Yes, we are still talking about the gender of nouns. It is important to learn the gender of nouns because once we start creating complex sentences, we need to make sure that what we are saying makes sense and is correct.
We are not doing all this studying to only half-learn this language.
I was trying to think of the most non-boring way to talk about the different noun endings that can *at times* give readers clues as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.
BUT. I have failed. There is no fun way to talk about it and, in fact, I'm already to move on to verb endings. But I know that we must not get ahead of ourselves.
I repeat: "I did *not* create this website, buy all these books, and do all this research so we can half learn this language. We will whole-learn this language.
A few tips to remember when trying to learn the gender of French nouns :
1. Gender is linked to the noun word, not the physical thing or the person. This means that the French do not care that your "fat cat" Princess, is a female cat. Le chat, the French word for cat, is masculine. So she is Princess, le gros chat. (GROS is the masculine form of fat, while GROSSE is the feminine form for fat). The adjective and noun have to agree in gender and number with the NOUN gender not the actual object/person (more on this later).
2. With that being said, nouns that refer to males are usually masculine and nouns that refer to females are usually feminine. (l'homme, the man) and (la femme, the woman).
3. Nouns adopted from other languages are usually masculine. So, if you plan to create your own words in Frenglish (Le skinny jeans?) make sure to make them masculine.
- Le jogging
- Le basket-ball
- Le jazz
- Le Tennis
- Exception: La pizzas
4. Some nouns that refer to people indicate their gender by their ending. The feminine form often ends in e.
- l'Allemand/l'Allemande The German (male/female)
- L'ami/l'amie the friend (male/female)
5. The ending of a noun can give us hints about the word's gender
Masculine
-eau (le bureau)
-isme (le tourisme, l'déalisme)
-ment (le moment, le département)
Feminine
-ence (la différence, l'existence)
-ie (la tragédie, la compagnie)
-ion (la nation, la fonction)
-té (l'université, la diversité)
-ude (l'attitude, la solitude)
-ure (la littérature, l'overture)
Any other helpful tips? If you want to take a look at the impossibly long list of endings I found online, you can check it out here.