Look at these examples:
To say you play an instrument in French, you must use:
jouer + de + definite article (le/la/l'/les) + [instrument].
Remember that le and les will contract with de and become du and des.
La and l' will become de la and de l'.
La and l' will become de la and de l'.
Here is a link to our vocabulary list on music instruments:
https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564
Examples and resources
Micro kwiz: Jouer de = to play an instrument
Loading your Kwiz
Elise
Kwiziq community member
17 September 2017
3 replies
Gender of instruments?
In these examples, instruments that end in -e are feminine while those that don't are masculine. Does this usually hold true?
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
13 October 2017
13/10/17
It is indeed generally the case, except for a few exceptions (as usual!):
le saxophone, le violoncelle (cello), l'orgue (organ), and le trombone.
Have a look at our vocabulary list of music instruments (whose link I have now added to this lesson):
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/studylists/view/1188564
Bonne journée !
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
13 October 2017
13/10/17
It is indeed generally the case, except for a few exceptions (as usual!):
le saxophone, le violoncelle (cello), l'orgue (organ), and le trombone.
Have a look at our vocabulary list of music instruments (whose link I have now added to this lesson):
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/studylists/view/1188564
Bonne journée !
Ron
Kwiziq community member
17 September 2017
17/09/17
While your observation appears to be true about musical instruments, it also holds true for many countries, regions etc. Keeping that in mind, here is a site link that gives many musical instruments in English with the French counterpart name and gender (noted by the use of le, la, les and l'.
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/phrase_book/en/music.html
While I am not familiar with this resource, a quick read seems to be correct.
J'espère que ma réponse vous aidera.
Bonne chance et bonne continuation dans vos études en français, la langue de Molière et qui a été utilisé par le monde depuis l’époque d’Hugues Capet