Is Nombre Masculine Or Feminine? Top Answer Update

You all know that in French even inanimate objects are feminine or masculine. But did you know that some French endings can tell you the gender of nouns? In this blog post I go into the male endings.

Creating a list for the endings that show the genders of French nouns is not an easy task. There are so many exceptions that I’m pretty sure you’ll always find words that don’t fit. So take this list with a grain of salt.

French noun endings that are generally masculine

Nouns ending in b, c, cle, d, k, l, m, oir, p are typically masculine, but not so numerous in French. New words that often come from English, such as new technologies, ending in “ing” and “isme” are usually masculine.

Well, here are some common endings that are typically masculine. Unfortunately there are exceptions…

French nouns ending in Ège, É and Eau are masculine

Ège, for example le manège (carousel), un arpège (arpeggio)

An exception is La Norvège (Norway) É, as in le café (coffee or cafe), le canapé (the sofa), le carré (the square), le défilé (the procession), le supermarché (the supermarket).

Exceptions: la clé (key), la psyché… Eau, for example le bateau (the boat), le manteau (the cloak), le chapeau (the hat), l’oiseau (the bird).

Important exceptions as these are very common words: l’eau (water) and la peau (skin).

French nouns ending in ment are masculine

We have many nouns that end in “ment” in French and they are masculine: le gouvernement (the government), un appartement (a dwelling), le beginment (the beginning), un abonnement (a subscription).

The only exception is la jument (the mare).

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French nouns ending in In are masculine

For example le vin (the wine), le magasin (the shop), le dessin (the drawing), le chemin (the path, the path), le jardin (the garden).

An exception is la fin (the end).

French nouns ending in On are masculine

French nouns ending in “on” are masculine, as in le salon (the living room), le poisson (the fish), le garçon (the boy), le pantalon (the pants).

Danger! A very common exception is la maison (the house).

French nouns ending in S are masculine

As in le bus (bus), le bas (below), le plus (the plus)…

Unfortunately, there are many exceptions: la brebis (female sheep), la fois (time), une oasis, la souris (mouse), la vis (screw)

French nouns ending in Ier, Er and Eur are masculine

French words ending in “ier” and “er” are masculine, such as B. in le fermier (the farmer), l’épicier (the grocer), le cahier (the notebook), le pommier (the apple tree), le boucher (the butcher). ), le boulanger (the baker) – many job titles end in “ier”. Its feminine counterpart ends in ère or ière.

Eur is also a common masculine ending, as in le travailleur (the worker), un ascenseur (an elevator), le moteur (the moteur (the engine), un aspirateur (a vacuum cleaner).

Exceptions are la douleur (the pain), la chaleur (the heat).

French nouns ending in O are masculine

For example le vélo (a bicycle), le zéro (zero)…

Exceptions: la météo (the weather forecast), la moto (motorcycle), la radio (radio)…

French nouns ending in alter tend to be masculine

A common French masculine suffix is ​​“age”, for example le village (village), le garage (garage), le fromage (cheese)…..

But there are also many exceptions: une image (a picture), la plage (the beach), la nage (swimming), la cage (cage), la rage (anger)…

Note that le page is a page boy, but la page is the page of a book (or newspaper, etc.).

Voilà, I hope this list helps you understand the gender of nouns in French.

How to remember the gender of French nouns?

Memorizing the gender of common nouns in French is perhaps the most difficult thing for English speakers. Firstly because you don’t have such a concept in English (a sofa bed is neutral: it. Not she or he…), secondly because… in French there aren’t any precise rules to follow.

This list can be helpful, but I strongly recommend that you memorize the gender of French nouns at the same time as the noun itself: the two pieces of information really should be learned as one in French.

For example, never create lists with the columns “female” and “male” and only write the French noun in them. You should ALWAYS have a French article to indicate the gender of the noun and learn the article and noun together as one piece of information.

Beware of the internet – never work with a list of French nouns that do not repeat the article. I can’t reiterate this enough: you must learn the two concepts together.

Now click here to access French endings showing feminine words.

You all know that in French even inanimate objects are feminine or masculine. But did you know that some endings can tell you the gender of French nouns? In this blog post I go into the female endings.

