[Drapeaux] You too can learn French !
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Created by Jacques LΘon
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Lesson 2 - Articles and Genders
1. Gender in French
We have a bad and a good news for you : as opposed to English, French words
have a gender. That's the bad news. The good news is that French words can
have only two genders : masculine or feminine. Unfortunately, there is an
additional bad news : the distribution of the words in the masculine and
the feminine genders does not comply to any logical rule. Therefore, the
only way to know the gender of a word is to learn it by heart!
The gender is determined by the article, either definite (the in English)
or indefinite (a/an in English).
* Masculine definite article: [headphone]le [leu]
* Feminine definite article: [headphone]la
* Masculine indefinite article: [headphone]un [nasal sound which can be
derived from the English sound "un" as explained in the first lesson]
* Feminine indefinite article: [headphone]une [?n']
The genders of the words introduced in the previous lesson are :
* [headphone]la/une table (the/a table)
* [headphone]le/un sac (the/a bag)
* [headphone]le/un chat (male cat), [headphone]la/une chatte (female
cat)
* [headphone]le/un bras (the/an arm)
* [headphone]la/une soeur (the/a sister)
* [headphone]la/une bouche (the/a mouth)
* [headphone]la/une jambe (the/a leg)
* [headphone]la/une lampe (the/a lamp)
* [headphone]la/une terre (the/a land)
* [headphone]la/une botte (the/a boot)
* [headphone]la/une langue (tongue)
* [headphone]le/un langage (language)
* [headphone]la/une chambre (room)
* [headphone]le/un vΘlo (the/a bike)
* [headphone]le/un jour (the/a day)
* [headphone]la/une nuit (the/a night)
* [headphone]la/une voiture (the/a car)
* [headphone]le/un pays (the/a country)
* [headphone]le/un frΦre (the/a brother)
* [headphone]le/un pΦre (the/a father)
* [headphone]la/une mΦre (the/a mother)
* [headphone]la/une tΩte (the/a head)
* [headphone]la/une maison (the/a house)
* [headphone]la main (the/a hand)
* [headphone]le/un pain (the/a bread)
* [headphone]la/une tasse (the/a cup)
When a word begins with a vowel, the definite article that precedes the
word is contracted whatever the gender is :
* une assiette (a plate), l'assiette (the plate)
* un oiseau (a bird), l'oiseau (the bird)
* un animal (an animal)l'animal (the animal)
* une araεgnΘe (a spider), l'araεgnΘe (the spider)
* une auto (a car), l'auto (the car)
Previously, we said that there was no logical rules to find out the gender
of the French words. Actually, there are some...
Professions
Almost every profession has two genders depending on whether it is a man or
a woman who is accomplishing the work. Examples :
un boulanger
a male baker
une boulangΦre
a female baker
un boucher
a male butcher
une bouchΦre
a female butcher
The following list gives the masculine and feminine form of some
professions:
Driver
* Masculine: un conducteur
* Feminine: une conductrice
Airplane pilot
* Masculine: un aviateur
* Feminine: une aviatrice
Engineer
* Masculine: un ingΘnieur
* Feminine: une ingΘnieure
Teacher
* Masculine: un professeur
* Feminine: une professeure
President
* Masculine: un prΘsident
* Feminine: une prΘsidente
Minister
* Masculine: un ministre
* Feminine: une ministre
Worker
* Masculine: un ouvrier
* Feminine: une ouvriΦre
Animals
Like professions, most animals may have both genders (male and female). As
opposed to professions, the way the female form is built does not comply to
any general rule and consequently, must be learnt by heart. The following
is a list of examples:
Cat
* Masculine: un chat [sha]
* Feminine: une chatte [shat']
Dog
* Masculine: un chien [shi-in]
* Feminine: une chienne [shiΦn']
Lion
* Masculine: un lion [li-on]
* Feminine: une lionne [li-on']
Tiger
* Masculine: un tigre
* Feminine: une tigresse [tigrΦs']
Horse
* Masculine: un cheval
* Feminine: une jument
Rabbit
* Masculine: un lapin
* Feminine: une lapine
Rat
* Masculine: un rat
* Feminine: une rate
Pig
* Masculine: un porc, un cochon
* Feminine: une truie [tr?-i]
Bovine (cow/bull)
* Masculine (bull): un taureau [toro]
* Feminine (cow): une vache
Donkey
* Masculine: un Γne
* Feminine: une Γnesse
As you may have noticed in the previous examples, the feminine form is
often derived from the masculine by appending an "e" to the word. This rule
is applicable in most cases and leads to a more general one : the feminine
form of nouns and adjectives is built by appending an "e" to the masculine
form of the word. This rule is general enough that you should learn it.
2. Plural articles
The plural form of the definite and indefinite articles is very simple for
it does not vary according to the gender:
* Definite article: les (both feminine and masculine)
* Undefinite article: des (both feminine and masculine)
Plural rule: In French, the plural form of nouns and adjectives is built by
appending an "s" (like in English). However, in many cases, this rule is
not applicable, and you will be required to learn by heart the irregular
form of plural form of these exceptions (lesson 4). Examples:
* Singular: le chat
* Plural: les chats
* Singluar: la table
* Plural: les tables
* Singluar: un chien
* Plural: des chiens
* Singluar: une lionne
* Plural: des lionnes
* Singluar: un oiseau
* Plural: des oiseaux
oiseau is one of these exceptions.
3. Some usual expressions
* [headphone]merci (thank you)
* [headphone]s'il vous plaεt (please)
* [headphone]bonjour (literally "good day", means good morning/good
afternoon)
* [headphone]bonsoir (good evening)
* [headphone]bonne nuit (good night)
* [headphone]au revoir (literally "see you again", means goodbye)
* [headphone]pardon (sorry)
* [headphone]excusez-moi (excuse me)
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