feminine. l'oiseau. Same thing for “rose.” As a color, it's masculine, but as a flower, it's feminine. An adjective is a word used to describe a noun. Masculine and Feminine Some words are masculine and others feminine, sometimes it is obvious, for example, un chat is the male name and la chatte is the female one, the same for le chien and la chienne but la souris just gets one gender, the word is feminine even if the mouse is a male. : Key points: An ongoing dialogue between masculine and feminine dress codes. Both le and la become l' when they precede a noun beginning with a vowel or a silent h.All nouns in plural have the article les.. French native speakers know mostly intuitively what the article of each noun is. le rat. All French adjectives agree in number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) with the nouns they describe. Copyright © by HarperCollins Publishers. When writing nouns, you need to know how to spell them and how to indicate both gender (feminine/masculine) and number (singular/pl… cat. Expressions or words that can either be masculine or feminine are written in green. Start with the Complete French Beginner's course, then follow up with French Next Steps. Anonymous. The rules for adjectives in French are not easy. One day a guy told me that to remember that Käse is masculine, I should view in my minds eye an image of Superman (or whatever) that I very much associated with ‘masculine’. A noun is either masculine or feminine. le cochon. l'oiseau, un oiseau (masculine)plural: les oiseaux, des oiseaux ... balle is feminine in french / ballon is masculine. Similarly, you have a masculine “a” (un) and a feminine “a” (une). Create an account and sign in to access this FREE content. I’m glad you ask. One of the best things about French gender checkers is that they continually expose you to masculine and feminine nouns in contexts that matter to you. After hours trying to figure out why féminisme (feminism) is masculine and masculinité (masculinity) is feminine, you’ve come to the most logical conclusion: the gender of French nouns was randomly chosen by a bunch of sadistic linguists.. Actually, this is somewhat correct, as … Note that some words cannot change into feminine; instead a whole new word should be used, example: Homme (man), Femme (woman). cat. viande (vee-ahnd) noun, feminine Thank you for sharing them with us in the comments box. le chat. Nouns are words that refer to people, e.g. French - Animals 1. Exception: “Orange” is only masculine as a color – as a fruit it's feminine. ːd/ NOUN. The gender of some nouns makes sense (homme [man] is masculine, femme [woman] is feminine) but others don't: the words personne [person] and victime [victim] are always feminine… 0 0. The French have feminine and masculine words for African: africain (noun or adjective, masculine) and africaine (noun or adjective, feminine). An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. bird. OISEAU IS MASCULINE [MALE] IN FRENCH. When the nouns of cities are preceded by the adjectives grand, nouveau, vieux, are used in what form? Her pieces combine the masculine and feminine in sometimes provocative, always original creations. One of the major challenges that drives many of our students crazy is that every noun has a gender in French! We look at some of the ways in which the language is changing. 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire once wrote Le beau est toujours bizarre. There are many diverse influences on the way that English is used across the world today. For example, "un comte" -> "une comtesse." : livre ("book") and abstract notions, e.g. A very common exception is la maison (the house). le poulet. Good question! Entre les deux, une décennie à vivre comme l'oiseau sur la branche entre études et chômage. Gender: Masculine and Feminine For French Colors Masculine Singular Feminine Singular blue bleu bleue purple violet violette yellow jaune jaune green vert verte. Mais, pour les amoureux d'engins volants, il demeure un " bel oiseau ". That is the question you often ask yourself as a French learner. In this episode, I’ll introduce to you the main rules on feminine & masculine usage and some of the common exceptions to the rule. the german word for orange is Apfelsine. Since Exist The lucky thing is that there are only two endings to remember. Again lost for a masculine feminine french language, i need a good is. However in French the article (Le, La, Les) will depend on the gender of the noun in question. When a word begins with a vowel, the definite article that precedesthe word is contracted whatever the gender is : une assiette (a plate), l'assiette (the plate) un oiseau (a bird), l'oiseau (the bird) un animal (an animal)l'animal (the animal) une araîgnée (a spider), l'araîgnée(the spider) : Ses pièces mêlent masculin et féminin dans des créations parfois provocantes, toujours originales. Others are always feminine, like une voiture (a car), une maison (a house), and une école (a school). Who decides when words are feminine and masculine in French? Compare Italian uccello, Occitan aucèl, Catalan ocell/aucell, Walloon oujhea, Gallo ouézai, Norman ouaîsé, Franco-Provençal usél, Friulian uciel, Sicilian aceddu, Neapolitan auciello. Of our students crazy is that you need to learn compared to of! Are no real rules or logic to help you decide which article to use, there. / ballon is masculine for the feminine form is most likely identical to the masculine and feminine French... 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