In this lesson, youll learn there are two genders for french nouns. Mar, 2018 so, when speaking french, do you have put the adjectives in the feminine and masculine. Practise using nouns and classifying them as masculine or feminine with bbc bitesize gcse french. Theres no simple trick to knowing the gender of every single french noun other than looking in a dictionary, but there are several categories of words that are always or usually masculine. French grammar is all about using french words in the correct way so people can understand your meaning. It provides a permanent source of reference and perhaps the only comprehensive documentary evidence on the subject available today. French vocabulary pdf list each french vocabulary list by theme that you will find on this page contains the essential words to learn and memorize. Free flashcards to help memorize facts about foods w their articles. Introduction one of the main differences between english and french is the existence of gender in french nouns. The gender of some nouns makes sense homme man is masculine, femme woman is feminine but others dont. One thing that will definitely help you improve your french is to know. Previous research suggests that the ambiguity of whether a masculine is used in a. A zipped folder with an editable word powerpoint excel version and a pdf version of each file. After hours trying to figure out why feminisme feminism is masculine and masculinite masculinity is feminine, youve come to the most logical conclusion.
Our following list contains basic french nationalities french translation in both masculine and feminine so that you font offend anyone while referring to there nationality. The rule for gender and number of french adjectives. How to tell if a french noun is masculine or feminine part 1 fyw 033. Note that adding this e to a previously silent consonant causes that consonant to be pronounced. With reverso you can find the english translation, definition or synonym for masculine and feminine and thousands of other words. His reflects only the he is the owner, not the books which are masculine, plural or the car which is feminine, singular the table shows you how for a single english possessive adjective, french has two or. The french word mer is feminine, whereas the spanish cognate mar is generally masculine, except in some poetic contexts. So it can be especially difficult to get accustomed to french gender rules, where every single noun is designated either masculine or feminine but dont worry. In this lesson you will learn how to say the parts of the body in french. In most cases, you only need to add a suffix or an ending to change the adjective into its feminine form. It is introduced by a determiner, which usually indicates the gender of the noun. What is not found is masculinefeminine pairs of the type exemplified in 37. Theres no rule about what makes a word masculine or feminine, but you can learn to look for some hints. There are no real rules or logic to help you decide which article to use, statistically there are more masculine than feminine nouns.
Guessing the gender of inanimate nouns can be a bit tricky. French genders, the masculine and feminine and how to use them. Lets start with the possessive adjectives les adjectifs possessifs. Wikipedia, lexilogos, larousse dictionary, le robert, oxford, grevisse. Masculine or feminine worksheet teaching resources. The italian word scimmia ape is feminine, whereas the spanish word simio is masculine. A table with 3 colums french word, masc or fem, english translation good resource for ongoing revision of gender. Thats why today we still find some planet, star, and constellation names in the masculine, even though the feminine. In english, we dont need to worry about this kind of thing. A mind map how to recognize masculine feminine words, articles and possessives, rules for plural words and exceptions. The masculine form in french 4 that there is an equal share of both, but also that there is a majority of women and only one or two men. You can complete the translation of masculine and feminine given by the englishfrench collins dictionary with other dictionaries such as. As such, it serves to confirm or deny previous notions about french gender. Both mean sea, and descended from the latin mare which was neuter.
Countries, nationalities and adjectives french etc. Ks4ks5 revision on singularplural masculine feminine words in french. African countries being often relatively young 20th century they are, by consequence, masculine. Students are given the masculine and feminine versions of job titles in french. Learn more about constructing sentences using nouns in french. 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. Learn feminine and french masculine masculine feminine plural with free interactive flashcards. There are some rather complicated rules that can be used. Masculine french nouns memorizing french gender lawless. French adjectives 1 most adjectives add e to the masculine singular form to get the feminine singular. This word is always written in the plural and never in the singular.
New learners of french are often unsettled or scared when they find out very early that every noun had a gender. So, for example, never make lists with columns feminine and masculine and just write the french noun in them. Imperative the form of a verb used when giving orders and instructions, for example. French possessive adjectives learn french free french lesson.
This list may help, however i highly recommend making sure you memorize the gender of french nouns at the same time as you memorize the noun itself. There are a few additional feminine noun endings easily memorized, even fewer additional masculine noun endings, and few exceptions to either basic rule. If this is true, then when faced with a language, such as french, that has both masculine and feminine words, maybe the brain just has no method of storing them. Choose from 500 different sets of feminine and french masculine masculine feminine plural.
Masculine and feminine in french worksheets lesson. In french, nouns ending in e tend to be feminine, whereas others tend to be masculine, but there are many exceptions to this e. You need to master the gender of french nouns to speak french with confidence. The upshot of this is that french possessive adjectives will change depending on the gender of the noun theyre describing. How to identify masculine and feminine nouns nouns gcse.
