Like English, all French nouns have a number: singular (one), as in la famille (the family), or plural (more than one), as in les enfants (the children). Unlike English, however, all French nouns also have a gender: masculine or feminine .
Are there more masculine or feminine nouns in French?
Most nouns referring to men, boys and male animals are masculine ; most nouns referring to women, girls and female animals are feminine. The ending of a French noun often changes depending on whether it refers to a male or a female.
Are most French nouns masculine?
Why are there genders in French? French isn't the only language whose nouns have genders, and masculine and feminine aren't the only possible genders for nouns in certain other languages. For example, in German, there's a third gender: neuter. Many languages group nouns by whether they're animate or inanimate.
How do you tell if a French noun is masculine or feminine?
- Most nouns referring to men, boys and male animals are masculine; most nouns referring to women, girls and female animals are feminine. ...
- Generally, words ending in -e are feminine and words ending in a consonant are masculine, though there are many exceptions to this rule.
Which French nouns are masculine?
French words ending in “ier and er” are masculine, such as 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 names of professions end in “ier”.
Why is French gendered?
No explanations exist as to why French nouns have a gender or how the gender of any noun was originally determined, so you cannot rely on a rule to guide you; however, certain endings do generally indicate a feminine or masculine noun.
Why is pizza feminine in French?
Why is pizza feminine in French? Un/une are not related to phonetics, it's about the gender of the noun they determine. ... In this case “pizza” is feminine, so you need to use the feminine determiner, “une”. Un is for masculine and une is for feminine.
What are feminine words in French?
All the 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 fillette (the little girl), La tristesse (sadness), la terre (earth), la femme (woman)...
Is Cafe feminine or masculine in French?
The word café is a masculine noun . Be sure to use masculine articles and adjectives with it. For example, J'aime le café uses the...
Is Tree in French feminine or masculine?
Trees. L'arbre is masculine , as are nearly all trees: un chêne – oak tree.
What are masculine and feminine words in French?
Every French noun is either masculine or feminine . To talk about a masculine person, place, or thing, use un for ‘a' or ‘an'. ... But words with certain endings, such as -e, -iè, -ette, -ique, are usually feminine. Words that end in a consonant, -eau and -age, are usually masculine.
Is echarpe feminine?
The gender of écharpe is feminine .
Is French a feminine language?
Like all Romance languages, French is an extremely gendered tongue . All nouns are either feminine or masculine — “knife” is masculine; “fork” is feminine, for instance — and certain of these, when applied to people, can be written in either a feminine or masculine form.
What is the gender neutral pronoun in French?
The most common spelling is “iel” . It is the main gender neutral pronoun used in French and is a contraction of the two binary pronouns “il” and “elle”.
Which countries are feminine in French?
But now, you are wondering, how can you know which countries are feminine and which are masculine? As a general rule, countries that end in -e are feminine: la France , l'Angleterre, la Chine, l'Argentine, l'Algérie, la Colombie, la Mauritanie, l'Inde.
