{"id":290,"date":"2024-04-23T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T17:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/capufren100\/?post_type=chapter&p=290"},"modified":"2025-12-15T14:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T19:35:18","slug":"grammaire-1-gender-and-articles","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/capufren100\/chapter\/grammaire-1-gender-and-articles\/","title":{"raw":"Grammaire 1: gender","rendered":"Grammaire 1: gender"},"content":{"raw":"

On \u00e9tudie!<\/h2>\r\n

Les noms, les adjectifs et les articles<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n\r\n(a) A noun (un nom<\/strong>) is typically defined as a person, place, thing or concept. I.e. a student, a classroom, a pen, happiness.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\nAll French nouns are either masculine or feminine. These are grammatical genders (or grammatical classifications), not biological or social ones. Thus, un tableau<\/strong> (a whiteboard) is masculine and une chaise<\/strong> (a chair) is feminine; la lune<\/strong> (the moon) is feminine, but le soleil<\/strong> (the sun) is masculine.\u00a0 <\/span>French speakers do not perceive things such as white<\/span>boards or chairs<\/span> as being inherently ''male'' or ''female\" but they do refer to a chair as a 'she' and a whiteboard as a 'he'.\u00a0 The easiest way of determining the gender of a noun for now is to learn the noun along with its corresponding indefinite article. In a later section, we will give you a trick to recognize the grammatical gender of things or abstractions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen a noun refers specifically to a human being, however, then<\/em> the person's gender matches logically! For example: un homme<\/strong> (a man) vs. une femme<\/strong> (a woman), un ami<\/strong> (a male friend) vs. une amie<\/strong> (a female friend); un professeur<\/strong> (a male prof) vs. une professeure<\/strong> (a female prof).\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\n(b) An adjective (un adjectif<\/strong>) describes\/modifies a noun or a pronoun. I.e. The prof is\u00a0interesting<\/span>, the table is\u00a0white<\/span>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn French, most adjectives agree in gender (masculine vs. feminine) with the nouns they describe. This is called accord en genre<\/strong> (gender agreement). Notice the differences between the adjectives used in the following sentences (adjectives are bolded). In many cases, an -e<\/strong> is added to the adjective to agree with a feminine noun; in other cases, the adjective has two different form which you will need to memorize.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n
Victor est petit; <\/strong>Val\u00e9rie est petite <\/strong>aussi.\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\n(Victor is *short*; Val\u00e9rie is also *short*.)<\/em>\r\n\r\nPaul est\u00a0vieux; <\/strong>Marie est vieille <\/strong>aussi.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n(Paul is *old*; Marie is also *old*.)<\/em>\r\n\r\nL'\u00e9tudiant \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de moi est grand;<\/strong> l'autre \u00e9tudiante n'est pas grande. <\/strong>\r\n\r\n(The student next to me is *tall*; the other (female) student is not *tall*.)<\/em><\/blockquote>\r\n

Pronunciation differences: Masculine vs. Feminine.<\/h3>\r\n
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If the masculine form ends in a pronounced consonant or an -\u00e9<\/strong>, the feminine form will be pronounced the same exact way:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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noir \u21d4 noire<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

fatigu\u00e9 \u21d4 fatigu\u00e9e<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

If the masculine form ends in a silent consonant, this consonant is pronounced in the feminine form:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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petit<\/strong> (silent t<\/strong>) petite<\/strong> (pronounced t<\/strong>)<\/p>\r\n

grand<\/strong> (silent d<\/strong>) grande<\/strong> (pronounced d<\/strong>)<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n

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(c) An article (un article)<\/strong>\u00a0is a small word such as ''a'' or ''the''; it introduces a noun and it\u00a0must be placed before the noun<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Like any adjective, the article must also agree with the gender of the noun(s) that it modifies.<\/p>\r\n

There are two types of articles:<\/p>\r\n\r\n