mint Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share Posted August 27, 2016 [quote user="NormanH"]I would call them an estate car....[/quote]You are right, I'd forgotten that term! A hatchback does not have quite the same size boot as an estate car.......So, if a break is an estate car, I don't think there is a French word for a hatchback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 Une citadine but that is more a small hatchback like a Twingo/Clio etc, a city car or a woman that wont walk through a puddle, .......... dont ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyA Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Le bastion is the only exception I know (because it isn't formed from a verb?)Just out of interest what do people say for "van"? Camionette seems to get a bit of a blank look round here..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Fourgonette, utilitaire ?edit : that looks wrong ... fourgonnette perhaps ?Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Un fourgon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 The one I like is charabanc [:D] Although probably more in use in the English language nowadays than the French, it made me smile when I worked out the racine of the word un char à bancs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 [quote user="EmilyA"]Le bastion is the only exception I know (because it isn't formed from a verb?)Just out of interest what do people say for "van"? Camionette seems to get a bit of a blank look round here.....[/quote]For van, we say camionette. Don't know if there is a special word for a pick-up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyA Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 My Granny used to talk about trips out on a charrerbang" or just a "charrer"!With camionette I was trying to describe the vans that bring your on-line shopping in the UK. Perhaps the underlying concept was the problem....I also tried to explain that my daughter's shopping arrives with Darren in the Strawberry Van, but gave up on that one fairly quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 http://www.lacentrale.fr/utilitaire-occasion-fourgon_moins_3_5_t.htmlbut that link came from search for camionnettehttps://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camionnette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Mrs G maintains that if in doubt and it's something bad, then it's feminine.E.g. La pluie, la tonnerre, la grippe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 [quote user="NormanH"]http://www.lacentrale.fr/utilitaire-occasion-fourgon_moins_3_5_t.htmlbut that link came from search for camionnettehttps://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camionnette[/quote]I still haven't seen what we call a "pick-up" because these vehicles do not have a covered back, just the "cab" is covered and the back with no roof has a large opening flap to enable easy loading.Edit: I mean these things [url]https://www.google.fr/search?q=nissan+pick+up&client=firefox-b-ab&biw=1588&bih=760&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjR8OmP_ePOAhVlL8AKHRAGB14QsAQIHg&dpr=1[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tancrède Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 [quote user="Gardian"]Mrs G maintains that if in doubt and it's something bad, then it's feminine.[/quote]Yes, this is a very useful rule which works well in the other direction too. Le silence is (almost uniquely amongst nouns in -ence) masculine; because, as we were taught at school, women could not keep it… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyA Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 So would something the size of a UK supermarket delivery van just be a camion then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 A pick up is.............................................................................................. un pick-up [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew44 Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 .... when it's not a record player.@+Andrew 44 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I give up - I will continue to get it wrong and let them work it all out!!! -:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I can well remember a discussion with Michel our French neighbour."Big rivers are always masculin - le Rhone"."What about la Seine and la Loire? ". Said I;"Errrrrrrr" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 This just proves something one of my French friends once told me - when we were comparing the idiosycracies of English and French - French is not rational, at all! And she was very highly educated, and knew her French very well - one of the few French I know with an actual library of books, albeit quite small, they were proper good quality books and not the usual rubbish you find -;). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 This link shows some of the 'rules' such as they are for gender, plus those odd cases where the same word has two different meanings according to whether it is masculine or feminine...Le Livre or La Livre for example (book or pound) manche, voile, moule, poêle and foi(e) are other examples The weirdest are the ones that change gender in the pluralUn amour but mes amours ratéesUn délice but des délices exceptionnelleshttp://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-3108.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Norman, I wish you hadn't mentioned that m word, moule.I used the wrong gender with what could have been a catastrophic outcome but, fortunately, we were all a bunch of friends and we literally laughed until tears rolled down our cheeks and we fell about in our chairs and I am still reminded now and again what I'd said[:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 I find it best to keep to the plural when using that word around ladies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Zoff Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Trust Norman to make a meal of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Like thishttp://www.midilibre.fr/2016/08/18/croc-citanie-les-moules-a-l-aioli,1381431.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Zoff Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Precisely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 I just looked up the feminin noun form of moule in my colloquial dictionary, now I know what you are talking about [;-)]The transitif verb form is also interesting: Il vient de mouler son nana! En mouler And my favorite - mouler un bronze [:P] (laying a cable) [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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