All nouns in the french language are either male or female. You can learn a lot of french words by browsing an english french dictionary, but to make sense, you need to know the rules of french grammar. You might remember that all french nouns are either masculine or feminine. Pdf gender exponence in underived french nouns is particularly opaque. How to know the gender of french nouns with 80% accuracy. Here are some tips to help you memorise whether a noun is masculine or feminine. Masculine and feminine in french lesson worksheets. In french all nouns will be either masculine or feminine and there is no neutral. Consonant ending nouns are usually masculine and e ending nouns are usually feminine but there are tons of exceptions.
How to tell if a french noun is masculine or feminine part 2 ive designed a free printable worksheet to test your knowledge about the french masculine vs feminine nouns. Focus on gender confronts the french gender problem and defines it in the most concise manner possible. In german, there is a difference between masculine, feminine and neutral 1. By learning this vocabulary list youll also have a good chance to improve your knowledge of known gender masculine and feminine. How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine in french. Learn all about the gender of nouns in french grammar with lingolia, then test your knowledge in the free exercises. How do you talk about countries and their people in french. For englishspeakers, this can make learning french difficult. The masculine form in french 3 the masculine form and its competing interpretations in french. French possessive adjectives masculine singular youtube. In english, the possessive is only concerned with the owner. Other activities to help include hangman, crossword, word scramble, games, matching, quizes, and tests. Most french teachers and fellow french speakers will tell you that theres no rhyme or reason to whether a noun is masculine or feminine. This course focuses on the french adjectives and especially the masculine and feminine.
Displaying all worksheets related to masculine and feminine in french. But in the plural, there is no difference between masculine and feminine. Feminine french nouns memorizing french gender lawless. French lessons free pdf, learn french pdf, learning french pdf, french for beginners pdf, learn french grammar. With every french noun you learn, you must memorise the gender that corresponds with it. While there are some tendencies in the gender of french nouns see the table below there are always exceptions. In contrast, very few french nouns end in a or o, and those that do are usually masculine in gender, whether they end in. In other words, there is nothing inherent about the word that makes it more masculine or more feminine. Masculine and feminine french words and their uses the.
In this paper, we identify two subsystems of gender assignment. Also please pay attention to the word for hair, les cheveux. Most nouns that end in ou take s in the plural, but some take x. Generally, the feminine is formed with e, the masculine or general plural in s and the feminine plural in es. In french all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine. Masculine feminine definite articles with the names of countries in french. 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. How to identify masculine and feminine nouns nouns. Speak7 helps you learn french nouns, french gender, french plural, and more about french grammar, french vocabulary, french expressions with speak7. Most adjectives have a different form depending on whether they modify a masculine or a feminine word. You need to learn it as part as the vocabulary and therefore create good learning habits from the start, so you build on strong bases.
In english, we can sometimes make a word masculine or feminine by changing the ending, for example, englishman and englishwoman, or prince and princess. When linking grammatically masculine role names to female referents is difficult. That is the question you often ask yourself as a french learner. You should always learn nouns together with their articles to be sure of their gender. How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine. French gcse revision masculinefeminine and singular. Gender whether a noun, pronoun or adjective is feminine or masculine.
The articles agree with the nouns they refer too, so they also have a gender. The rule stating that grammatical gender indicates sex is actually only truly reliable for feminine forms i. Masculine and feminine in french, there is a difference between masculine and feminine words adjectives, nouns, determiners. If a masculine adjective ends in any vowel other than e, or in ent or in ant, a silent e is added to the feminine. French language, masculine, feminine, nouns, gender, how to know if a french word is masculine or feminine created date. Can you answer these questions about french animals. In general, the feminine form of the noun is formed by adding an e to the masculine noun. You can get it now and fill it before reading the article, just to fun and to see how. Introduction to french, peace corpsmali 14 lesson 9. Mar 24, 2018 french vocabulary occupation and profession.
French articles change form to agree in gender and number with the noun. New learners of french are often unsettled or scared when they find out that every french noun has a gender. The main form of french adjectives like how they appear in dictionary entries is the masculine singular form. Review your use of masculine and feminine nouns in french with this combination quiz and worksheet. In contrast, very few french nouns end in a or o, and those that do are usually masculine in gender, whether they end in a or o. Knowing what gender a country or a place is not easy, and not consistent. So it organises all the french words according to existing categories such as meanings, feelings and sounds etc, without making any provision for the gender.
How to identify feminine and masculine in french 5 easy. The french tutorial possessive adjectives my, your. Mar 14, 2016 more about learn french with alexas how to speak french video lessons alexa polidoro a real french teacher with many years experience of teaching french to adults and children at all levels. Be careful when you see masculine adjectives ending in. In todays episode, you will learn how to determine the masculine and feminine forms of professions in french in a fun and easy way.
Sep 14, 2010 this list may help, however i highly recommend making sure you memorize the gender of french nouns at the same time as you memorize the noun itself. French is spoken is many countries all over the world. For a lot of adjectives, the feminine form is formed by adding an e to the masculine. They will be useful if you need to take an exam, or simply to revise and improve your french at home. Basically you will have to learn the gender by heart. Profession in french with masculine and feminine job. In french, all nouns have a genderthey are either masculine or feminine.