Ce n’est pas toujours facile d’exprimer l’HYPOTHESE en français. Il existe trois structures principales qui sont logiques et qui suivent le modèle suivant :
SI + VERBE 1 (phrase 1) + VERBE 2 (phrase 2)
Voyons quelles sont ces trois structures.
L’HYPOTHESE DU FUTUR : situation très probable
(1) SI + PRESENT + FUTUR SIMPLE ou (2) SI + PRESENT + FUTUR PROCHE ou (3) SI + PRESENT + PRESENT ou (4) SI + PRESENT + IMPERATIF
Ces quatre structures expriment une hypothèse sur une action future qui est très probable. Voici des exemples :
(1) Si tu viens, je préparerai un cake. (2) Si tu viens, je vais préparer un gâteau. (3) Si tu viens, je cuisine pour toi. (4) Si tu viens, apporte le dessert s’il te plaît.
L’HYPOTHESE A L’IMPARFAIT : situation moins probable
SI + IMPARFAIT + CONDITIONNEL PRESENT
Cette structure se réfère à une situation très différente de la situation réelle qui a donc très peu de probabilité de réalisation. Par exemple :
Si tu avais plus de temps, tu ferais de la peinture (mais tu n’as pas le temps). (If you had more time, you would paint.) S’il était plus vieux, il pourrait conduire (mais il n’a que 12 ans). (If he was older, he could drive.) Si nous gagnions au loto, nous ferions un tour du monde (mais c’est très peu probable). (If we won the loterie, we would travel around the world.)
L’HYPOTHESE DU PASSE : c’est trop tard!
(1) SI + PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT + CONDITIONNEL PASSE (2) SI + PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT + CONDITIONNEL PRESENT
Cette structure permet d’exprimer un regret (ou un reproche!) à propos de quelque-chose qui ne s’est pas passé. Exemple :
(1) Il pleut! Si j’avais su, j’aurais pris mon parapluie. (It’s raining! If I had known I would have taken my ombrella).
On utilise le conditionnel présent quand l’action passée aurait une conséquence encore aujourd’hui.
(2) Si tu avais appris le français, tu pourrais parler avec des francophones aujourd’hui . (Mais tu n’as pas appris le français malheureusement 🙁 ) If you had learned French, you could speak with French speakers today. (But you did not learn French unfortunatly.)
Voilà les trois structures de l’hypothèse! J’espère que vous avez compris. N’hésitez pas à me poser des questions dans les commentaires.
Et puis n’oubliez pas de consulter les leçons sur le présent, le futur, le conditionnel et l’imparfait ici. Vous pouvez également vous inscrire à ma newsletter et recevoir gratuitement un guide de conjugaison.
Futur proche, futur simple : the future tenses in French
In the French language, there are 2 future tenses: the « futur proche » and the « futur simple ».
Paradoxically, the futur proche is simpler (easier to build) than the futur simple, that’s why we use it more.
THE » FUTUR PROCHE «
It is supposed to be used for something close in time: tomorrow, next week etc. but if you listen to French people speaking, you will notice that they use it also to express actions further in time.
Je vais visiter le musée demain (I am going to visit the museum tomrrow.)
Je vais prendre ma retraite dans trois ans. (I am going to retire in 3 years.)
How do we build this future? It is quite easy :
We conjugate the verb ALLER in the present + we add the INFINITIVE of the verb after.
Je vais PARTIR. Tu vas RESTER. Il va SE PROMENER. Elle va SE COUCHER. On va REGARDER la télé. Nous allons REGARDER la télé. Vous aller ECOUTER la radio. Ils vont PRENDRE un rendez-vous. Elles vont ALLER danser.
Quite easy isn’t it? Now let’s compare with the » futur simple »
THE » FUTUR SIMPLE «
In grammar, « simple » doesn’t mean « easy », it means that there is only one part (one word) in the verb. We’ve seen that there are 2 parts in the futur proche (the verb aller + the infinitive of the verb), for the futur simple you have only 1 part, but it’s more difficult to conjugate.
What you do is that you take the infinitive of the verb you want to conjugate, for example, PARTIR, and you add the endings of the futur. Let’s have a look at it closer. (I’ll write the infinitive in capital letters, but it’s just a way to make you understand quicker.)
