h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Please tell me how can I tell the difference between male and female nouns etc.

Thank you


kat

Apart from checking the article that comes with it, there is no foolproof way to find out whether a noun is masculine or feminine.

"The" is translated by "Le" (M) or "La" (F).
"A" is translated by "Un" (M) or "Une" (F).

This is why you should always learn a new noun with its article.

So if you were to learn the French for "House" tomorrow, it would be best if you didn't learn "Maison" but "La maison". This is not more difficult and you'll always remember this noun's gender in the future.

When a noun has a masculine and a feminine version (Un Anglais = An Englishman / Une Anglaise = An Engliswoman), the feminine is -- as you can see -- the one ending with an "e".

Tip: It's always good to write down new vocabulary. Using a blue pen for masculine words, a red one for feminine and a black one for the rest will also help you memorising genders.

Bon courage.

Merci beaucoup fot the very
gentil l'aide et
assistance.

Bon magnifique Chan-Mick Le Frog.


mme katrine

De rien (Of/For nothing = my pleasure/ You're welcome).

Le Français, c'est facile.
La patience, c'est difficile.

Bonjour!

My french professor gave us this link to help determine the gender of french nouns. It's quite a long list, so probably not very useful unless you are actually taking french lessons. I found it an interesting help, though.

http://www1.appstate.edu/dept/fll/genre.html

i will have a look at it next time i get some PC access time...

there is a trick tho' that helps save time when learning french words genders.. which is already used in the UK but not much known...

but i will come back to that later on...

talk soon everyone...

loup