How does the gender works here

Cathy L.A1Kwiziq community member

How does the gender works here

Hi, I think I'm a bit confuse when comes to gender. I thought whenever for feminine, need to add -e. But, how come there is a gender for fruits. And when come to souris, how do I know the gender for the animal? 

Le joli garçon est avec la jolie fille.Je mange un melon vert et une pomme verte.
Asked 4 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Every noun in French has a gender. One simply has to learn the gender along with the noun because it isn't always obvious which gender the noun has. The adjectives need to match the noun they describe in number and gender.

Here is a lesson on how to get a headstart in determining the gender of nouns:

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/how-to-identify-gender-by-some-word-endings

 

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

There are many lessons ahead that will cover ways of 'predicting' the gender of nouns. Not all feminine adjectives end in e, although it the most common adjustment made to an adjective in going from masculine form to feminine is to add 'e'. Every noun in French has a (grammatical) gender that has to be 'learned' associated with the noun. Therefore you should never learn a noun dissociated from learning its gender - when in doubt eg because plural or h muet means the definite article doesn't clarify and you don't know tha associated indefinite article, there are very good online dictionaries for reference and they always indicate the gender of a noun (some nouns have different meanings associated with masculine or feminine grammatical gender just to confuse things a little but this is covered in the lessons, and you will learn them as you go).  https://www.larousse.fr/ is a great dictionary resource even in the free version. (la souris (the animal)- feminine noun). Remember that grammatical gender does not necessarily identify 'actual gender'.

Cathy L. asked:

How does the gender works here

Hi, I think I'm a bit confuse when comes to gender. I thought whenever for feminine, need to add -e. But, how come there is a gender for fruits. And when come to souris, how do I know the gender for the animal? 

Le joli garçon est avec la jolie fille.Je mange un melon vert et une pomme verte.

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Getting that for you now...