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The gender of the French nouns (1st part)
Masculine or feminine gender?  That is the question!
It is rather hard for a French language learner to distinguish between the masculine and the feminine gender of French nouns as there are several manners of expressing this distinction.
Actually, you can have to:
| 1) Use two separate nouns: |
a masculine noun |
a feminine noun |
| un |
coq (cock) |
une |
poule (hen) |
| un |
porc (pig) |
une |
truie (sow) |
| 2)Add a suffix to the only feminine form: |
masculine noun |
with a feminine suffix |
| un |
prince |
une |
princesse |
| un |
maître (teacher, master, or owner)
|
une |
maîtresse (teacher, mistress, or owner) |
| 3) Change the suffix in the masculine and the feminine: |
masculine suffix |
feminine suffix |
| un |
spectateur(spectator)
|
une |
spectatrice (spectator)
|
| un |
serveur (waiter)
|
une |
serveuse(waitress)
|
| 4) Change the only last letter |
| There are two possibilities: |
a- You can not hear the difference |
|
un |
ami (a friend: a man)
|
une
|
amie (a friend: a woman)
|
|
un
|
invité (a guest: a man)
|
une
|
invitée (a guest: a woman)
|
| b- You can hear the difference |
| un allemand |
une allemande |
|
un américain
|
une américaine
|
| 5) Change the only determiner (article, possessive,demonstrative...) |
| There are two possibilities: |
change the determiner without change of meaning |
| un enfant (a child: a little boy) |
une enfant (a child: a little girl) |
| un athlète |
un athlète |
| change the determiner with change of meaning |
| un livre (a book) |
une livre (a pound) |
| un mousse (a ship's apprentice) |
une mousse (foam or moss) |
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