Gardian Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Le Loire?La Seine?Le Rhone?La Saone?and .................Le vagin (which my wife assures me is masculine !!!)My neighbour says that I might be getting halfway close to speaking decent French when I master the genders. Some hope!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 I have always found that odd. It often comes up in apperitif conversation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 It's LA Loire and LE Loir which are two different rivers tho' the masculine does flow into the feminine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 La Loire[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 A slight inaccuracy on my part;LE Loir flows first into the Sarthe which joins with the Mayenne to become the Maine and it is this river that flows into LA Loire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkkent Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 Confusing, isn't it?Unfortunately, gender is not the same thing as sex (despite the use of "gender" as a politically-correct alternative to "sex") but is a consequence of the morphology and origin of the word itself. Gender is a product of the word's structure, not its meaning. When I first learned French (a long time ago) it seemed that if a noun ended in "e" it would be feminine although I soon learned that that was not correct - but I still use it as a working hypothesis.The nouns of things which are female are usually feminine (cow = la vache), but because things are peculiar to women does not make them feminine. Not only are vaginas masculine but breasts are too, and prostate is feminine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 [quote user="Clarkkent"]Not only are vaginas masculine but breasts are too![/quote]Indeed! The same with "le féminisme"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted May 28, 2006 Author Share Posted May 28, 2006 Oops, sorry about Le, or rather La Loire - but it makes my point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 In French children's vocabulary/picture books, there is a picture and always just the noun without the le and la. I find this frustrating. My 7 year old is learning the language by attending French school but I can't help him with masculie and feminine because I often can't remember them myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ysatis Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 Hi, Not that I am an expert at all but you may find the following useful:Nouns ending with: -tion & -cion are all feminineEnding with: -ment are all masculineEnding with- -age all masculine; except 6: la cage, la rage, la plage, la page, la nage, l'image.Ending with -b,-d,-ing,- ing, -k, l, m, -one, -p, are all masculine, ( except la faim)Ending with: -cé, -ee, fe, -nde, -tié, -ue, are all feminine ( apart from a few exceptions) There are loads, and I know some, but I have them on file but haven't worked out how I can post them on this forum without typing it all out. The first three I find are the easiest to remember in a conversation, but after that, I think you just have to learn them and remember them! I believe, but maybe wrong, that French children are always taught a noun with the relevant article. It's something I ought to do, but mainly concentrate on just learning the word without the article. Hope this is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 That is very helpful EMH. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 >>>...A slight inaccuracy on my part;LE Loir flows first into the Sarthe which joins with the Mayenne to become the Maine and it is this river that flows into LA Loire....<<<Well… Doesn’t the masculine always flow into the feminine… Sorry can't get smileys with this machine... I mean to put a winking one.>>>...It's LA Loire and LE Loir which are two different rivers tho' the masculine does flow into the feminine....<<<…quite right, LE Loir flows into LA Sarthe and will join LA Mayenne. Together they will meet LE Maine which will flow into LA Loire…This illustrates that in most case, the masculine word/noun is flowing into the feminine. Exception LA Saone flows into LE Rhone... Also when there is a masculine word/noun (even if just one) in a group (doesn’t matter size of the group) of feminine words/nouns, it is the masculine word/noun which wins and the collective adjectives used to qualify either masculine or feminine word/noun will be in the masculine… as in 'Les gens ce font beaux quand le soleil sort' Les gens is a collective word for group of people. It makes no distinction that there are masculin and feminin members in this group, so it's beaux and not belles : the masculin wins... Trust a man to win the argument!...Confused… Take more ruby liquid with your water… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 [quote user="missyesbut"]>>>... as in 'Les gens ce font beaux quand le soleil sort' [/quote]Or even "les gens se font beaux quand le soleil sort". [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 >>>...Or even "les gens se font beaux quand le soleil sort". ...<<<Woops!.... As I said I need more of the ruby liquid in my water.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patmobile Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 [quote user="EMH"]Ending with- -age all masculine; except 6: la cage, la rage, la plage, la page, la nage, l'image.[/quote]Also "mirage"? Edit: Silly me - just looked it up! I'm wrong again.Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 EMH's post about word endings takes me back to third form French at St Aidan's! I'm going to have nightmares about those Irish Christian brothers tonight ....Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 [quote user="EMH"] Ending with: -ment are all masculine [/quote]I saw a French vocab quiz once that asked which French word ending in -ment was feminine. It was "la jument" (mare). A few French words are *spelt* the same, but with a switch of gender they become something else: mousse, poele, poste, radio. tour, etc. [8-)]Plus there are loads of soundalikes differentiated only by gender, such as: serre/cerf, basilique/basilic for a start [8-)] [8-)]AND three that are masculin in the singular and feminine in the plural!!! [:@]I don't know how we foreigners are ever expected to get our heads round all that.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 "AND three that are masculin in the singular and feminine in the plural!!!" What are they Angela ?There is no logice to it, why le peigne et la teigne... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 AmourDéliceandOrgueAnd as for that comforting thought we were fed at school about feminine words ending in e! Hmm, what about "le musée" that ends in not one, but two, e's...Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 And French law has been amended so you can now use "Madame la Medecin" instead of "Madame le Medecin". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 [quote user="Loiseau"][quote user="EMH"] Ending with: -ment are all masculine [/quote]A few French words are *spelt* the same, but with a switch of gender they become something else: mousse, poele, poste, radio. tour, etc. [8-)][/quote]Tell me about it! The times I tell my neighbour that we use the frying pan to heat the house in the winter because oil is so expensive!!![:-))] I just can't remember which poele is which, no matter how many times I'm told. [:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 And in English-tough,though,thorough,cough etc.Foreigners have problems with our language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 I'm afraid that in those circumstances I've developed a sort of l'mumble. It's a back of the mouth sort of thing, I copied it from a French speaker... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Me too. When in doubt, halfway between 'le' and 'la' with a slur into the noun itself. I've never been picked up on this - maybe the French are more tolerant than they are given credit for. Or it could be, with the way kids talk these days, that they are getting used to mumbling. Plus the Sarthoise accent is weird anyway - like 'chanzen' for 'quinzaine'. So my Geordie accent probably sounds fine here.Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 [quote user="Clarkkent"].....and prostate is feminine![/quote]Blimey - I've got a routine appointment with my urologist next week. Am I in for some life changing news? [:-))][:-))][:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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