Our Day 7

Immersion – 7
Nouns and Gender

Note:

• Nouns are names of things, people, objects, places, concepts and so on.
• Unlike English nouns, all French nouns have a gender.
• The gender of a noun has an impact on the sentence construction.
• If the noun is mas/femi the article and adjectives that modify the noun also must be in mas/femi.
• With a few exceptions, we can identify the gender of a French noun by its endings.

The table given below explains the above facts.

Common Masculine Noun Endings

-eur (uhr)	-al (ahl)	-isme (eez–muh)
-eau (oh)	-ail (ahy)	-ment (mahN)
Final vowels other than -e

Common Feminine Noun Endings

-son (zohN)	-ance (ahNs)	-ade (ahd)
-sion (syohN)	-ence (ahNs)	-té (tey)
-tion (syohN)	-oire (wahr)	- ée (ey)
		-ie (ee)

Some occupations which are always masculine

Profession	Pronunciation	Meaning
un médecin	uhN meyd-saN	doctor
un ingénieur	uhN naN-zhey nyuhr	engineer
un archi tecte	uhN-nahr-shee-tehkt	architect
un professeur	uhN proh-feh-suhr	professor, teacher
un auteur	uhN-noh-tuhr	author
un agent	uhN-nah-zhahN	agent
un chef	uhN shehf	chef

Some nouns which are always feminine

Noun	Pronunciation	Meaning
une vedette	ewn veh-deht	movie star
une personne	ewn pehr-sohhn	person
une victime	ewn veek-teem	victim

Note:

           1.To make masculine nouns feminine, the general rule is to add an ‘e’ mute
Eg:      un ami (mas.)    une amie (femi)

           2.Nouns ending in ‘e’ mute in masculine remain unchanged in the feminine.
Eg:      un aide (mas)    une aide

           3.Nouns ending in ‘en’, ‘et’, ‘on’ in masculine double the last consonant and add ‘e’ mute in the feminine.
Eg:      Indien(mas)    Indienne (femi)
            le lion (mas)    la lionne (femi)