Je PARTIRai Tu PARTIRas Il PARTIRa Elle PARTIRa On PARTIRa Nous PARTIRons Vous PARTIRez Ils PARTIRont Elles PARTIRont
So, you will say that it’s not very complicated. That’s right, but there are some subtleties I need to explain to you.
First, when you have an infinitive ending with -e- you need to take off this -e-. For example, there is an -e- at the end of the verb VENDRE (to sell), so you conjugate it that way :
Je VENDRai Tu VENDRas Il VENDRa Nous VENDRons Vous VENDRez Ils VENDRont
Then you have irregular verbs you need to learn :
ENVOYER (to send)
j’enverrai
VOIR (to see)
je verrai
COURIR (to run)
je courrai
POUVOIR (can)
je pourrai
MOURIR (to die)
je mourrai
VENIR (to come)
je viendrai
TENIR (to hold)
je tiendrai
VALOIR (to be worth)
il vaudra
FALLOIR (must)
il faudra
VOULOIR (to want)
je voudrai
DEVOIR (must)
je devrai
RECEVOIR (to receive)
je recevrai
PLEUVOIR (to rain)
il pleuvra
AVOIR (to have)
j’aurai
ÊTRE (to be)
je serai
SAVOIR (to know)
je saurai
FAIRE (to do)
je ferai
ALLER (to go)
j’irai
APPELER (to call)
J’appellerai (double l)
JETER (to throw)
Je jèterai (accent)
ESSUYER (to wipe)
J’essuierai (no y)
I gave you the first person (sometimes third when first is never used) as an example, you keep the same root for the other persons.
Here are some examples with the futur simple :
Quand il aura 60 ans, il prendra sa retraite. (When he is 60, he will retire.) Quand je serai en vacances, je te rendrai visite. (When I am on holiday, I will visit you)
You’ve noticed that we use the future after « quand », contrary to the English.
Some other examples : En 2100, il y aura des voitures volantes. (In 2100, there will be flying cars.) Dans cinq ans,nous irons en Espagne. (In five years, we will go to Spain.)
Voilà! I hope you understand these 2 futures now. If you still have questions, ask them in the comments below.
You can also watch my video about the futur proche by clicking here
Les verbes réfléchis sont des verbes pour lesquels le sujet fait l’action sur lui-même.
On les appelle des verbes pronominaux parce qu’on ajoute un pronom avant le verbe qui montre bien que l’action est réalisée sur soi :
Je me lave = I wash myself
Dans cet exemple, le pronom « me » remplace « myself ».
Ainsi, l’infinitif est construit avec le pronom « se » = SE LAVER (to wash yourself).
Le pronom change en fonction du sujet qui fait l’action :
Sujet
pronom
verbe
Je
me
lave
Tu
te
laves
Il / elle /on
se
lave
Nous
nous
lavons
Vous
vous
lavez
Ils / elles
se
lavent
Au 18ème siècle, les linguistes ont voulu classifier ces verbes, car ils ont observé qu’ils n’exprimaient pas tous une action faites sur soi-même. Cette classification est intéressante.
Si vous êtes étudiants de français, vous devez connaître les verbes pronominaux fréquents et ne pas oublier de transformer le pronom en fonction de la personne.
L’accord du participe passé change aussi en fonction du type de verbes pronominaux.
Vous trouverez, en bas de cet article, une liste des leçons que j’ai faites sur ce sujet.
