My dictionaries show les soldes as masculine. Is either correct?
Gender of Les soldes
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
That's an interesting one, Rita!
I must say that I would have agreed with Aurélie as I always heard it used in the feminine when meaning 'the sales' as in
J'ai vu des soldes intéressantes chez Monoprix
However, it appears that it should be masculine, ( although it still feels very very wrong to me).
Just to recap -
La solde du militaire = The soldier's pay
Le solde d'un compte = The balance of an account ( what is left to pay)
The reason why it should be masculine might be explained in the following page , but I still don't buy it!
Maarten K. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Les soldes - “the sales” is masculine according to Larousse, Robert and Académie Française.
Solde in the feminine referring to salary/wages in military.
It should be < Les Soldes Décevants >
PS: Just checked wordreference and interestingly it notes that the use of feminine for soldes (sales) is a common error, and having checked very close to home, it appears to be!
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Ask a question
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level