French quick question? 10 POINTS TO THE MOST HELPFUL ANSWER.?

Question

I have a test tomorrow, and a part of it is listening. Such as, we have to figure out which word is masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural and feminine plural JUST BY LISTENING TO THEM. So it's not like I can figure it out by just looking at the endings. I was wondering...is there any type of way to say all of those four categories differently? Or do all of them sound the same when spoken? 10 POINTS TO THE MOST HELPFUL ANSWER.

Answer 1

Yes because masculin is LE ( ex: LE chien )

Feminine is LA ( ex: LA voiture )

Pluriel is LES ( ex: LES chiens )

Good luck hope it helps

Answer 2

Well,, to answer your question i found that to non french speaking anglophones it does sound the same,,However ,, I'll try and give you a quick trick since your in a hurry,, in general,, the Female part of things..takes more letter...so it is longer when you hear it..kinda like 'extended' if you will.. example..:

Bon (masculin/boy) and Bonne (Féminin/girl) that word meant good btw.. now for another..the word will be Beautiful or cute or nice depending on context or if an object or person..so here goes.. Beau(masculin/boy)

or Belle (féminin/girl), the idea is that the Feminine part of french words is usually longer in prononciation, albeit not always that much, but still.there is a difference..problem i found with a lot of english speaking folks is that they pronounce and use the Masculine..or Short word most of the times.even if it`s feminine noun or pronoun,,if you can manage to get the idea that feminine requires a little longer enonciation, it might hellp you get ahead. Hoewever, if your dealing with the basics like 'Le' or 'La' then you need to have studied for that.. but those terms are usually for pre addressing an object like for instance the word Table..you would use La..because table in french is feminine/girl but that is the basics,, for other stuff..noun..etc..use the trick if it helps..be attentive. Of course this answer is formulated with the fact that your test is tomorrow, LOL.. Good Luck! :)

Answer 3

The answer to your question is both "yes" and "no" because it often depends on what the particular word is. If the word does not specifically describe a male or female, then you may be out of luck (for example, the word for "house" (= "maison") is feminine, and there is nothing in its pronunciation that indicates that fact- you simply have to memorize its gender. However, for words that specifically refer to humans (and many animals), the difference between masculine and feminine CAN be heard most of the time (for example, in "étudiant" the final '-t' is silent, but in "étudiante" the final '-t' IS pronounced. Those examples apply to many nouns, but adjectives also often have differing pronunciations between the masculine and feminine form (for example, "heureux" vs. "heureuse"). Most of the time, the difference between singular and plural cannot be heard in isolation (for example, "étudiant" and "étudiants" sound the same when they are said by themselves, and "étudiante" and "étudiantes" likewise sound identical by themselves). However, if the noun is spoken with its article, then it becomes easy- "l'étudiant" vs. "l'étudiante" vs. "les étudiants" vs. "les étudiantes." Hopefully, that makes sense.* Also, for plurals, if they are followed by a word that starts with a vowel (or silent 'h-'), then the final '-s' IS usually pronounced (for example, "étudiants timides" vs. "étudiants intelligents").



I hope that helps you. :)



*You can enter all the above French words in Google translate and click the speaker button to hear them pronounced. http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/

Answer 4

If you listen to them, you know their endings. Problem solved.

You should have studied those words sooner, then you would recognise them without any problem.

Answer 5

Masculine French word endings:



-age

Exceptions: la cage, une image, la nage, la page, la plage, la rage



-b



-ble

Exceptions: une cible, une étable, une fable, une table



-c

Exception: la fac (apocope of la faculté)



-cle

Exception: une boucle



-d



-de

Exceptions: la bride, la merde, la méthode, la pinède; -ade, -nde, -ude endings



-é

Exceptions: la clé, la psyché; sé, té, and tié endings



-eau

Exceptions: l'eau, la peau



-ège

Exception: la Norvège



-et



-eur

Note: this applies mainly to names of professions and mechanical/scientific things; also see -eur on the feminine endings page



