Le feminin des noms
French nouns have two genders:
- masculine (le masculin);
- feminine gender (le feminin).
The gender of Russian and French names does not always coincide. Compare:
une chaise - chair (m.r.) un livre - book (f.r.) un fauteuil - armchair (m.r.)
The gender of animate names (names of people and animals - often domestic) is motivated by their gender, in contrast to inanimate names. Compare:
un mari/une femme - husband/wife un cahier - notebook
un loup / une louve - wolf/she-wolf un mur - wall
Formation of feminine nouns
The feminine gender is designated/formed:
By changing the endings;
By adding the suffix;
By changing the determiner (article, demonstrative or possessive adjective);
In other words.
1. Formation of the feminine gender by changing endings
1. The main means of forming the feminine gender is the addition of a silent -e to the masculine form:
un étudiant - une étudiant
student - female student
The addition of a silent -e does not cause phonetic changes if masculine words have the ending –i or a pronounced consonant:
un ami – une amie
friend - girlfriend
un Espagnol - une Espagnole
spanish-spanish
un rival - une rivale
rival-rival
2. Nouns ending in –er in the masculine gender, ier in the feminine gender have endings –ère; ièr:
un étranger - une étrangère
foreigner - foreigner
un vacher - une vachère un romancier - une romancière un ouvrier - une ouvrière
shepherd - shepherdess novelist - novelist worker - worker
3. Nouns ending in –f in the feminine gender have the ending –ve:
un veuf – une veuve
widower-widow
4. nouns ending in – et; -ot doubles t in the feminine form:
le cadet - la cadet
junior - junior
un sot - une sotte
stupid - stupid
EXCEPTION:
un préfet – une préfète un idiot-une idiote
prefect - madam prefect stupid - stupid
For nouns ending in –at we simply add –e at the end:
avocat – avocat candidate – candidate
lawyer - lawyer candidate - candidate
EXCEPTION:
un chat – un chatte
cat Kitty
5. Nouns ending in –x in the feminine form –se:
un époux – une épouse un amoureux – une amoureuse
spouse - wife in love - in love
6. Nouns ending in –en, -ien, -on double –n:
un champion - une championne musicien - musicienne
champion - champion musician - musician
N.B. nouns ending in –in, -ain and most nouns ending in –an do not double –n:
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in words ending in -ain, -in, -un, -an |
Exception: n → nn |
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un Mexican - un Mexican mexican - mexican |
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un voisin - une voisin neighbor - neighbor |
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un brun - un brun brunette - brunette |
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une partisan - une partisan supporter - supporter un artisan - un artisane craftswoman |
un paysan - un paysanne peasant woman |
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2. Formation of the feminine gender by changing the suffix
Replacing a masculine suffix with a feminine suffix:
Adding a feminine suffix to masculine words:
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un tsar - une tsarine king-queen un hero - une heroine hero-heroine |
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un poete - une poetesse poet - poetess un hôte - un hôtesse guest-guest un maître - une maîtresse host - hostess un tigre - une tigresse tiger - tigress |
Subtracting a masculine suffix:
3. Formation of the feminine gender by changing the determinant
4. The feminine gender is formed by another word
Two different words (with different roots or a masculine variant of the root):
un homme / une femme - man / woman
un père / une mère - father / mother
un frère / une sœur - brother / sister
un oncle / une tante - uncle / aunt.
un coq / une poule - rooster / hen
un bœuf / une vache - bull / cow
un époux / une épouse - spouse
un neveu / une nièce - nephew/niece
un copain / une copine - friend / friend
un roi / une reine - king / queen
un empereur/ une impératrice - emperor/empress
un loup / une louve - wolf/she-wolf
5. Nouns that have only the masculine form
Some nouns denoting profession do not have a feminine form:
un architecte - architect
un diplomate - diplomat
un écrivain - writer
un compositeur - composer
un paintre - artist
un facteur - postman
un juge - judge
un ingénieur-engineer
un littérateur - writer
un médecin - doctor
un minister - minister
un professeur - teacher
un sculpteur - sculptor
un soldat-soldier
un savant - scientist
Mme Dubourg est un savant de talent.
Madame Dubourg is a talented scientist.
The following nouns are used only in the masculine gender:
un amateur - amateur
un possesseur - owner
un bandit - bandit
un témoin – witness
un chef - boss
un vainqueur – winner
Elle est un grand amateur de l'opéra. She is a big lover of opera.
B Most of the names of animals, birds and insects are nouns of either masculine or feminine gender:
un choucas - jackdaw une fourmi - ant
un corbeau - raven, crow une girafe - giraffe
un écureuil - squirrel une hirondelle - swallow
un zèbre - zebra une pantère - panther
un hérisson - hedgehog, hedgehog une pie - magpie
un moustique - mosquito une sauterelle - grasshopper
un moineau - sparrow une souris - mouse
Some words change meaning depending on gender. Compare:
un (une) aide - helper, -itsa une aide - help
un critique - critic la critique - criticism
un (une) garde - watchman; nurse la garde - security
un livre - book une livre - pound
un manche -handle une manche -sleeve
un mémoire - scientific research la mémoire - memory
un mode - inclination la mode - fashion
un oeuvre - creativity une oeuvre - work
un page - page une page - page
un pendule - pendulum une pendule - wall clock
un poste - post, position la poste - mail
un tour - queue, turnover une tour - tower
un voile - veil une voile - sail
The general rule is that the feminine gender of adjectives in French is formed by adding an "e" to the masculine form: un cahier bleu - une cravate bleue.
