Masculin and féminine nous

GraceA0Kwiziq community member

Masculin and féminine nous

Please how will I know this word is a masculine or féminine nous


Asked 1 year ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Grace,

Maarten is correct for the gender of nouns. The most useful tip is to first check the articles ahead of the noun/word:

un / le chat = a /the cat -> masculin
une / la chemisea/the shirt  -> feminine

If it is about the gender of the subject pronoun "nous" (= we), only the context will tell you and/or checking the verb agreement if the verb is in Le Passé Composé (Compound Past) for example.

Nous sommes allées en vacances = We went on holidays

 -> "allées" is feminine plural so "nous" refers to a group of women.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

There are very few absolute rules that allow determination of the grammatical gender of a noun on its own, but there are some clues to what the gender will be, if thinking of a noun as standalone word.

 In context however, there are other grammatical clues to be spotted. 

Ultimately, knowing the gender of nouns comes through usage - and making it normal practice to learn nouns with their gender. Depending on the noun,  you can use articles ie le/la/un/une, possessives eg mon or ma, or adjectives - eg froid ou froide, heureux or heureuse etc etc - associated meaningfully with the noun to aid recall. 

Identifying the gender of nouns by some specific word endings in French

LuciaB2Kwiziq community member

You can check the nouns to which the nous refers

LuciaB2Kwiziq community member

You can check the nouns to which the nous refers

Masculin and féminine nous

Please how will I know this word is a masculine or féminine nous


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