Regular nouns
(70% of all nouns)
The BASIC RULE
Feminine nouns bear a final -e
Masculine nouns are unmarked
MASCULINE NOUNS
FEMININE NOUNS
Majority of OPEN FINALS
Final vowel sound (except e)
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Majority of CLOSED FINALS
Final consonant sound (+ letter e)
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prix [pri]
fruit [frui]
bureau [buro]
piano [pyano]
robot [robo]
cinéma [cinéma]
climat [clima]
secret [sekré]
danger [dangé]
café [kafé]
choix [chwa]
coup [kou]
lieu [lyeu]
statut [statu]
accident [aksidã]
train [trĩ]
ballon [balõ]
parfum [parfĩ]
point [pwĩ]
temps [tã]
danse [dans]
toilette [twalèt]
forme [form]
cuisine [kuizin]
lampe [lanp]
bombe [bonb]
banque [bank]
demande [demand]
page [paj]
rose [roz]
herbe [èrb]
violence [vyolans]
planète [planèt]
cave [kav]
moustache [moustach]
campagne [kanpany]
fatigue [fatig]
barre [bar]
balle [bal]
bataille [batay]
Minority of CLOSED FINALS
Consonant sound without letter e
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Minority of OPEN FINALS
Vowel sound with final letter e
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bar [bar]
bal [bal]
sac [sak]
détail [détay]
arrivée [arrivé]
comédie [komédi]
statue [statu]
monnaie [monè]
Reminder about final -e in French
French final -e was inherited from Latin final -a: Lat. lista > Fr. liste
It is said to be silent in standard French (French from the dictionary) : liste [list]
Nevertheless, it is still pronounced under certains circonstances:
- In standard French, some compound words still require the pronunciation of final -e: quatre-vingt [katrəvĩ] (eighty)
- Final -e is often heard in poetry and songs for metric reasons.
-Last but not least, it is still widely pronounced in Southern France (français méridional or francitan) .
In fact, pronouncing the final -e while building vocabulary can be a fine way to memorize spelling and gender.
Final-e has several functions:
1. as the vowel [ə] in 9 grammatical words: ce, de, je, le, me, ne, que, se, te
2. as the feminine marker for humans and some animals, ex. éléphant / éléphante (silent);
3. as the indicator of a pronounced final consonant that otherwise would be silent, ex. Irelande [irlãd];
French Basic Gender Rule compared to other Romance languages
French | Italian | Spanish | Portuguese | |
Masculine | concert | concerto | concierto | concerto |
Féminine | culture | cultura | cultura | cultura |
We can see from the table that:
1. French does not have a specific masculine marker (Ø).
2. French has a specific marker for feminine (-e) but it is mute.
3. Other Romance languages have 2 very distinctive final vowels -a and-o as gender markers.
Regular nouns account for 70% of all nouns and thus deserve to be better known.
Regular nouns are:
- Mostly from Latin origin:
furnus m. > four m. (oven) ; ovum nt. > œuf m. (egg)
Feminine nouns as well as plural neutral nouns in-a (similar to the marker of feminine gender in Latin) became feminine in French:
familia f. > famille f. (family) ; arma nt. pl. > arme f. (weapon)
- …or introduced to French through Latin:
Celtic > lat. carrus m. > Fr. char m. (kart)
Greek > lat. chimia f. > Fr. chimie f. (chemistry)
- Loanwords from other Romance languages:
Italian lista f. > Fr. liste f. (chemistry)
Portuguese caramel(o) m. > Fr. caramel m.,
Spanish casa f. > Fr. case f. ( hut)
Provençal capdel m. > Fr. cadeau m. (present)
- ...or introduced to French through them:
Bantou > Port. banana f. > Fr. banane f. (banana)
Arawak > Sp. patata f. > Fr. patate f. (potato)
Arabic > It. magazzino m. > Fr. magasin m. (shop)
- Loanwords from many other languages:
English north > Fr. nord m.
Dutch bricke f. > Fr. brique f. (brick)
German akkordion > Fr. accordéon m. (accordion)
Germanic bank m/f. > Fr. banc m. (bench)
- Suffixed nouns:
Feminine suffixes: riz + -ière f.> rizière f. (rice field)
Masculine suffixes: glace f. + -on m. > glaçon m. (ice cube)
- Nominalised verbal roots:
Feminine (root + -e) : attaquer v. > attaque f. (attack) ,
Masculine (root + Ø) : désirer v. > désir m. (desire)
- Compound nominal nouns:
Feminine noun based: queue f. > queue-de-cheval f. (pony tail)
Masculine noun based : amour m. > amour-propre m. (self-esteem)
- Feminine learned compound words:
Feminine roots from Greek or Latin:
biblio- + thèque f. > bibliothèque f. (library)
Feminine suffix -ie:
géographe + -ie f. > géographie f. (geography)
- Words converted from other grammatical classes:
Feminine:
(adjectives) alternative, centrale (power plant) , moyenne (average), ronde (circle)
(participles) arrivée (arrival), prise, vue (view) , imprimante (printer)
Masculine:
From adjectives: bleu (blue), essentiel (the essential), français (French language) , massif (massif)
From participles: arrêté (decree), calmant (tranquillizer), fini (finishing touch), revenu (income)
Others: devoir (infinitive) duty , bien (adverb) goods, pour (preposition) pros (& cons)
- Trans-gender nouns
From masculine to feminine:
aubain m. (foreigner) > aubaine f. (opportunity)
bassin m. (pound) > bassine f.(wash bassin),
cours m. (course of a river) > course f. (race);
From feminine to masculine:
billette f. (letter) > billet m. (ticket),
diagnostique f. (science) > diagnostic m. (diagnostic),
machine f. (machine) > machin m. (thing, foo);
voie f. (way) > convoi m. (convoy);
French Gender (Confusing!) PARADOX
Final -e is known to be the French female marker for nouns referring to human beings (ami m. boyfriend > amie f. girlfriend), animals (lion m. > lionne f.), and for adjective agreement with feminine nouns (un grand sac m. a big bag > une grande avenue f. a big avenue). Nevertheless, when it comes to nouns other than the ones referring to human beings, it is perfectly fair to say that "feminine nouns end with a final -e", as more than 7 feminine nouns out of 10 do so. Unfortunately, the other way around cannot be stated: "final -e is NOT the marker of feminine gender", as we find nearly as many masculine nouns bearing a final -e than feminine nouns. This paradox gets everyone confused...
In the case of feminine nouns, there is a clear gender to form relationship : feminine nouns have a very high chance to end with a final -e), but the opposite (form to gender relationship) is not true : nouns ending with -e are not really more likely to be feminine.
Copyright © Ginette Guillard-Chamart 2009. All rights reserved.