27 - How to Change Masculine Nouns to Feminine in French (Q&A)
In this episode, you'll learn 8 rules to magically turn a masculine noun into a feminine noun. 🧚♀️ Make sure you listen until the end of the lesson for a little quiz!
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Links & Cheat Sheet
Lesson cheatsheet: How to Change Masculine Nouns to Feminine 📝
Lesson exercises: French Exercises Library 📚
Transcript
Intro: Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast, where I give you all the basics you need to speak French clearly and confidently. I'm your host, Mathilde, and I'm a French teacher, mumpreneur, and bread and cheese lover. Join me as I dive into all things French for beginners, and deliver to you bite-sized and easy-to-follow lessons every Tuesday. Let's get started, "on commence"!
Hi everyone, salut à tous! Welcome to the French Made Easy podcast! This is episode number 27, numéro 27. Thanks for joining me here today. Today's episode is a Q&A episode. I often ask my Instagram followers if there's a beginner topic they'd like to see on the podcast, and I had this message: "Salut Mathilde. I don't understand how to switch masculine words to feminine. Can you help? So, I'll reply to this question in detail in the first part of the episode, and after that, we'll do a little quiz so that you can test yourself.
Before we get started, make sure you have your lesson cheat sheet in front of you. You can download it for free on my website. After the lesson, download the free exercises, so you can practice what you've learned.
OK. Vous êtes prêts. Are you ready? C'est parti.
First, just to make sure we are on the same page, not all words can switch gender, ok? "Une table" (a table) is feminine and will stay feminine. "Un stylo," a pen, is masculine and will stay masculine. But the nouns that refer to people often, not always but often, have a masculine form that can be made feminine. And that's exactly what we're going to see in today's lesson.
Let's see what the gender switch rules are:
RULE #1
If the masculine noun ends with the letter -e, simple, you change nothing.
Example: un fleuriste (a male florist) ➡️ une fleuriste (a female florist)
RULE #2
If the masculine noun ends with a consonant, usually you add an -e.
Example: un étudiant (a male student) ➡️ une étudiante (a female student)
RULE #3
If the masculine noun ends with a vowel that is not an -e, you add an -e.
Example: un ami (a male friend) ➡️ une amie (a female friend)
RULE #4
If the masculine noun ends with -(i)er, you change it to -(i)ère.
Example: un banquier (a male banker) ➡️ une banquière (a female banker)
RULE #5
If the masculine noun ends with -(i)en, you change it to -(i)enne.
Example: un Parisien (a Parisian male) ➡️ une Parisienne (a Parisian female)
RULE #6
If the masculine noun ends with -(i)on, you change it to -(i)onne.
Example: un champion (a male winner) ➡️ une championne (a female winner)
RULE #7
If the masculine noun ends with -eur, you change it to -euse.
Example: un serveur (a waiter) ➡️ une serveuse (a waitress)
RULE #8
If the masculine noun ends with -teur, usually, you change it to -trice.
Example: un acteur (an actor) ➡️ une actrice (an actress)
Ok, that's it for the main rules. Now, some of these rules have exceptions, but to keep this episode short and sweet, I'll just put the exceptions down on the cheat sheet.
Now, even if they refer to a person, some words are entirely different in the masculine and feminine forms and you'll just have to learn them as you come across them in your studies.
For example:
un homme (a man) ➡️ une femme (a woman)
un garçon (a boy) ➡️ une fille (a girl)
un frère (a brother) ➡️ une soeur (a sister)
QUIZ
Ok, très bien, now let's move on to our quiz! Take your eyes off the cheat sheet!
I'm going to give you the masculine noun, and then you have a few seconds to answer and give me the feminine version. OK? On y va.
What's the feminine of...
un étudiant... ? une étudiante
un parisien...? une parisienne.
un serveur...? une serveuse
un acteur....? une actrice
Très bien. Now let's do the reverse. I'm going to give you the feminine noun, and then you give me the masculine version.
What's the masculine of...
une championne... ? un champion
une fleuriste...? une fleuriste
une amie...? un ami
une banquière...? un banquier
Woohoo très bien! How did you go?
On a fini la leçon d'aujourd'hui, we've finished today's lesson! Well done.
Thank you so much for listening! Don't forget to subscribe, so you don't miss out on any new episode and make sure you go and download your exercises. It's free! If you've liked this lesson, let me know on my website or my Instagram! I'd love to know!
I'll talk to you next week!
Merci beaucoup et à bientôt! 💗