Classification des verbes pronominaux :
Les verbes pronominaux réfléchis
L’action se fait sur soi-même, comme nous l’avons dit plus haut. Par exemple :
Je me réveille = I wake up (myself)
Vous remarquez que ces verbes peuvent aussi s’utiliser à la forme standard (non pronominale) :
Je lave ma voiture = I wash my car Je la lave = I wash it
Verbes importants de ce type :
s’amuser
to have a good time /to amuse yourself
se coiffer
to brush your hair
se coucher
to go to bed
se détendre
to relax /to unwind
s’endormir
to fall asleep
s’énerver
to become irritable
se fier à
to trust
s’habiller
to get dressed
s’habituer à
to get used to
se laver
to wash (oneself)
se lever
to get (oneself) up
se marier
to get married
se méfier de
to distrust
se mettre à
to start, to begin
se moquer de
to make fun of, to mock
se promener
to take a walk
se reposer
to rest (oneself)
se réveiller
to wake (oneself) up
se sauver
to run away
se suicider
to kill oneself
se taire
to shut up / to be quiet
se tromper
to be mistaken
s’amuser
to have a good time /to amuse yourself
se coiffer
to brush your hair
se coucher
to go to bed
se détendre
to relax /to unwind
s’endormir
to fall asleep
s’énerver
to become irritable
se fier à
to trust
s’habiller
to get dressed
s’habituer à
to get used to
se laver
to wash (oneself)
se lever
to get (oneself) up
se marier
to get married
se méfier de
to distrust
se mettre à
to start, to begin
se moquer de
to make fun of, to mock
Les verbes pronominaux réciproques
Ces verbes sont utilisés au pluriel car les sujets exercent des actions les uns sur les autres. Par exemple :
Ils se battent (les uns contre les autres) = They fight (one against the other) (each other) Nous nous aimons (les uns les autres) = We love each other
Ces verbes peuvent aussi s’utiliser à la forme standard (non pronominale) :
Ils battent le record = they beat the record Je t’aime = I love you
Verbes importants de ce type :
Tous les verbes avec « entre »/ ex : s’entraider
To help each other
S’aimer
To love each other
Se battre
To fight each other
Se comprendre
To understand each other
Se réconcilier
To reconcile with each other
Se supporter
To stand
Se voir
To see each other
Se suivre
To follow each other
S’écrire
To write to each other
Se rassembler
To gather
Se ressembler
To look alike
Se succéder
To succeed
Ce sont des verbes qui ressemblent à tous les autres verbes non pronominaux, sauf que l’on ajoute un pronom devant.
Les verbes essentiellement pronominaux
Ce sont des verbes qui ne s’utilisent qu’à la forme pronominale. Le pronom ne représente rien ici et on ne peut pas le supprimer, car sinon le verbe ne veut rien dire ou change de sens. Par exemple :
Je ne m’aperçois de rien = I did not notice anything
Verbes importants de ce type :
Tous les verbes qui commencent par « s’auto » /ex : s’autocensurer
s’absenter
to be absent
s’abstenir
abstain
s’accouder
to lean
s’accroupir
to squat
s’agenouiller
to kneel
s’autocensurer
to self-censor
se blottir
to huddle
se contrebalancer *
counterbalance
se crasher
to crash
se cuiter *
to get drunk
se décarcasser*
to try and do something with energy
se déhancher
to wiggle
se démener
to trash about
se démerder *
to manage to do something
se désister
To withdraw
s’écrier
To exclaim
s’écrouler
To collapse
s’efforcer
To strive
s’emparer
To take over
s’empiffrer
To stuff oneself
s’empresser
To hasten
s’enfuir
To run away
s’entraider
To help each other
s’envoler
To fly away
s’évader
to escape
s’évanouir
To faint
s’exclamer
To exclaim
se fiche /se foutre
To does not care
se fier
to trust
se fritter *
To fall out
se gourer *
to make a mistake
s’insurger
To rebel
se marrer *
to laugh
se méfier
To beware
s’obstiner
To persist
se rebeller
To rebel
se réfugier
To take refuge
se réincarner
to reincarnate
se repentir
to repent
se suicider
To suicide
se trémousser
To wiggle
se vautrer
To spawl, to make a mistake
* verbe famillers
Les verbes pronominaux de sens passif
Ce sont des verbes qui ont le même sens qu’une forme passive. Par exemple :
Elle se fait prendre en photo par les journalistes = Elle est prise en photo par les journalistes. She is photographed by the journalists.
Ce livre se vend bien. This book is selling well.
Verbes importants de ce type :
Se boire
To be drunk
Se manger
To be eaten
Se vendre
To be sold
Se laisser
To be left
Se faire
To be …
Se prendre
To be taken
Se lire
To be red
Se dire
To be said
S’écrire
To be writen
S’accorder
To agree (grammar)
S’utiliser
To be used
Se consommer
To be consumed
Se régler
To be solved
Se trouver
To be located
Se situer
To be located
Se construire
To be built
Voilà ! J’espère que c’est plus clair pour vous maintenant. N’hésitez pas à regarder les vidéos que j’ai préparées sure ce sujet et à faire les exercices correspondant.
TEXT IN ENGLISH
Pronominal verbs are verbs for which the subject acts on himself.
