Gender of instruments?
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Ron
Kwiziq community member
17/09/17
Bonsoir Elise,
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

Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
13/10/17
Bonjour Elise !
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://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564
Bonne journée !
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://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564
Bonne journée !

Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
13/10/17
Bonjour Elise !
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://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564
Bonne journée !
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://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564">https://french.kwiziq.com/studylists/view/1188564
Bonne journée !
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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?
This question relates to:
French lesson "Jouer de = to play an instrument"