Short summary: Most French words ending in E, a vowel + a double consonant, or ssion or tion are feminine.

Michele, la France, la filette, la passion, la nation….

Well, making a list of French endings that show a French noun is feminine is not easy as there are so many exceptions!

So take this list with caution: it can help you when you’re hesitating, but the best way is still to memorize the gender with the noun as you learn it.

If at first you don’t understand how a table can be “feminine” in French, read this article: What does number and gender mean in French?

How to memorize the genders of French nouns

Memorizing the gender of common nouns in French is perhaps the most difficult thing for English speakers. Firstly because you don’t have such a concept in English (a sofa bed is neutral: it. Not she or he…), secondly because… in French there aren’t any precise rules to follow.

This list can be helpful, but I strongly recommend that you memorize the gender of French nouns at the same time as the noun itself: the two pieces of information really should be learned as one in French.

For example, never create lists with the columns “female” and “male” and only write the French noun in them. You should ALWAYS have a French article to indicate the gender of the noun and learn the article and noun together as one piece of information.

Beware of the internet – never work with a list of French nouns that do not repeat the article. I can’t reiterate this enough: you need to learn the two concepts together (DO NOT make your flashcards like this picture… ALWAYS ADD A FRENCH ARTICLE – Read my 9 tips to create the best French flashcards for learning French )

What’s wrong with this flashcard? THE ARTICLE IS MISSING !! It should be “une” or “la” pomme…

Proper nouns ending in E are usually feminine

Country nouns and proper nouns ending in e are usually feminine:

Michèle against Michel, Paule against Paul… But there are many exceptions (Alexandre is a man’s name for example…). La France, l’Angleterre, la Turquie… (except Le Mexique, Le Cambodge, Le Zimbabwe…) – More about French place prepositions used with countries.

French nouns ending in E + double consonant + E are feminine

All nouns ending in a double consonant + e are usually feminine. elle, enne, emme, esse, erre, ette…

La pelle (shovel), une selle (saddle), la chaussette (the sock), la filette (the little girl), La tristesse (sadness), la terre (earth), la femme (woman)… An exception is le squelette (the skeleton)

French nouns ending in Ssion and Tion are feminine

The ending Tion is also common in English and French and English have many cognate words: la situation, la question, la solution, l’éducation, l’opération, la nation, l’action… There are MANY words in the French end in Tion and they are all feminine, except “le bastion”. So this is really a big help.

Pay attention to the pronunciation! It’s not Shon as in English, but SSion – this is particularly difficult for English speakers as your brain can ‘deny’ (pun intended…) French pronunciation.

Note that many nouns ending only in “ion” are masculine (un avion (an airplane), un lion…)

The session ending is also typically female, as in la passion, la repression, l’émission (the program)…. And there are many of them.

Then it gets more complicated…

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French nouns ending in ale, cé, be, fe and ace are feminine

Nouns ending in ale, cé, be, fe, and ace are typically feminine, but not as numerous in French.

ace as in la glace (ice cream), la face (front).

The French nouns Ence and Ance are feminine

Ence, again many words that are similar to English: la patient, la violence, la conscience, l’Agence… An exception is le Silence. Ance for example, les vacances (holidays), la croissance (growth), l’enfance (childhood). (Nevertheless good to know, so I’ll list it here – but spelled with an S in French – la danse)

French nouns ending in Be, Té, Ade are feminine

Be, as in une robe (a dress), une aube (twilight)…

Many exceptions, including un cube, un microbe, un verbe… Té, as in la beauté, la priorité, la sécurité, la majorité, l’activité.

Many exceptions, including l’été (summer), le paté, le côté (the side)… Goodbye, as in la promenade (the walk), la lemonade.

Many exceptions, including le grade, le jade, le stade.

French nouns ending in Ée, Erie, Ère are feminine

Ée, for example la fusée (the rocket), une cuillerée (a spoon), la chaussée (the road, lane), la bouchée (the bite), la corvée (the duty, task), . Exceptions are le lycée (the school), le musée (the museum): these are very common words, so keep the exceptions in mind! Erie, especially for names of shops like la boulangerie (the bakery), la boucherie (the butcher shop), la librairie (the bookstore), l’épicerie (the grocery store); also la sonnerie (the ringing of a bell or telephone), la gendarmerie (the police station). Ère, as in la mère (the mother), la manière (the kind), la boulangère (a baker). Exceptions are le père (the father), le frère (the brother), le cimetière (cemetery), l’arrière (the back).