They are called pronominal verbs because we add a pronoun before the verb. This pronoun shows that the action is performed on oneself:
Je me lave = I wash myself
In this example, the pronoun « me » replaces « myself ».
Thus, the infinitive is built with the pronoun « se » = SE LAVER (to wash yourself).
Note that the pronoun changes according to the subject doing the action:
Sujet
pronom
verbe
Je
me
lave
Tu
te
laves
Il / elle /on
se
lave
Nous
nous
lavons
Vous
vous
lavez
Ils / elles
se
lavent
In the 18th century, linguists wanted to classify these verbs, because they observed that they did not all express an action done on oneself.
This classification is interesting.
If you are a student of French, you should know the frequent pronoun verbs and not forget to transform the pronoun according to the person.
The agreement of the past participle also changes according to the type of pronominal verbs.
You will find at the bottom of this article a list of lessons I have done on this subject.
Classification of pronominal verbs:
Reflexive verbs
The action is done on oneself, as we said above. For example:
Je me réveille = I wake up (myself)
You notice that these verbs can also be used in the standard form (not pronominal):
Je lave ma voiture = I wash my car Je la lave = I wash it
Important verbs of this type:
s’amuser
to have a good time /to amuse yourself
se coiffer
to brush your hair
se coucher
to go to bed
se détendre
to relax /to unwind
s’endormir
to fall asleep
s’énerver
to become irritable
se fier à
to trust
s’habiller
to get dressed
s’habituer à
to get used to
se laver
to wash (oneself)
se lever
to get (oneself) up
se marier
to get married
se méfier de
to distrust
se mettre à
to start, to begin
se moquer de
to make fun of, to mock
se promener
to take a walk
se reposer
to rest (oneself)
se réveiller
to wake (oneself) up
se sauver
to run away
se suicider
to kill oneself
se taire
to shut up / to be quiet
se tromper
to be mistaken
s’amuser
to have a good time /to amuse yourself
se coiffer
to brush your hair
se coucher
to go to bed
se détendre
to relax /to unwind
s’endormir
to fall asleep
s’énerver
to become irritable
se fier à
to trust
s’habiller
to get dressed
s’habituer à
to get used to
se laver
to wash (oneself)
se lever
to get (oneself) up
se marier
to get married
se méfier de
to distrust
se mettre à
to start, to begin
se moquer de
to make fun of, to mock
Reciprocal verbs
These verbs are used in the plural because the subjects exercise actions on each other. For example:
Ils se battent (les uns contre les autres) = They fight (against each other) Nous nous aimons (les uns les autres) = We love each other
These verbs can also be used in the standard form (not pronominal):
Ils battent le record = they beat the record Je t’aime = I love you
Important verbs of this type:
All verbs starting with « entre » / ex : s’entraider
To help each other
S’aimer
To love each other
Se battre
To fight each other
Se comprendre
To understand each other
Se réconcilier
To reconcile with each other
Se supporter
To stand
Se voir
To see each other
Se suivre
To follow each other
S’écrire
To write to each other
Se rassembler
To gather
Se ressembler
To look alike
Se succéder
To succeed
These verbs resemble all other non-pronominal verbs, except that a pronoun is added in front.
Verbs essentially pronominal
These are verbs that are only used in the pronoun form. The pronoun does not represent anything here and we cannot suppress it, because otherwise it does not mean anything or changes meaning. For example:
Je ne m’aperçois de rien = I did not notice anything
Important verbs of this type:
All the verbs starting with « s’auto » / ex : s’autocensurer
s’absenter
to be absent
s’abstenir
abstain
s’accouder
to lean
s’accroupir
to squat
s’agenouiller
to kneel
s’autocensurer
to self-censor
se blottir
to huddle
se contrebalancer *
counterbalance
se crasher
to crash
se cuiter *
to get drunk
se décarcasser*
to try and do something with energy
se déhancher
to wiggle
se démener
to trash about
se démerder *
to manage to do something
se désister
To withdraw
s’écrier
To exclaim
s’écrouler
To collapse
s’efforcer
To strive
s’emparer
To take over
s’empiffrer
To stuff oneself
s’empresser
To hasten
s’enfuir
To run away
s’entraider
To help each other
s’envoler
To fly away
s’évader
to escape
s’évanouir
To faint
s’exclamer
To exclaim
se fiche /se foutre
To does not care
se fier
to trust
se fritter *
To fall out
se gourer *
to make a mistake
s’insurger
To rebel
se marrer *
to laugh
se méfier
To beware
s’obstiner
To persist
se rebeller
To rebel
se réfugier
To take refuge
se réincarner
to reincarnate
se repentir
to repent
se suicider
To suicide
se trémousser
To wiggle
se vautrer
To spawl, to make a mistake
* verbe famillers
Pronominal verbs with passive meaning
These verbs have the meaning of a passive form. For example:
Elle se fait prendre en photo par les journalistes = Elle est prise en photo par les journalistes. She is photographed by the journalists.
