How do you know when to use masculine and feminine in French?

How do you know when to use masculine and feminine in French?

How Do I Know if a Word is Masculine or Feminine in French? The best place to start when trying to figure out the gender of a French word is by looking at the ending of the word. Words that use the articles le or un are going to be masculine, and words that use the articles la or une are feminine.

What is the difference between feminine and masculine 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 intelligence masculine or feminine in French?

Variations

number	feminine	masculine
plural	intelligentes	intelligents
singular	intelligente	intelligent

What is the difference between Tout tous toute toutes?

As you might guess, the word tout is masculine and singular. That means it is used when it modifies masculine, singular words. Consequently, tout becomes tous when modifying masculine plural forms, and toute and toutes modify feminine singular and feminine plural forms, respectively.

What is masculine gender and feminine gender?

Grammatical gender is a system of noun classification. Masculine nouns are words for men, boys and male animals. Feminine nouns are words for women, girls and female animals.

What is intelligent in French masculine?

The French translation for “clever; intelligent (masculine plural)” is intelligents.

Is Beau male or female?

Beau is a masculine singular French adjective meaning “handsome, fine, attractive, fair.” It’s feminine singular equivalent is Belle. From the late 17th century, the term beau came to refer to a fashionable young man (a dandy), and as such was given as a nickname to fashionable men of society.

Is Tout le monde feminine or masculine?

Adjectives after personne, rien, tout le monde, quelqu’un are always masculine.

Is Fromage masculine or feminine?

Le/la/l’ or les – more examples

Singular masculine	Singular feminine	Before a vowel or -h
le fromage	la ville	l’adresse/l’hôpital
the cheese	the town	the address/the hospital

How are feminine and masculine words related in French?

And in the plural – Elles is for feminine words or people / Ils is for masculine and mixed words or people. Gender of nouns in French influence adjectives Adjectives are words that give you more information about the noun. Both words will be linked – so they need to be complimentary.

Can you tell the gender of a French noun?

Gender of French Nouns French nouns are always masculine or feminine, and you usually can’t determine the gender just by looking at the word or thinking about what it means. While there are some tendencies in the gender of French nouns – see the table below – there are always exceptions.

When does a French noun become a feminine noun?

Most French nouns become feminine according to regular patterns, but there are a number of irregular nouns, based on the final letter(s) of the masculine singular noun. Nouns that end in a vowel plus L, N, or T usually become feminine by doubling the consonant before adding E.

Why do you start a sentence with masculine or feminine?

This is because every time the speaker uses a word with a gender, they are making a fresh decision as to whether the word is masculine or feminine. A common tactic is to hedge their bets and start the sentence using one gender and finish using the other. That way they’ve got all bases covered.