If original form masculine adjective ends in “e”, no changes occur: un livre utile - une chose utile.
To form the feminine form, French adjectives can double the final consonant of the masculine form. The following cases are distinguished:
1. doubling “l” in adjectives ending in -el, -eil: un homme cruel - une loi cruelle, un sentiment pareil - une faiblesse pareille
The same thing happens in the words nul and gentil: une copie nulle, une manière gentille
2. doubling “n” in adjectives ending with -en, -on: une route aérienne, une fille bretonne
All other adjectives ending in “n” (-an, -in, -ain, -ein, -un), except for “paysan,” do NOT double the final vowel: la langue persane, une pièce voisine, une voix hautaine, une collection pleine, une chambre commune
But: la communauté paysanne
3. doubling “t” in adjectives ending with -et: une robe coquette
Attention: the final consonant “t” in the feminine gender is NOT doubled:
A. all other adjectives ending in (-ot, -at): une réponse idiote, une situation délicate
b. the following exceptions:
complet - complete
secret - secret
inquiet - inquiete
desuet - desuete
discret - discrete
concret - concrete
replete - replete
incomplete - incomplete
Many adjectives, when forming the feminine gender, in addition to adding “e”, simultaneously undergo the replacement of the final vowel form of the masculine gender:
a. f - v: naïf - naïve, bref - breve
b. x - s: adjectives ending in -eux and the adjective “jaloux”: heureux - heureuse, jaloux - jalouse
x - ss: faux - fausse, roux - rousse
x - c: doux - douce
With. s - c: tiers - tierce
s - ch: frais - fraîche
d. c - ch: blanc - blanche, sec - sèche
c - qu: franc - franque, public - publique, caduc - caduque, ammoniac - ammoniaque, turc - turque
Attention: grec - grecque
d. n - gn: bénin - bénigne, malin - maligne
The feminine gender of adjectives in French can be formed independently of any rule:
favori - favorite
rigolo - rigolote
esquimau - esquimaude
andalou - andalouse
Adjectives ending in -er, -ier have a spelling feature in the feminine gender: they acquire the so-called. grave accent over “è”: léger - légère, dernier - dernière.
When forming the feminine gender, some adjectives undergo changes in their original form:
nouveau - nouvelle
jumeau - jumelle
vieux - vieille
Formation of feminine adjectives in -eur:
If such an adjective is formed from an existing verb, then the suffix “euse” will be in the feminine gender. For example: menteur - menteuse (derived from the verb mentir)
Exceptions:
enchanteur - enchanteresse
detecteur - detectrice
The French language has two genders of nouns: masculine and feminine. There is no neuter gender, unlike some languages that also belong to the Germanic-Romance group, for example German, and the gender of a French noun does not always coincide with the gender of a noun in Russian:
The feminine gender of a French noun is expressed in several ways.
Firstly, the simplest way is French a noun is accompanied by an article expressing its grammatical categories and one of them is gender.
In the singular the definite article:
masculine: (le-) le livre;
feminine: (la-) la balle.
In the singular the indefinite article:
masculine: (un-) un livre;
feminine: (une-) une pomme.
partial article:
masculine: (du-) du pain;
feminine: (de la-) de la viande.
Thus, with the help of one article we can determine what gender a noun belongs to, and if the noun ends in - e in the masculine gender, we look at the article:
un élève - une élève;
Un secretaire une secretaire.
Secondly, the most common form of forming the feminine gender of a French noun occurs by adding the masculine ending –e to the noun.
Note that adding -e to a noun that ends in a vowel does not change the pronunciation of the word:
un ami – une amie.
But when a noun ends in a consonant, adding -e makes the final consonant unpronounceable:
un étudiant – une étudiante.
That is, when forming the feminine gender of a noun, some changes in pronunciation may occur.
In the case of nouns ending in -in, -ain, and the incredibly large number of French nouns ending in –an, the final nasal sound disappears altogether:
un voisin – une voisine;
un Roumain – une Roumain;
un partisan - une partisan.
French nouns ending in -er, -ier in the masculine gender have the form ending in –ère, -ière in the feminine gender:
un étranger – une étrangère;
un ouvrier - une ouvrière.
If the ending –e is added, it is likely that the final consonant of the masculine noun may change. For example, f goes to v and x goes to s[z]:
un sportif - une sportive;
un époux - une épouse.
The consonant is doubled in nouns ending in -ien, -en, -on, as well as in the noun paysan:
un musicien - une musicienne;
un Européen - une Européenne;
un patron - une patronne;
un paysan - une paysanne.
Thirdly, nouns ending in –teur change this suffix in the feminine gender to –trice, that is, we are talking about a special feminine suffix:
un acteur - une actrice;
un dessinateur - une dessinatrice;
un lecteur – une lectrice;
le directeur – la directrice.