Ce livre se vend bien This book is selling well.
Important verbs of this type:
Se boire
To be drunk
Se manger
To be eaten
Se vendre
To be sold
Se laisser
To be left
Se faire
To be …
Se prendre
To be taken
Se lire
To be red
Se dire
To be said
S’écrire
To be writen
S’accorder
To agree (grammar)
S’utiliser
To be used
Se consommer
To be consumed
Se régler
To be solved
Se trouver
To be located
Se situer
To be located
Se construire
To be built
Voilà! I hope it’s clearer now. Ask me a question bellow if you did not understand something
‘’ On ’’ and ‘’ nous ’’ in French, what’s the difference?
You noticed that in French we have two pronouns that we use in a very similar way: « on » and « nous »
NOUS :
« Nous » comes from the Latin nōs. It replaces « je » + one or more other people. We translate it as « we » in english.
ON :
Before becoming a personal pronoun, « on » was a common name. « On » was first spelled « om », then « hom » and came from the Latin « homo » same as the word »homme » (man). Originally, then, »on » meant « man » in general. But with time it turned into a pronoun and lost this meaning.
Still, that’s the reason why we conjugate « on » in the singular even if today the meaning is plural!
Today, it can refer to:
• an indeterminate subject unknown to the speaker and is equivalent to « someone ». For example, when a person inside a room says (not knowing who it is) :
« On sonne à la porte. »
« Someone is ringing at the door. »
• a whole group of people, in the sense of « people ». For example:
« En France, on célèbre la Fête Nationale le 14 juillet. »
« In France, we celebrate the National Day on July 14th. »
• a general truth value, for example in proverbs:
« On n’est jamais aussi bien servi que par soi-même » » We are never as well served as by ourselves. »
• in the familiar register, it is very often used for the first person of the plural (in the sense of « nous »).
For example, someone with a group might say:
« Nous mangeons au restaurant ce soir.« « We eat at the restaurant tonight. »
In daily French, « on » has already replaced the subject « nous ». According to L. R. Waugh, in his corpus of conversational metropolitan French, « on » is used in 99% of cases, and « nous » only in 1% of cases!
So, in conclusion, when you speak, it is better to use »on » to sound more natural, except in a very formal situation; then you can use »nous », such as when you make an official speech, but it is quite rare.
In writing it is used more often, especially in formal letters addressed to the administration.
Voilà, I hope you understand better why we have this strange situation in French!
These professions that have no feminine in French!
Today, in the French language, there are various attempts to create feminine forms for the professions and they are not always unanimous.
in Quebec, Switzerland and Belgium, the feminine has long been generalized to all functions. In France, the resistance was greater but a consensus was found, more or less. Here is the list of occupations that posed the most problems and the solutions that have been found:
1. Chef (Boss or Chef)
The common point of these professions refractory to gender variation is their elitist and valued status. They are linked to management positions or intellectual occupations. However, the word cheffe as the feminine ofchef has been used more often over the pas few years (so it’s quite recent), especially when it translates » boss ». However, when it comes to the culinary field, the use of the feminine is still quite rare in my opinion.
2. Manager (Manager)
It is a widely used word in French, and has no feminine. In Quebec, this function name, borrowed from English, is often translated into French as »le Gérant / la Gérante ou le /la Gestionnaire ». In France you would say une manager. The absence of feminine form for this profession could be explained by its English origin, but on the other hand, the important social status and the leading position with which this post is associated could also have something to do with it.
