l'Antarctique should be masculine?

Selina T.C1Kwiziq community member

l'Antarctique should be masculine?

You write that all continents are feminine in French, but Antarctica (l'Antarctique) is masculine I think? 

Asked 11 months ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Selina,

You are correct! "L'Antarctique" (continent) is masculine. We've amended the lesson to explain this particularity.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Selina, yes I have  seen and thought correct that “ l’Antarctique “ the ‘(non)-continent’ is classified as masculine also (including both dictionaries below), but some sites suggest feminine. 

Historically,  in French teaching Antarctica is not considered as a continent. 

There  are only 5 continents in traditional French classification. Hence the 5 Olympic rings !

See links below :  

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-french/antarctica

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/antarctique

 https://www.frenchpod101.com/french-vocabulary-lists/continents

https://study.com/academy/lesson/continents-in-french.html

 https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-french-prepositions-with-countries-4084855 

PPS - after further searching, further confusion as the site below distinguishes according to ‘l’Antarctique’, the ‘continent’ being feminine, but  ‘l’Antarctique’ the ocean being masculine. I believe that ‘masculine’ is definitely correct for the ocean !

 https://www.dictionary-french-english.com/en/dictionary-french-english/Antarctique

l'Antarctique should be masculine?

You write that all continents are feminine in French, but Antarctica (l'Antarctique) is masculine I think? 

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