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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

Cette semaine Genders

Plural of nouns To be and to have

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

Genders Can you tell the gender of the following nouns?

achat (something bought) fille (daughter) administration père aisance (ease) presse anxiété rail appartement raison attention tableau (painting/board) chapeau (hat) sœur corail vie (life)

From masculine to feminine Some nouns that refer to people can be ‘made’ feminine or masculine (it’s often the case for jobs and nationalities). See for example: un étudiant > une étudiante

un acteur > une actrice

un vendeur > une vendeuse (salesman / saleswoman)

un musicien > une musicienne

un passager > une passagère

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

feminine masculine une amie (friend) un ouvrier (worker, labourer) une chanteuse (singer) une directrice (director, head of…)

un Italien (an Italian man) une Française (a French woman)

un avocat (a lawyer) un râleur (a whinger) une bénéfactrice ( a female benefactor)

un cousin

Here are a few more examples. Can you find their meaning?

le tour la tour

le poste la poste

le moule la moule

le poêle la poêle

Match each pair with its meaning: 1) mold, form / mussel ; 2) stove / frying pan ; 3) trip, ride / tower; 4) job, tv set / post office

Some nouns have a feminine and a masculine form in which case they have a different meaning in the feminine and masculine form, for example: le livre means the book but la livre means the pound (UK currency or unit of meas-urement).

Try to make the following nouns either masculine or feminine

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

feminine masculine Allemagne (Germany)

l’Allemagne

Angleterre (England)

Australie

Brésil Canada Chili Chine Égypte Espagne États-Unis France Indonésie Japon Maroc Nouvelle-Zélande

Sénégal Turquie

The gender of countries Countries, continents, states, regions also have a gender and must, in most cases, be preceded by an article. When considering the name of a country (continent, etc), most of the time if the name ends with an –e, it will be femi-nine and others will be masculine. For example: l’Afrique, l’Amérique, l’Europe, l’Asie are all feminine. How about these ? Write the name of each country in the right column with the appropriate definite article.

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

The plural form of nouns

bijoux

aéroports administrations

objectifs

mosquées

Néo-zélandais

voix

sœurs niveaux

radios comédies

Above are some French words in the plural form.

Looking at them, what patterns or rules can you extrapolate?

Just like in English, to form the plural, you need to add and –s to the singular form. Don’t forget that in the plural form, the article changes too: le and la become les while un and une become des.

un stylo (pen) > des stylos une heure (hour) > des heures le papier (paper) > les papiers la feuille (sheet) > les feuilles Put the following words in the plural form – don’t forget the article.

une idée (idea)

l’assiette (plate)

un homme (man)

l’hôtel

un état (state)

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

Did you notice ? When you pronounce these words in the plural form with the article les or des first, you need to make a liaison with a –z– sound.

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

Some differences Nouns ending in –s, -x or –z Nouns ending in –s, -x or –z do not change, they do not take an –s in the plural form. See for example: le pays (country) > les pays la voix (voice) > les voix le gaz (gas) > les gaz Write the plural form of the following words – don’t forget the article.

le nez (nose)

le tapis (carpet)

la poix (pitch, tar)

Nouns ending in –au, –eau, –eu or œu Nouns ending in –au, –eau, –eu or œu do not take an –s but an –x in the plural form.* See for example: le feu (fire) > les feux le couteau (knife) > les couteaux le drapeau (flag) > les drapeaux Write the plural form of the following words – don’t forget the article.

le château (castle)

un vœu (wish)

le jeu (game)

*exceptions: le landau > les landaus; le pneu > les pneus.

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

Nouns ending in –al Most nouns ending in –al in the singular form end in –aux in the plural form.* See for example: un animal > des animaux un cheval (horse) > des chevaux *exceptions : le bal > les bals ; le carnaval > les carnavals ; un chacal > des chacals (jackal) ; le festival > les festivals Nouns ending in –ou Most nouns ending in –ou add an –s to form the plural.* See for example le clou (nail) > les clous le trou (hole) > les trous *exceptions : le bijou (jewel), le caillou (stone), le chou (cabbage), le genou (knee), le hibou (owl), le joujou (toy), le pou (headlice). These words add an –x to form their plural. Write the plural form of the following words – don’t forget the article.

le loup (wolf)

le journal (newspaper)

le sou (penny)

un bocal (jar, bowl)

le bijou

la peau (skin)

un bateau (boat)

un roi (king)

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

Complete the following sentences with the appropriate form of the definite article.

hôtel (m) ……… hôtel est près d’ici.

train (m) ………. train part bientôt.

image (f) Regardez ………… images!

équipe (f) Voilà ………. équipe de Béziers.

semaine (f) …… semaines passent vite.

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3

To be and to have In the following sentences, identify the verb and the subject.

Je suis de Sydney. Tu es australien ? Il est chinois. Elle est indonésienne. Nous sommes humains. Vous êtes étudiants. Ils sont enchantés. Elles sont ici.

J’ai un chat. Tu as un chien ? Il a 21 ans. Elle a un stylo. Nous avons un temps (weather) magnifique en Aus-tralie. Vous avez un temps horrible en Angleterre. Ils ont beaucoup de loisirs. Elles ont beaucoup de travail.

Complete this by adding the French equivalent.

To be I am _____________________________________ You are (sing.) _____________________________ He / she is ________________________________ We are __________________________________ You are (plur.) _____________________________ They are (masc.) __________________________ They are (fem.) ____________________________ To have I have ___________________________________ You have (sing.) ___________________________ He / she has ______________________________ We have _________________________________ You have (plur.) ___________________________ They have (masc.) ________________________ They have (fem.) __________________________

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FREN151 Tutorial A Week 3