3. Maire (Mayor)
Most of the nouns ending in -e in the masculine form have the same feminine form. They are called epicenes: le/la juge. The determinants and adjectives that accompany them are written in the feminine: une juge italienne, la maire adjointe. However, for some high-ranking professions such as the mayor, the male form has been used for a long time as the only form: we would have said » Madame le maire ». Today, we generally use » la maire » in France and » la mairesse » in Switzerland and Canada. In Belgium, » la bourgmestre » is used.
4. Gouverneur (Governor)
One of the rules of the feminine is that when we have a masculine ending with -eur the feminine ends with – euse [for nouns that have a verbal base] For example, the verb COIFFER > the profession is un coiffeur/une coiffeuse. However, it has been noticed that the suffix -eure has become very productive, and is now more frequently used to create the new words for femine professions, but only for intellectual functions with responsibility like gouverneure, superviseure, while we keep the suffix –euse to manual or less »prestigious » professions: serveuse, camionneuse, vendeuse, coiffeuse etc.
5. Professeur (Teacher, Professor)
Same for teacher. It was (some time ago ?) a prestigious profession that had no feminine. Today, if we want to feminize it, we use « teacher » and not » professeure » so as not to change our habits and not to « shock sensitive ears », because the pronunciation is the same.
6. Employeur (Employer)
For the same reason, the feminine » employeure » is used more often, even if » employeuse » exists in the dictionary!
7. Assureur (Insurer)
Personally, I have never heard anything other than the masculine for this profession. For example, I would say » mon assureur est madame x ». So, I imagine that if we had to definitely put it in the feminine, we would use » assureure » so as not to change the pronunciation.
8. Docteur (Doctor)
Another rule of the feminine is that when we have a masculine ending with -teur, the feminine ends with par – trice. But, the doctor having long been a man, the feminine who should have been » doctrice » has never been used. Today, the French-speaking countries have made different choices: » docteure » in France, » doctoresse » in Switzerland. Note that for the French, the forms » -esse » for professions seems old or even ridiculous (except maitresse d’école : school teacher) while they are very well accepted in Switzerland. All this being a matter of habit of course.
9. Auteur (Author)
For the same reasons, the female author should have been » une autrice ». And when it was necessary to feminize the word recently, many were in favor of autrice. However, it seems to me that, as the habit was used to speak with the masculine, the term » auteure » was preferred, probably because it did not change the pronunciation … nor the habits.
10. Ecrivain (Writer)
The form « écrivaine » is recent and seems to become the norm for the female writer.
11. Ingénieur (Engineer)
Sometimes the pronunciation of the regular feminine is not ideal, it is complicated to use it for some reasons of double meaning. Thus, » ingénieuse » is the feminine of the adjective » ingénieux » which means ingenious, clever, inventive. That’s why, to avoid any confusion with this word, the feminine » ingénieure » is used.
12. Pompier (Firefighter)
I have always heard that word in the masculine or sometimes with the expression » femme-pompier » which means »woman firefighter ». This sounds ridiculous, but apparently not as much as the word » pompière » that should be the regular feminine form but that no one seems to want to use. Why? I have not found a logical reason for it and I think it is probably a very objective criterion as: » that doesn’t sound nice ».
13. Médecin (Doctor)
For the doctor, the dictionaries do not attest any feminine form, although the French feminization guide suggests « médecine ». The problem is that the term « médecine » means medicine and refers to the science, which explains the refusal to use it. So, the most common method of feminization is the agreement of the feminine article: le médecin / la médecin.
Same for « un marin« (a sailor), we do not say « une marine » because this word means navy.
That’s it, my list is finished. However, I have one last question: Does the opposite problem exist? Are there professions that are only female? We can say that it is very rare. I found one:
Sage-femme (Midwife)
As this profession became more and more successful among men, it was necessary to find a male equivalent. The word » sage-homme » has been proposed but seems ridiculous (because it means wise-man) so we have, for the moment, kept the feminine word for men also. Thus, we say a » un homme sage-femme » (a midwife man)!
Voilà, so we see that the linguistic feminization of some professions has not always been simple and can still evolve because it is the users who has the right to life or death on a word.
We can summarize all this by saying that the intellectual and prestigious professions had more difficulty to find their feminine and that very often we used for the feminine version a written form which did not change the pronunciation and which is thus … identical to the masculine one when we speak!
All that for this
And you, do you have these kinds of problems in your language?