French nouns ending in Ique, Ine and Ise are feminine

Ique, as in la boutique, la musique, la gymnastique, la bibliothèque (the library). Some of the many exceptions are le plastique, le moustique (the mosquito)… Ine, as in la cousine (cousin), la poitrine (breast). Exception le magazine. Ise as in La Surprise, La Mise (the amount you bet).

French nouns ending in Ure and Rice are feminine

Ure, for example la chaussure (the shoe), la blessure (the wound), la nourriture (food). Exceptions are le murmure. Reis, usually for professions like la directrice (the director), une actrice (an actress), la traductrice (the translator). Le Zahncreme (the toothpaste) is an exception.

Good luck remembering the exceptions! Now go to this post for French endings saying masculine words.

Hello, my name is in Spanish

If you wanted to say the phrase “Hello, my name is” in Spanish, you would say “Hola, mi nombre es [your name]”. A more relaxed version of the same phrase would be, “Hola, me llamo [your name].” Want to ask someone what their name is? Use “¿Cómo te llamas?” (familiar/personal) or “¿Cómo se llama?” (formal/polite). Alternatively, although less common, is “¿Cuál es tu nombre?” (familiar/personal) and “¿Cuál es su nombre?” (formal/polite).

Learning all these subtle variations can feel overwhelming at first, but actually getting to grips with them is pretty easy — especially if you already speak related languages ​​like English, Italian, or French. Both Italian and French are directly related to Spanish in the same Romance language family, while English borrows many French and Italian/Latin words called cognates (cousins ​​of each other). That’s why you’ll also find English words like “fabulous” sounding remarkably similar in French (fabuleux), Italian (favoloso), and Spanish (fabuloso). In addition to the often very similar sounding vocabulary, you’ll find that Spanish also has extremely easy pronunciation and far fewer irregularities than other languages. In addition, the alphabet is almost identical to English. There are only three additional letters you need to learn: ñ (eñe), ch (chay) and ll (elle).

With Rosetta Stone, you’ll learn the language, not just the words. What makes Rosetta Stone unique is that we prepare you to speak the language in the real world. So it’s not just about the features, it’s about what you can do with them. That way you’re ready for any situation and sound great doing it.

As with most worthwhile endeavors, there are no easy shortcuts, but the combination of solo practice in the award-winning Rosetta Stone mobile app and practice with other language learners in our Rosetta Stone online community puts you in complete control of your progress and your speed improve your learning.

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To say “My name is” in Spanish, say “Me llamo,” pronounced “Meh yah-moh,” followed by your name to mean “My name is.” Alternatively, you can just say “Soy” before your name to mean “I am.” In more formal situations, like talking to a stranger on the phone, introduce yourself with “Mi nombre es,” pronounced “Mee nohm-breh es,” followed by your name. To learn when to use “Me llamo” instead of “Soy,” scroll down!

When learning Spanish, one of the most fundamental things you can learn is how to introduce yourself. To get this right, many Spanish learners wonder what phrases to use to say “my name is” in Spanish.

Depending on the speaker’s personal preferences, there are three common and standard expressions for pronouncing a person’s name in Spanish:

Me Llamo (Lamarse) – My name is

Soy – that’s me

Mi nombre es – My name is

Learning how to say your name in Spanish allows you to introduce yourself and practice your Spanish with others. For this reason, in this article we will explain when and how to use each of these options. Keep in mind that the use of one expression or another may depend on your preference and the context in which you are.

In addition, we also provide you with phrase structures so you can customize these expressions depending on what you want to express, and we include some examples so you can see different ways to say your name in Spanish.

In the end, the question of how to say “my name is” in Spanish will no longer be a problem for you.

1. Me Llamo – My name is…

Me llamo is one of the most common and common ways to say “my name is” in Spanish. Although this expression may be confusing for Spanish learners, “me llamo” is very popular and casual among Spanish speakers. As a standard term, this expression can be used in both formal and informal situations.

