3. Of nouns making their gender thus apparent there are, however, but few compared with those which, from the English student's view-point, do not; for animate as well as inanimate objects partake of sex, and are subject to an inscrutable language-fancy; [B] thus, compare:
|
Masculine. couteau, knife. plat, plate. pain, bread. pied, foot. |
Feminine. fourchette, fork. cuillère, spoon. viande, meat. tête, head. |
N. B.--Nouns occurring in the foregoing story have their genders affixed in the vocabulary.
[Footnote B: ][ (return) ] Some grammarians believe they have found a key by which this sexual chaos can be solved. They have ingeniously discovered in the language some sixty reliable rules, enabling the confiding student to tell which of the fifty thousand nouns take either the article le or the article la. As, however, the exceptions balance the normals, and as the student will have trouble enough without them, they have been excluded here, out of sympathy for him. By close attention, and frequent use of nouns with their proper articles, the student will easily overcome the gender difficulty, and acquire in time an unconscious knowledge of it. In using the correct article he need have no better reason than a French boy has, who will say le couteau because le fits the word and la couteau would sound funny.
§ 5. Formation of the Plural of Nouns.
1. As in English, the plural in French is formed by adding s to the singular.
|
age, âges, age, ages. banc, bancs, bench, benches. bonnet, bonnets, cap, caps. |
activité, activités, activity, activities. bâton, bâtons, stick, sticks. canard, canards, duck, ducks. |
2. To this rule are the following exceptions, as:
3. First exception. Nouns ending in s, x, or z do not change in the plural, as:
|
fils, fils, son, sons. bras, bras, arm, arms. |
voix, voix, voice, voices. nez, nez, nose, noses. |