French language Q&A Forum

As in, I know that 'un' in masculine, and 'une' is feminine, but how do you tell if an everyday object is masculine or feminine.

Why is it when I asked to be 'kwizzed' on just this lesson, included in the quizz are questions from all of my 'recommended lessons'?  How do I go about finding a quiz with just 'question word' questions in order to give me extra practise with question words?

Thanks for your help........Thirza

This is how clueless I am.  At reading the sentence about the missing ring I wondered at first;  "Did he steal a ring from her?"  It took this 61 year-old a minute to grasp that he took the ring in order to get her ring-size!  (I must admit, I would never have thought of that!)  Gary 

I guess I find most reflexive verbs make some kind of sense in that I can see that an action is performed on oneself (e.g. se laver) or somehow internalized (e.g. s'amuser, se demander), Sometimes however I just need to know how words get formed and se moquer has me puzzled.

Best I can tell, it has been around as a reflexive verb for at least 500 years and probably comes from blowing your nose at someone as a gesture of contempt (vulgar Latin: muccare), as such it makes sense to be reflexive - as of course is the modern se moucher . Other theories are se moquer comes from dutch, german or piedmontese words for mumble, grumble or grimace, which also kind of makes sense as reflexives. BTW the theory it comes from Norman words for 'stirring manure' has been discredited* which is just as well because that wouldn't explain the reflexive

I appreciate this isn't exactly a level A1 question, but I was wondering if anyone out there can confirm or deny my theories?

*Accordng to Tresor de la Lange Francaise

This lesson needs to be redone into more than one lesson because it's too complicated, confusing and frustrating.  As soon as I finish studying it, I forget what refers to what.