Gender of Les soldes

RitaC1Kwiziq community member

Gender of Les soldes

My dictionaries show les soldes as masculine. Is either correct?

Asked 3 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

That's an interesting one, Rita!

I must say that I would have agreed with Aurélie as I always heard it used in the feminine when meaning 'the sales' as in 

J'ai vu des soldes intéressantes chez Monoprix

However, it appears that it should be masculine, ( although it still feels very very wrong to me).

Just to recap - 

La solde du militaire = The soldier's pay 

Le solde d'un compte = The balance of an account ( what is left to pay

The reason why it should be masculine might be explained in the following page , but I still don't buy it! 

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/centre-val-de-loire/2013/06/26/les-soldes-plutot-masculin-ou-feminin-277695.html

 

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Les soldes - “the sales” is masculine according to Larousse, Robert and Académie Française. 

Solde in the feminine referring to salary/wages in military. 

It should be < Les Soldes Décevants >

PS: Just checked wordreference and interestingly it notes that the use of feminine for soldes (sales) is a common error, and having checked very close to home, it appears to be! 

Gender of Les soldes

My dictionaries show les soldes as masculine. Is either correct?

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