“Me llamo” is the conjugation for the first person singular (Yo), but if you want to use this phrase for other people, you need to follow this phrase structure:

[Lamarse conjugated] + [name]

Yo me llamo Sandy is Fabio

My name is Sandy and this is Fabio

Tu te llamas Kathy, no?

Your name is Kathy, isn’t it?

Nuestra maestra se lama Marcela

Our teacher’s name is Marcela

No, I Lamo José, I Lamo Juan

My name is not José, it’s Juan

Hola, me llamo Daniela, ¿tú cómo te llamas

Hello, my name is Daniela, what is your name?

In Spanish we use the verb llamarse to say a person’s name. So in order to use this verb correctly, we need to make sure that it is conjugated correctly.

Note: Llamarse is a pronominal verb, which means that unlike “regular” verbs, it has to work with pronouns to retain its meaning. In other words, “llamarse” follows the conjugation of reflexive verbs.

Related resource: How to conjugate reflexive verbs in Spanish

2. Soy… – I am

In Spanish, soy is another popular option that people use to say their name. “Soy” is a little more casual than “me llamo” and can be used as a quick way to introduce or identify yourself and others.

“Soy” is the first person (Yo) conjugation of the verb “ser”. To use this verb correctly, you need to make sure the conjugation matches the person whose name you’re saying. Here’s a basic structure you can follow:

[Ser conjugated] + [Name]

Yo soya Zac, ¿tú como te llamas?

I’m Zac, what’s your name?

¿Eres Tony, verdad?

You’re Tony, right?

Hola, soya jessica, la hermana de james

Hello, I’m Jessica, I’m James’ sister

David, ella es Steffani, it la chica nueva

David, this is Steffani, she’s the new girl

Eso’s son Carlos y Francisco, Viene de España

This is Carlos and Francisco, they are from Spain

Related resource: Use of the verb Ser in Spanish

3. Min nombre es… – My name is…

Min nombre it is the direct translation of “my name is”. Although “mi nombre” is a standard expression, it’s not as common as “me llamo” or “soy”. For Spanish speakers, this expression is a bit more formal and feels less natural than the other two options. Here is a phrase structure you can follow:

[possessive adjective] + nombre + [ser conjugated] + [name]

My name is Daniela

My name is Daniela

Creo que su nombre es Alicia

I think her name is Alicia

That’s what Luciana calls it

Her name is Luciana

¿Tu nombre es Paloma, verdad?

Her name is Paloma, isn’t it?

My name is Natalia, pero me dicen Naty

My name is Natali but people call me Naty

Note: Note that to use mi nombre es correctly, you not only need to conjugate the verb “ser” correctly, but also make sure you use the correct possessive adjective.

Related resource: Possessive adjectives in Spanish

How do you say what’s your name in Spanish?

Now that you have a better understanding of how to pronounce your name and someone else’s, let’s look at phrases you use to say “What’s your name?” in Spanish.

What is your name? – What’s your name.

What is your name? is the most common and common way of asking people for their names. It can be used in both formal and informal contexts, but when addressing someone older than you, you must ¿Cómo se llama? instead of this.

Soy Carolina, ¿tú como te llamas?

I’m Carolina, what’s your name?

Señora, ¿como se llama?

woman, what’s your name?

¿Cual es tu nombre? – What’s your name?

Although ¿cuál es tu nombre? is the direct translation of “What’s your name?”, this question is more popular in formal situations.

Disculpa, ¿cuál es tu nombre?

Excuse me, what is your name?

Señora, ¿cuál es su nombre completo?

Madam, what’s your full name?

Vocabulary related to personal names in Spanish

Here is a list of useful vocabulary to use when saying your name or asking someone’s name. To use this vocabulary correctly, you need to replace some of these words with “mi nombre es”.

Apellido Surname Segundo nombre Middle Name Nombre Name Nombre de pila First Name Primer nombre First Name Nombre completo Full Name Apodo Nickname

Mi segundo nombre es Natali

My middle name is Natali

Her name is Carol Smith

Her full name is Carol Smith

¿Cual es tu apellido?

What’s your last name?

