When I was at school, we were told to start letters with Cher Monsieur if we didn’t know the gender of the person we were writing to. At the time, I believe the rule was to assume masculine until proven ...
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How do you refer to a male animal of a feminine-gender species? (Or vice-versa.)
Associations Editors(I could be wrong, I have no sources to back me up) Roger est très vieux. Roger Tortue est très vieux. This is a weird case. For me, that would be kind of a surname, so the agreement would be ...
Is Camille a male or female name?
Associations EditorsUsed for both, like Dominique or Claude (among the most frequently used). Camille est un prénom épicène. Voir aussi une liste de tels prénoms. Camille can be used for both. We have a word in French for words which can ...
« Champagniser » et « Champaniser » : prononciation selon le sexe du locuteur ?
Business EditorsIsolé car pour le prononcer, on doit coller la langue contre le palais, ce qui semble en faire un phonème isolé des autres. Atteinte dans le sens “les femmes font plus souvent l’effort de la prononcer”, elles arrivent plus souvent ...
If I am using a masculine word as a nickname for a woman, do I switch the possessive adjective to be feminine?
Associations EditorsThe correct answer is “mon gâteau”. You must accord “mon/ma” with the gender of the word, not yours. We say “Mon gâteau”, “mon chien”, “ma chaise”, “ma voiture”, etc. regardless of your gender. It is Mon gâteau, ton gâteau, son ...
« Ce témoin, appelé Marine, raconte » ou « Ce témoin, appelée Marine, raconte » ?
Business EditorsLes deux options sont, d’après moi, valides. Si vous voulez coller à la lettre de la règle grammaticale, vous écrivez : « Ce témoin, appelé Marine, raconte ». Si vous voulez coller à l’esprit de la règle grammaticale, vous écrivez : « Ce témoin, appelée ...
Is it offensive to address a group of women containing a man with “elles”?
Associations EditorsIt really depends on the context. But considering my own experience as a long haired man, most of the time when people realized the group contained not only women, then they apologize. It may be rude for some to be ...
Why doesn’t the gender of French nouns correspond to how those objects are used in real life?
Associations EditorsBecause the grammatical gender of object names is unrelated to the biological gender of their owners, unlike adjectives that do agree with the grammatical gender of the noun they qualify Word genders are often inherited from their Latin ancestors, if ...
What’s the usual usage of third person pronouns for feminine animal names like?
Associations EditorsFirst of all saying that “feminine words tend to derive from masculine words, and masculine is generally the “default” gender,” is most likely a false assumption that is not for discussion here. What about animals? The majority of animal names ...
Écriture épicène
Associations EditorsEn France, une controverse existe entre les partisans de l’écriture inclusive, qui revendiquent l’égalité hommes/femmes jusque dans la langue parce que la façon dont on dit les choses influence la façon dont on les pense, et ceux de l’Académie française ...