In French, domestic and farm animals can be either masculine or feminine.
And they have baby forms too!
Animals names in French
Unfortunately, they're highly irregular, so you have to learn them by heart!
Here is a selection of the most common ones:
| Male | Female | Baby | English |
| un chien | une chienne | un chiot | dog - bitch/female dog - puppy |
| un chat | une chatte | un chaton | cat - female cat - kitten |
| un lapin | une lapine | un lapereau | rabbit (buck) - female rabbit (doe) - baby rabbit/bunny/kitten |
| un lion | une lionne | un lionceau | lion - lioness - lion cub |
| un taureau | une vache | un veau | bull - cow - calf (veal) |
| un cheval | une jument | un poulain | stallion - mare - foal |
| un coq | une poule | un poussin | cock - hen - chick |
| un canard | une cane | un caneton | duck (drake) - female duck - duckling |
| un mouton | une brebis | un agneau | sheep - ewe - lamb |
| un cochon | une truie | un porcelet | pig - sow - piglet |
| un cerf | une biche | un faon | deer (buck) - doe - fawn |
And here are some examples to listen to:
Mon père a un chien, Rex, une chienne, Lassie, et un chiot, Popo.My father has a dog, Rex, a bitch, Lassie, and a puppy, Popo.
Mon lapin Peter et ma lapine Bella ont eu un petit lapereau !My rabbit Peter and my doe Bella had a little bunny!
Le lion Mufasa et la lionne Sarabi ont un lionceau appelé Simba.The lion Mufasa and the lioness Sarabi have a lion cub called Simba.
Dans ce champ, je vois deux taureaux, une vache et un veau.In this field, I see two bulls, one cow and one calf.
Dans cette ferme, il y a deux coqs, dix poules et vingt poussins.In this farm, there are two cocks, ten hens and twenty chicks.
Robert le canard et Joséphine la cane ont cinq canetons.Robert the duck and Joséphine the duck have five ducklings.
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