masculine Archives - French Your Way

FYW 157 : Rules around French country names: why do you say EN France, AU Japon, AU Mexique?

February 7, 2018 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Did you know that French country names have a gender too? How can you tell whether they are masculine or feminine? Find out the rules behind saying where you’re at or where you’re from. After listening to this episode, French country names will have no more secret for you! Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this episode La France, la Belgique, la Russie, la Chine, l’Italie, l’Australie, l’Inde Le Canada, le Japon, le Maroc, le Chili, l’Iran, l’Equateur Le Mexique, le Mozambique, le Zambèze, le Zimbabwe Les Philippines, les Seychelles, les Iles Marquises Cuba, Haïti, … Read More →

FYW 110 : Animal Names in French

March 15, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Here's an interesting question I got from a student of French: “I understand that animal names in French are generally masculine and feminine (eg. une girafe) but if I am talking about a male girafe, can I say ‘un girafe’? Now, dear listener, how would you answer this question? Listen to this episode to find out! LINKS and RESOURCES "French Animal Names: What to Call Your Dog if it’s a Female" My article: " Masculine or Feminine? Telling the Gender of French Nouns" French Your Way Podcast, Episode 32: "How to Tell if a French Noun is Masculine or Feminine (Part 1)" French Your … Read More →

FYW 070 : Introduction to French Grammar (Part 2): adjectives, adverbs, pronouns

June 8, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This second episode about French grammar will explain what adjectives, adverbs and pronouns are in order to make learning French easier for you ...and you may find that you’re starting to reflect on how English language works too! Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this episode Check out my article (and get the free worksheet) LINKS and RESOURCES My article + free worksheet - “Introduction to French grammar: what type of word is this?” Introduction to French Grammar (Part 1): articles, nouns and verbs: frenchyourway.com.au/podcast69 My article - “Challenge: Can I … Read More →

FYW 069 : Introduction to French Grammar (Part 1): articles, nouns and verbs

June 1, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This episode about French grammar will be divided into 2 parts. It's an audio version of an article I wrote and published on my website (www.frenchyourway.com.au ) which has helped many students cover the basics of French grammar, that is to say: what's an article, a noun, a verb. (some of you haven’t learnt it at school). Believe me, this will help you with your French…and you may find that you’re starting to reflect on how English language works too! If you are a grammar-phobic person, I suggest you start by listening to episode 61 of this podcast, where I explain why it is important to … Read More →

FYW 053 : Irregular French Plurals : Masculine Words Ending in “_al”

February 10, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Learn or brush-up the rule for the irregular French plurals of masculine words ending in “_al”, then test yourself! Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this episode un journal (= a newspaper) un cheval (= a horse) un animal un festival un carnaval un bal (= ball, dance) un chacal (= jackal, wild dog) un étal (= stall, stand) un régal (= fest, delight, treat) un val (= valley, vale, glen) un code postal = a post/zip code mondial (= global/worldwide) un total (= an amount / a sum) LINKS and RESOURCES Read my written version of this episode: Irregular French … Read More →

Masculine or Feminine? Telling the Gender of French Nouns

September 23, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

New learners of French are often unsettled or scared when they find out –very early- that every noun had a gender: masculine or feminine. I hear you say: How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine? How the hell am I supposed to tell the gender of French nouns, to guess that the word” telephone” is masculine whereas the word “television” is feminine?? Well, the bad news is that you’ll need to learn/memorise it. And therefore you’ll need to set good learning habits from the start by memorising the gender of French nouns as part as your vocabulary! The good news (because there’s … Read More →

FYW 033 : How to Tell if a French Noun is Masculine or Feminine (Part 2)

September 23, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

This is the second part about how you can tell whether a noun is masculine or feminine in French! (For the first part, listen to French Your Way Podcast, episode 32). In last week’s episode, I’ve ran you through groups of words/categories which are generally masculine or feminine (eg: numbers, names of colours, trees, metals, etc were most often masculine nouns); today the categories we’ll see will be about the spelling of the words. The last letter of a French word can indeed give you a clue about its gender! I’ve also published an article about the gender of French words on my website … Read More →

FYW 032 : How to Tell if a French Noun is Masculine or Feminine (Part 1)

September 16, 2015 by Jessica Leave a Comment

New learners of French are often unsettled or scared when they find out that every French noun has a gender: it is either masculine or feminine. How to know whether a word is masculine or feminine in French? You need to learn it as part as the vocabulary and therefore create good learning habits from the start, so you build on strong bases. Plus, here are tips on how you can predict the gender of a word ! In this episode, I’ll talk about categories of nouns which tend to be either mostly masculine or mostly feminine. This should greatly help you! Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words … Read More →

French Animal Names : What to Call Your Dog if it’s a Female

January 8, 2015 by Jessica 7 Comments

I recently received a very interesting and unusual question that I had never been asked before. As the answer covers a few different areas, I was immediately inspired to write an article and share it with you. Thanks a lot Tish for your question! “I understand that animals are generally masculine and feminine (eg. une girafe) but if I am talking about a male girafe, can I say 'un girafe'? Imagine that I am writing a story with my children about 'une coccinelle' but the 'coccinelle' is a male whose name is Bruce. Do I refer to this 'coccinelle' throughout the story as 'il' or 'elle'? I even … Read More →

Irregular French Plurals : Masculine Words Ending in “_al”

January 6, 2015 by Jessica 1 Comment

Here is a common mistake I see among students of all levels of French, so I thought this short article would be useful, whether it is only a reminder or new to you ;-) Nouns Nouns ending in “_al” are masculine. Ex: un journal (= a newspaper) un cheval (= a horse) un animal un festival un carnaval, etc. These nouns have an irregular French plural.The plural form of these masculine nouns is generally “_aux”. Ex: un journal → des journaux un cheval → des chevaux un animal → des animaux There are a few exceptions of course : bal (= ball, dance), carnaval, chacal (= jackal, wild … Read More →