In French, do objects have a sex? Where does this strange idea come from? Who decided one day that the toothpaste was a man and the toothbrush a woman? This is a question I have always asked myself.
And I have the impression that no one really has a historical answer to it.
How to answer this question that a child would ask: » So the table is the desk wife? »
Milner, a linguist, wrote in 1988: » We could talk about the group « le » and the group « la » rather than masculine or feminine gender. «
Indeed, the masculine and feminine appellation seems a bit ridiculous for objects.
1. Gendre in various languages
You have probably noticed that the genre does not exist in all languages.
Some languages, like Danish, are have four genders: the masculine; feminine; neutral (gender neither masculine nor feminine); and the common (gender used for the masculine and feminine together).
Others, such as Russian, modern Greek, German or Slovene, have 3 genders: masculine, feminine and neutral.
English lost the gender at the Middle English stage. It is considered that English has a residual grammatical gender because some names have a hybrid behavior: animals, sometimes male or female and neutral, and, more surprisingly, land or sea vehicles often represented by the female pronoun.
Finally, some languages have no gender: most of the languages of Asia, the majority of Amerindian languages, the Uralic languages (Turkish, Mongolian, Japanese, Korean, etc.), the Finno-Ugric languages (Hungarian, Finnish , Estonian), and an isolated case among Indo-European languages: Armenian
Moreover, in languages where gender exists, words do not always have the same kind! ‘’Book’’ is masculine in French, neutral in German and feminine in all Slavic languages! It is so disturbing!
2. How to learn the gender in French
For native speakers, it seems that the gender is learned during early childhood in a natural and unconscious way without posing any problem.
But for non-native French students, this is one of the most complicated thing to master. Even at an advanced level many students make mistakes.
Rest assured, the fact of deceiving gender does not block communication, and Francophones are used to foreigners making mistakes about it.
However, we must admit that Latin-speaking people will still have fewer problems learning genders, because of the similarities between their language and French.
3. Classification according to the endings
So how can you know if a word is masculine or feminine?
Even if it does not seem like it, there are some rules related to the words endings.
Somewhat, intuitive people may not be attracted by this kind of complex classification.
However, rational and scientific people will no doubt be interested in these statistics and rules. That’s why I’m showing them to you here.
Masculine words are ending with:
termination
Number of words
Example
statistiques
Exceptions
AGE
1773
Un garage
99.66%
Une cage, une image, la nage, une plage, une page, la rage
ISME
1008
Le plurilinguisme
100%
0
MENT
794
Un changement
100%
0
UM
280
Le maximum
100%
0
EME
97
Un problème
96.9%
La bohème, une crème
EU
35
Un feu
100%
0
IL
122
Un mail
100%
0
ING
116
Un parking
100%
0
US
168
Un bus
Vénus
PHONE
x
Un téléphone
100%
0
SCOPE
x
Un télescope
100%
0
T
1976
Le vent
99.41%
Une forêt, une nuit, une dent, une part, la plupart
R
1556
Un déjeuner
90%
La mer, la chair, une cour, une tour + all words ending with ‘’eur’’
ON
± 262
Un pantalon
± 99 %
Feminine words are ending with:
termination
Number of words
Example
statistiques
Exceptions
ADE
193
Une limonade
98.45%
Un grade, le jade, un stade
UDE
46
Une certitude
93.48%
Un prélude, un interlude, un coude
TION / SION
2067
Une profession
100%
0
URE
509
La littérature
97.25%
Un augure, le bromure, le cyanure, le chlorure, un hydrocarbure, le mercure, un murmure, un parjure, le sulfure.
EUR
La peur
Le bonheur, un ascenseur, un ordinateur, un batteur, le bonheur, le malheur, l’honneur, le deshonneur, le labeur, un moteur.
ENCE / ANCE
499
une différence
100%
0
TÉ
986
La beauté
99.99%
Le karité
IE
1070
La vie
99.44%
Un brie, un caddie, un génie, un incendie, un messie
ÉE
233
Une dictée
89%
lycée périgée trophée pedigree musée
LLE
438
une ville
95.9%
Un antirouille, un arsouille, un bacille, un bidonville, le braille, un chèvrefeuille, un codicille, un drille, un gorille, un lactobacille, un millefeuille, un pedzouille, un portefeuille, un streptobacille, un vaudeville