The suffix –eur of a masculine noun changes in the feminine to –euse:
un voyageur - un voyageuse.
Some nouns take the feminine suffix –esse, for example:
un maître – une maîtrresse.
Fourthly, using special words:
un home – une femme;
un frère – une soeur.
Fifthly, a number of words have only a masculine form. This especially applies to names of professions. For example, only in the masculine gender are the following used: French nouns: un témoin; un defenseur; un amateur; un possesseur.
To form the feminine form in such cases, for clarification it is necessary to use the word femme before the name of the profession:
C'est une femme médecin.
In difficult situations, to clarify the gender of the noun, you should look in the dictionary.
Natalya Glukhova
Gender of nouns in French
09/06 2017
Good afternoon friends! Today I will tell you about nouns in French, namely the category of gender.
In order to dot all the i's from the very beginning, and then easily navigate the peculiarities of the topic - the gender of nouns in the French language, one must remember that this grammatical category is completely different from Russian and is not worth comparing.
It is better and easier to treat changes in words by gender as something completely new that you just need to remember. Ready? Then go ahead!
From this article you will learn:
He or she?
Let's start with the simplest thing - how to find out or guess the gender? First, you need to choose from two options: female (le feminin) and male (le masculin).
Secondly, several methods can be used to determine Le feminin des noms:
- By the suffix that comes at the end:
- Remember the gender of a word the moment you learn it by heart.
- Look at the determiner - a possessive pronoun that can appear before a noun and depends on its gender.
- If there is an adjective next to it, then you can use it to determine the gender of the noun: bel - beautiful, belle - beautiful.
Education
There are standard cases when, to form the feminine gender, only “e” is used, which is added to a word in the masculine gender: un chat - une chatte (cat - cat).
This is easy, but there are a few unusual cases of feminine nouns:
- When you add "e" to words on vowels or audible consonants. When pronounced in them, you will not hear the ending of the gender, that is, the word will not change.
Un rival (rival) - une rivale (rival), and they sound the same. - If the masculine gender had the endings – er/ – ier, in the feminine they will become – ère/ – ièr.
Un boulanger (baker) - une boulangère (baker). - The ending –f – is replaced by –ve.
Un veuf (widower) – une veuve (widow). - -et/ot doubles the letter t:
Un sot (stupid) – une sotte (stupid). Un chat – cat also changes. Exceptions to this rule: un préfet (prefect), un idiot (fool), in them –t is not doubled. - When a word ends in –x, the ending changes to –se. Un amoureux (lover) – une amoureuse (lover).
- In final morphemes –en/ -ien/ -on is doubled –n.
Un champion (champion) – une championne (champion).
In all these rules, it is not the last letters that are of fundamental importance for correct education, but the one that comes before them. After all, for example, un voisin – une voisine the last morpheme is not doubled.
In addition, there are nouns that are not feminine at all: élève -élève. In this case, do not forget to change , this will be the gender indicator.
Unusual words
In French there is a whole list of words that do not form le masculin from another, but simply have a completely new meaning:
père (father) -mère (mother).
mari (husband) -femme (wife).
homme (man) -femme (woman).
oncle (uncle) -tante (aunt).
garçon (boy) -fille or fillette (girl).
frère (brother) -soeur (sister).
roi (king) -reine (queen).
copain (buddy) -copine (friend).
serviteur (servant) -servante (maid).
neveu (nephew) -nièce (niece).
vieillard (old man) -vieille (old woman).
héros (hero) -héroïne (heroine).
coq (rooster) -poule (hen).
étalon (stallion) -jument (mare).
gendre (son-in-law) -bru (daughter-in-law).
duc (duke) -duchesse (duchess).
docteur (doctor) -doctoresse (female doctor).
bouc (goat) -chèvre (goat).
jars (goose) -oie (goose).
lièvre (hare) -hase (hare).
parrain (godfather) -marraine (godmother).
dieu (God) - déesse (Goddess).
bélier (ram) -brebis (sheep).
empereur (emperor) -impératrice (empress).
fils (son) -fille (daughter).
cerf (deer) -biche (female deer).
verrat (boar) -truie (pig).
All these nouns you just need to remember. By and large, they can be considered exceptions.
Auxiliary word
There are also a number of meanings that do not have a gender, and then “helpers” are used to indicate it: mâle - indicates a male, femelle/femme - a female/female.
Typically, this rule is relevant when you name animals indicating female or male, or a profession that means only males, if you want to indicate that we are talking about a woman.
For example: serpent femelle means “female snake”, and femme médecin.
One word - two meanings
There are nouns in French that have the same form but different meanings:
There are also such options when the gender changes in the plural:
Un amour (m.r., love) - des amours (plural, f.r.).
And it even happens that one noun can have both genders: palabre - chatter. This is due to the fact that the rules of language are constantly changing, and formation is taking place.
If you compare it with Russian, it will become clear how unusual and unique French is. But still, the surest way to understand grammar is regular exercise. Free courses can help you practice your French.
This is a great opportunity to put our tips on how to determine the gender of nouns into practice. This is good preparation for