Wrap up

Learning how to say your name in Spanish will allow you to start more conversations where you can practice your speaking skills. That’s why, in this article, we’ve discussed different ways to say your name and someone else’s in Spanish.

We learned that me llamo is a very popular expression among Spanish speakers and to use it we need to conjugate the verb “llamarse” correctly. Additionally, soy is a more casual way that people introduce themselves or identify with.

And while min nombre is a direct translation of “my name is,” we’ve learned that this phrase isn’t as popular as the other two options. In addition, we’ve discussed some questions you can use to ask someone’s name and we’ve learned some vocabulary to use in this situation.

Hopefully you now have a more solid understanding of how to pronounce your name in Spanish.

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You can search words by their subject, hear 9 different accents in 4 languages, add and correct entries. You can use our apps for iPhone, Android, iPad, Windows 10/11 and macOS.

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Me llamo literally means I call myself, while Mi nombre is My name, but the two essentially mean the same thing.

Both sentences are acceptable. For some, Min nombre es can sound a bit more formal than me llamo. If you want something more casual, you could just say Soy…

When conversing with someone, you would (most likely) use Me llamo. But if, for example, you left a voicemail for someone you don’t know, you might want to use mi nombre es.

Llamos comes from the verb llamar, meaning to call. Llam + Amos means that we call out in the present tense without accents. Nombre usually means name. To say, what’s your name, would you say: Cóme sé llama? or what do you call yourself? You can use the keyboard plus the alt keys to place accents over words with Microsoft Windows. Buen suerte (Good luck), I hope this helped. Que le vaya bien. (That you’re fine.) This que doesn’t have an accent because it means “that,” not what it does in “qué.”

In this case, Cuál is used instead of Qué, as the English equivalent would suggest.

Tip: To help you remember which one to use, think of it this way: Out of all the possibilities for a person’s last name, your question really is “WHICH ONE goes with him?” Therefore ¿Cuál es su apellido? literally translated What is your last name?

¡buena suerte!

R

Remember sitting in Spanish class and wondering how bad a woman can be? In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at grammatical gender and try to break it down for English speakers.

Reading time: 5 minutes

Are you a native English speaker? If so, think back to your language classes in high school. Do you ever remember sitting in French, Spanish, Italian, or German class, stunned at the idea that inanimate objects like chairs, tables, glasses, and plates could be either male or female? If so, then you were definitely not alone. Grammatical gender, while very common in a number of languages, is something that native English speakers find difficult to understand. In this article we will take a closer look at grammatical gender, what it is and how it affects language, as well as some of the many languages ​​around the world that use some form of gender system.

WHAT IS GRAMMATICAL GENDER?

Grammatical gender (sometimes referred to as linguistic gender) quite literally refers to grammatical systems that use gender to describe certain nouns. Essentially, grammatical gender is why Spanish potato (la papa) is feminine and German chair (der Stuhl) is masculine. And while it might be a difficult concept for monolingual native English speakers to grasp, gender is actually a lot more common than you might think: about half of all languages ​​spoken today have some sort of formal gender system. We will list some of these languages ​​later. First, let’s take a closer look at linguistic gender, how it works, and how it affects the way a language is spoken.

HOW GRAMMATICAL GENDER AFFECTS A LANGUAGE

Grammatical gender simply means that nouns in a given language are assigned a specific gender (like the potato and stool example we covered earlier). Some languages ​​only use 2 linguistic genders, masculine and feminine (these include French, Italian, Spanish and more). However, others may use 3 genders; masculine, feminine and neutral. These include, for example, German, Polish and Russian. Some native African languages, such as Fulfulde (native to the regions of modern-day Congo and Niger), can have up to 20 different genders. In languages ​​with formal gender systems, the exact gender of a given object directly affects the structure and order of surrounding words. For example, in Spanish, the gender of an object can affect the adjectives, participles, and pronouns that refer to that noun in a sentence. Here is an example using the following sentence in Spanish:

The new table looks very nice in the kitchen.

or

La mesa nueva quedo muy linda en la cocina.

Table (or mesa) is a feminine noun. Hence we can see that the pronoun that follows it (la) and the adjectives that describe it (new or nueva and beautiful or linda) are also feminine. For example, if we change this noun to couch (sillón, masculine), the sentence would look like this:

El sillon nuevo quedó muy lindo en la cocina.

