french

Examples
French Grammar • Print version • audio (info •113 kb • help)
Gender of Nouns Genre des Noms
Masculine
le cheval [6] the horse -age
le chien the dog -r
le livre the book -t
le bruit the noise -isme
Feminine
la colombe the dove -ie
la chemise the shirt -ion
la maison the house -ite/-ité
la liberté liberty -nce
Common Endings Used
With Masculine Nouns:
le fromage
the cheese
le professeur [7]
the teacher
le chat
the cat
le capitalisme
capitalism
Common Endings Used
With Feminine Nouns:
-nne
-mme
-lle
la boulangerie
the bakery
la nation
the nation
la fraternité
brotherhood
la balance
the scales
la fille
the girl
l’indienne
the Indian
^ Professeur can be shortened to prof (in a familiar context). While the long form, professeur, is always
masculine, even when referring to female teachers, prof can be either masculine or feminine. (le prof - the
(male) teacher) (la prof - the (female) teacher)
'^ In this book, the definite article will come before a noun in vocabulary charts. If the definite article is l
due to elision, (m) will follow a noun to denote a masculine gender and (f) will follow a noun to denote a
feminine gender.
G: Definite and indefinite articles
The definite article
In English, the definite article is always “the”.
Unlike English, the definite article is used to talk about something in a general sense, a general statement or
feeling about an idea or thing.
In French, the definite article is changed depending on the noun's:
1. Gender
2. Plurality