The gender of nouns and the definite article masculine Flashcards
a.
Ali French nouns have a gender. They are either masculine or
feminine, whether they refer to a person, a thing, an animal, or an
abstract notion. Thus, while English has only one definite article, “the,”
French uses le for masculine singular nouns, and la for feminine
singular nouns.
le jardin
the garden
le chien
the dog
b.
Le and la become l’in front of nouns starting with a vowel or a mute h.
l’hotel
the hotel
l’Anglais
the englishman
c.
Nouns ending in -age and -ment tend to be masculine.
le langage
language
le courage
courage
le gouvernement
government
le document
document
c2.
Nouns ending with a consonant (anything that isn’t a vowel) are generally masculine.
le restaurant
restaurant
le chocolat
chocolate
d.
Sorne nouns have both a masculine and a feminine form. To obtain
the feminine form, add an e to the masculine form.
l’ami
friend
le Français
Frenchman
e.
Sorne nouns have irregular endings for masculine and feminine forms.
le danseur
dancer
le chanteur
singer
l’acteur
actor
le directeur
director
le passager
passenger
l’étranger
foreigner
le Parisien
Parisian
l’Italien
ltalian
f.
Some nouns bear one meaning when masculine and another when
feminine.
le livre
book
le poêle
stove
le moule
mold/form
le rose
rose (the color)
le page
pageboy
