{"id":65,"date":"2009-02-25T17:41:01","date_gmt":"2009-02-25T21:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=65"},"modified":"2009-02-25T17:41:01","modified_gmt":"2009-02-25T21:41:01","slug":"gender-of-inanimate-nouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/gender-of-inanimate-nouns\/","title":{"rendered":"French Language – Gender of Inanimate Nouns"},"content":{"rendered":"
We’ve talked about gender before and today we’ll discuss it some more as it can be difficult for English speakers when learning French because we don’t really have these issues in our language.\u00a0 Many nouns have a fixed gender.\u00a0 The suffixes can indicate the gender of these nouns, but there are many, many exceptions. \u00a0Some of the most frequent suffixes include:<\/p>\n
\n\n
\n
\n
Masculine<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n
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Feminine<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
-isme<\/em><\/strong> (le journalisme, le pessimisme)<\/em><\/td>\n
-t\u00e9 <\/em><\/strong>(la qualit\u00e9, la pauvret\u00e9) <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
-ment<\/em><\/strong> (le mouvement, le v\u00eatement)<\/em><\/td>\n
-ion<\/em><\/strong> (la question, une clarification)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
-age <\/em><\/strong>(le voyage, le bagage) \n<\/em>Exceptions: une page, une image, une plage, une cage, la nage, la rage)<\/em><\/td>\n
-eur <\/em><\/strong>(la fleur, la saveur) \n\u00a0<\/em>Exception: le bonheur<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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-oi <\/em><\/strong>(la loi, la foi)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
-ie<\/em><\/strong> (la sociologie, la magie)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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-(e)au <\/em><\/strong>(le bureau, le noyau)<\/em><\/td>\n
-ure <\/em><\/strong>(la fermeture, la panure)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
-phone<\/em><\/strong> (le t\u00e9l\u00e9phone, le microphone)<\/em><\/td>\n
-esse<\/em><\/strong> (la richesse, la tendresse)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
-oir <\/em><\/strong>(le soir, le noir)<\/em><\/td>\n
-ette <\/em><\/strong>(la raquette, la claquette)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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-et<\/strong> (le paquet, le bidet)<\/em><\/td>\n
-ence\/-ance<\/em><\/strong> (l’exp\u00e9rience, la balance)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Some nouns take on a different meaning if you change the gender<\/span>.\u00a0 For example,<\/p>\n
un livre <\/em><\/strong>de grammaire<\/em> (a grammar book)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 une livre <\/em><\/strong>de tomates<\/em> (a pound of tomatoes) \nun voile<\/em><\/strong> de mari\u00e9e <\/em>(veil)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 une voile<\/em><\/strong> de bateau <\/em>(a sail) \nle mode <\/em><\/strong>subjonctif <\/em>(mood)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 la mode <\/em><\/strong>des ann\u00e9es 80 <\/em>(fashion) \nle poste<\/em><\/strong> de police <\/em>(the police station)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 la poste <\/em><\/strong>(mail)<\/p>\n
GEOGRAPHIC NOUNS<\/span> \nAs we’ve touched on before, in general, nouns that end in -e <\/em><\/strong>are feminine like la France, l’Italie, la Normandie<\/em>. \u00a0All others are usually masculine as in: le Japon, le Canada, le Languedoc<\/em>.\u00a0 But, be careful because there are exceptions of course: le Mexique, le Cambodge, le Za\u00efre<\/em>…<\/p>\n
CITIES \n<\/span>The gender for cities is not fixed. \u00a0When the noun ends in -e<\/em><\/strong>, they are usually considered to be feminine. \u00a0For example: \nToulouse<\/strong> est grande<\/strong>. \nHowever, all other cities are considered to be masculine. \u00a0For example, \nParis est grand<\/strong><\/p>\n
The gender for MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS<\/span> is not set in stone.\u00a0 For example: la Seine, <\/em>but, le Nil; le Jura, <\/em>but, les Alpes<\/em> (fem.plural)<\/p>\n
So, in the end, it’s really all about memorization. \u00a0Surprise!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We’ve talked about gender before and today we’ll discuss it some more as it can be difficult for English speakers when learning French because we don’t really have these issues in our language.\u00a0 Many nouns have a fixed gender.\u00a0 The suffixes can indicate the gender of these nouns, but there are many, many exceptions. \u00a0Some…<\/p>\n