By replacing the feminine noun with a masculine noun, we can see that the pronouns and adjectives also become masculine. Here is another example and compare the following 2 sentences:

Mi primo siempre usa pantalones muy apretados (my cousin always wears very tight pants) and;

Mi primo siempre usa remera muy apretadas (my cousin always wears very tight t-shirts).

Again we can see that the gender of the noun, first masculine (pantalones or trousers) then feminine (remeras or t-shirts), changes the adjective describing it (apretado/a or tight). This is something that most native English speakers struggle with when they first learn a new language with a gender system. Not only do they have to adjust to the notion that an inanimate object can be either male or female, but they also have to consider how an object’s gender can affect the rest of the sentence they’re trying to form. This, combined with the fact that gender can also completely change the meaning of a noun (papa in Spanish can mean pope if it’s masculine, or potato if it’s feminine), can also be really disconcerting for English speakers.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HAVE MORE THAN TWO GENDERS?

As we mentioned earlier, some languages ​​have more than just normal feminine and masculine gender nouns. For example, German has both feminine and masculine nouns preceded by an article that is either feminine (die) or masculine (der). However, it also has a third gender; castrate. And while it’s not uncommon for a language to have more than two linguistic genders, what’s really interesting about German is that plural nouns, regardless of their singular gender, are almost always preceded by the feminine definite article. Here are some examples:

Stuhl is a masculine noun in German (der Stuhl), Auto is neuter (das Auto) and coffee machine is feminine (die Kaffeemaschine).

However, all of these nouns are preceded by the feminine definite article (die) in the plural: “Der Stuhl” becomes “die Stuhle”, “das Auto” becomes “die Autos” and “die Kaffeemaschine” becomes “die Kaffeemaschinen”. .

WHICH LANGUAGES USE LINGUISTIC GENDER?

As we have already mentioned, linguistic gender is very common in a large number of languages. Here’s a closer look at some of the languages ​​that use gender.

INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

It is very common in many Indo-European languages ​​including Latin, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian and German. English is of course an exception, but it wasn’t always like that. Old English had a formal gender system, similar to German, and grouped nouns into 3 genders. For example, brycg (or bridge) was feminine, wifmann (or woman) was masculine, and scip (or ship) and ealu (ale) were both neuter. However, this changed over time. By the 12th century, Old English had disappeared, being replaced by Middle English, Early Modern English, and eventually the Modern English spoken today.

INDOAR LANGUAGES

Some Indo-Aryan languages ​​such as Punjabi, Hindi and Romani use a standardized linguistic gender system similar to that of Indo-European languages ​​such as Spanish and Italian. Bengali, on the other hand, has no grammatical gender.

SLAVIC LANGUAGES

Most Slavic languages, such as Polish, Russian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Slovak, also use a three-gender system (with masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns) similar to German.

Semitic languages

Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic, and Hebrew (all Semitic languages) use linguistic gender systems with masculine and feminine nouns.

GERMAN LANGUAGES

Germanic languages ​​such as Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian use common and neutral gender systems. In Standard Dutch, for example, masculine and feminine have merged into what is now known as the common gender. However, some Dutch speakers still use gendered pronouns. Danish, on the other hand, has four gendered pronouns but only two genders for nouns. Swedish is the same, with clear masculine and feminine distinctions for humans and animals. Some dialects have also retained the use of gender for nouns.

BASQUE

Basque, the native language of the Basque Country, is a strange language in that it has almost nothing in common with the many other languages ​​of Europe. And although it uses a linguistic gender system, it is very different from that of other European languages. Basque (and other languages ​​such as Elamite, Georgian, and many Native American languages) reserve genders for nouns based on animacy. In these languages, the gender of a noun depends on whether it is an animate or inanimate noun.

MAKING SENSE OF GRAMMATICAL GENDER

In this article, we aim to better understand linguistic gender, the thing that drives us English speakers insane when trying to learn a new language. Hopefully you have a slightly clearer picture of how grammatical gender works, where it comes from, and how it can affect a language. Unfortunately, I don’t have any tips to help you learn grammatical gender when learning a new language. In some languages, you can look out for certain pronouns or suffixes that can give away a noun’s gender. For example, in Spanish, most words ending in -a are feminine, while those ending in -o are usually masculine. But be careful; there are many exceptions to this rule (like planeta or planet, which is masculine even though it ends in -a). That being said, all I can suggest is practice, practice, and practice some more. So, happy practicing!