-f

Exceptions: la soif, la clef, la nef



-i

Exceptions: la foi, la fourmi, la loi, la paroi



-ing



-isme



-k



-l



-m

Exception: la faim



-me

Exceptions: une alarme, une âme, une arme, la cime, la coutume, la crème, l'écume, une énigme, une estime, une ferme, une firme, une forme, une larme, une plume, une rame, une rime, -mme ending



-ment

Exception: une jument



-n

Exceptions: la façon, la fin, la leçon, la main, la maman, la rançon; -son and -ion endings



-o

Exceptions: la dactylo, la dynamo, la libido, la météo, la moto, la steno (most of these are apocopes of longer feminine words)



-oir



-one



-ou



-p



-r

Exceptions: la chair, la cour, la cuiller, la mer, la tour (see feminine -eur)



-s

Exceptions: la brebis, la fois, une oasis, la souris, la vis



-ste

Exceptions: la liste, la modiste, la piste; names for people like un(e) artiste, un(e) nudiste, etc.



-t

Exceptions: la dent, la dot, la forêt, la jument, la mort, la nuit, la part, la plupart



-tre

Exceptions: la fenêtre, une huître, la lettre, la montre, la rencontre, la vitre



-u

Exceptions: l'eau, la peau, la tribu, la vertu



-x

Exceptions: la croix, la noix, la paix, la toux, la voix











Feminine French words endings:





-ace



-ade

Exceptions: le grade, le jade, le stade



-ale

Exceptions: un châle, un pétale, un scandale



-ance



-be

Exceptions: un cube, un globe, un microbe, un tube, un verbe



-ce

Exceptions: un artifice, un armistice, un appendice, le bénéfice, le caprice, le commerce, le dentifrice, le divorce, un exercice, un office, un orifice, un précipice, un prince, un sacrifice, un service, le silence, le solstice, le supplice, un vice



-cé

Exception: un crustacé



-e

Note: most countries and names that end in e are feminine



-ee

Exception: un pedigree



-ée

Exceptions: un apogée, un lycée, un musée, un périgée, un trophée



-esse



-eur

Note: this applies mainly to abstract qualities and emotions, except le bonheur, l'extérieur, l'honneur, l'intérieur, le malheur, le meilleur. Also see -eur on the masculine endings page.



-fe

Exception: le golfe



-ie

Exceptions: un incendie, le foie, le génie, le parapluie, le sosie



-iere

Exceptions: l'arrière, le cimetière, le derrière



-ine

Exceptions: le capitaine, le domaine, le moine, le magazine, le patrimoine



-ion

Exceptions: un avion, un bastion, un billion, un camion, un cation, un dominion, un espion, un ion, un lampion, un lion, un million, le morpion, un pion, un scion, un scorpion, un trillion



-ique

Exceptions: un graphique, un périphérique



-ire

Exceptions: un auditoire, un commentaire, un dictionnaire, un directoire, un horaire, un itinéraire, l'ivoire, un laboratoire, un navire, un pourboire, le purgatoire, le répertoire, le salaire, le sommaire, le sourire, le territoire, le vocabulaire



-ise



-ite

Exceptions: l'anthracite, un ermite, le granite, le graphite, le mérite, l'opposite, le plébiscite, un rite, un satellite, un site, un termite



-lle

Exceptions: le braille, un gorille, un intervalle, un mille, un portefeuille, le vaudeville, le vermicelle, le violoncelle



-mme

Exceptions: un dilemme, un gramme, un programme



-nde

Exception: le monde



-nne



-ole

Exceptions: le contrôle, le monopole, le rôle, le symbole



-rre

Exceptions: le beurre, le parterre, le tonnerre, le verre



-se

Exceptions: un carosse, un colosse, le gypse, l'inverse, un malaise, un pamplemousse, un parebrise, le suspense



-sé

Exceptions: un exposé, un opposé



-sion



-son

Exceptions: un blason, un blouson



-té

Exceptions: un arrêté, le comité, le comté, le côté, un député, un été, le pâté, le traité



-tié



-tion

Exception: le bastion



-ude

Exceptions: le coude, un interlude, le prélude



-ue

Exception: un abaque



-ule

Exceptions: le préambule, le scrupule, le tentacule, le testicule, le véhicule, le ventricule, le vestibule



-ure

Exceptions: le centaure, le cyanure, le dinosaure, le murmure