Understanding grammatical terms like “gender” and “number” is not as obvious and is often the reason why French students don’t understand French grammar.

Language methods use grammatical terms as if they were obvious.

However, my experience is that many students do not really understand these words. So in some cases they don’t understand so much the French grammar itself as they do the French vocabulary their book uses to explain it.

I am very aware of this problem, which is why I always explain everything very clearly in my progressive French audiobook learning method À Moi Paris.

So today I’m going to explain the grammatical terms “gender” and “number” in English and French.

What does “gender” mean in grammar?

In English, gender is related to the sex of a living being.

A man is male, and to talk about him you would use masculine pronouns like “him”, “he”, “his”. A woman is female and you would use “she, she, her” to talk about her.

It does not matter whether said man and said woman are “male” or “female” in their attitude. Here these words are grammatical terms, they don’t mean “act female/male”. And things are neutral, like a book, and you would use “it, its” to refer to it.

In French, all nouns, whether they refer to living things or not, are either masculine or feminine. There is no “neutral” in French.

When it comes to a living being, sex is determined by sex: female or male. A bitch will be female. A male dog male. Again, there is no neutral word in French, so all living beings and… well everything… are either male or female.

So in French, all nouns have an “assigned” gender, which must be memorized with the noun when you memorize it.

Some word endings tend to indicate that the French word is masculine, and there are also some feminine word endings, but most of the time you can’t guess and simply have to memorize the gender of the noun.

For example:

a book in French is masculine, un livre a table is feminine, une table liberty is feminine, la liberté Canada is masculine, le Canada and France is feminine, la France

Avoid making a terrible mistake while learning French

When you learn a new noun, you should always learn its gender at the same time, as it affects the spelling and pronunciation of related words, such as B. French adjectives.

In books or French vocabulary lists, the gender of a noun is usually indicated by (m) for masculine, (f) for feminine, or by the accompanying French article (le, la, un, une).

Never learn from a French word list that doesn’t contain gender information, you would be missing half the information! (Warning, unfortunately the internet is full of such lists…)

Make sure to also include the gender of the nouns when creating your own French flashcards.

Why is a French noun feminine or masculine?

A question my students often ask me is “why is this French word feminine?” and “why is the French word masculine?”.

I do not know. Nobody knows.

Why is “happiness” masculine in French: le bonheur, but “sadness” in French: la tristesse feminine?

I do not know.

Why is there a synonym for “le bonheur” in French but now it’s feminine: Joy, la joie is feminine in French.

I do not know.

Is the French language sexist?

Buzz…. I don’t make the rules, so I’ll leave that debate to the philosophers…

“Why” is not a good question. It is what it is. And you need to remember the gender of every noun in French. There is simply no way around it.

Note that there are new French “neutral” pronouns used mostly in the LGBTQ+ community, such as: B. “iel”.

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What does number mean in grammar?

In French grammar, number does not mean 1, 2, 3, etc.

Number is the grammatical term used to talk about singular or plural, meaning:

Singular = a person or thing

Plural = more than one

French nouns and numbers

In English, adding a pronounced “s” at the end makes it a plural noun: books, tables… This S is pronounced in English so you can easily tell if you are talking about something in the singular “book” or in the plural “books”. . You see it in writing, but you also hear it when you speak.

Some English nouns have an irregular plural: “children”.

In French, the plural of a noun is formed by adding a silent “s” at the end, sometimes a silent “x”, and there are also irregular plural forms. Since the S of the plural is silent, how can you tell if something is singular or plural when speaking French?

To know if the noun is singular or plural, you need to listen to the words that are related to the noun, since the noun itself is likely to be pronounced the same in singular and plural.

For example: une table, des tables – a table, some tables.

In French, the word “table(s)” is pronounced the same whether it is singular (une table) or plural (des tables), i.e. whether it ends in an S or not. In both cases it is pronounced “tabl”.

Only the article (une, des etc…) changes.

Look for related words that complete the noun

French nouns are accompanied by a small word.

This little word is important because it indicates the number and gender of the noun. Like a pilot on an airplane, these little words work with French nouns to complete them. They are called definite, indefinite or partitive articles or possessive, demonstrative, interrogative adjectives…

For example: ma table – my table, cette table – this table, quelle table ? which table? Etc… Not only do these words contain the terms “my”, “this” and “which”, they also carry the number and gender in French.

They’re a bit of a hassle because they change based on the number and gender of the noun, but sometimes based on other factors, such as gender. B. French possessive adjectives.

But mostly they are annoying because where there is one word in English, we have three or more in French…

For example, if you take the definite article “the” in English (easy enough), well, it’s not that simple in French… We have four different words that mean “that”!!

le for a masculine word = le livre la for a feminine word = la table les for a plural word = les livres or les tables

At least it’s the same for the feminine and masculine plural! And we have a mutant form… L’ for a word beginning with a vowel or an H = l’ordinateur (male – computer), l’heure (female – hour)

Again, it is the same word for feminine and masculine words beginning with a vowel or h.

So there are four “the” in French in total. It could be six… consider yourself lucky!

This is usually very confusing for English speaking students (not for Spanish students…it’s exactly the same in Spanish…)

Typical teaching methods, however, fly over it as if it were perfectly obvious. And so I meet middle school students who still make mistakes with their articles….

Even if you understand the logic, that doesn’t mean you can easily apply it. We are not robots! You need practice to truly make these concepts your own. This is so different from English! No wonder students take a little time to sink in!

Make sure you learn French using a French progressive learning method that explains things really clearly and step by step and gives you lots of practice before moving on to the next point.

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French pronouns and numbers

Sometimes only the context will tell you if something is plural or singular, since the pronunciation of everything is the same in singular and plural.

This is the case with many French verbs, since the French pronouns “il, elle” singular (he, it, she) and “ils, elles” plural (they) are pronounced the same! It can be very confusing!

For example, the French pronunciation of “he speaks” and “they speak” is the same in French: il parle = ils parlent = “eel parl”

Only the context will tell you whether the “il(s)” is singular or plural in French.

Most students learn using a written method. As it’s spelled differently, it’s obvious enough. But they don’t know that “il” and “ils”, “parle” and “parlent” are pronounced the same! And then they can’t understand the French when they speak.

There is a chance that students will also mispronounce the French words to try to distinguish between the singular and the plural. Therefore, it is important to always learn French with audio, also for grammar!

What is the gender and number of this French word?

Now that you understand the grammatical terms gender and number, you can answer a typical French class question: “What is the number and gender of this French word?”

For example, if I say “une table,” the gender is female and the number is singular.

Both are indicated by the French article “une” in this example, but your French teacher may have withheld this information during the test when you had to memorize a list of French words! Gender and number are part of the information and you must learn this at the same time as you learn your French word.

This lesson can still be improved.

Gender of makes, brands of vehicles & machines sqd

[CHANGED]

Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. Unfortunately, there are no simple rules for predicting the gender of a noun. It is not necessary to memorize all genders, however, as there are specific models that can be used to predict genre with varying degrees of accuracy. Remember that there are always exceptions to these models.

Usually, the gender of vehicle or machine brands such as cars, trucks, airplanes, lawn mowers, dishwashers, etc. is the same as the gender of the vehicle or machine’s common name.

“Une voiture” (car) is feminine, so car brands are also feminine:

and Citroën

a Nissan

and Peugeot

and Renault

and Ford

and fiat

“Une moto” (a motorcycle) is feminine, so motorcycle brands are also feminine:

A Yamaha

A Honda

“Un camion” (truck) is masculine, so truck brands are also masculine:

and Foden

and Berliet

un Pickup (sometimes the English names are used)

“Un Avion” (an airplane) is masculine, so airplane types are also masculine:

An Airbus A320

A Boeing 747

“Une cuisinière” (stove) is feminine, so stove marks are feminine:

and Belling

and Arthur Martin

etc.

Gender of nouns (all lessons) [ edit source ]

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Other chapters [ edit source ]