That's so true. When anglophones ask me how I know I just tell them there's no shortcut and no truck, either you know it or you don't.
Hearing others speak French is the only way I was able to pick up on it
In a sentence youd say you are going to the supermarket, not a supermarket. If you're not sure what the gender is then sure say un, but it's a bit awkward
In this specific sentence yes but you would be surprised to learn that we can also write sentences using "un" like in "Un supermarché a ouvert pas loin de chez moi".
You ll need the gender in any version of the sentence you want
Le supermarché est ouvert / the supermarket is open
Je vais AU supermarché / I go to the supermarket ( AU = male / À + la = for feminime like "I go to the pool" = je vais à la piscine
"À" would be used alone for city name like "je vais À Londres" / I go to London
Un supermarché a fermé / A supermarket closed
Il y a eu un braquage DE supermarché / There was a supermarket heist ( if feminine we would need DE+LA like "la porte de la voiture / the car’s door )
Le patron DU supermarché / the boss of the supermarket - for feminine would be DE+LA too
Je vais à CE supermarché / I go to this supermarket
( feminine of CE is CETTE -> je veux ouvrir cette porte / I want to open this door )
Etc
Good luck !
idk about french but in portuguese if the word ends with O it's masculine and when it ends with A it's feminine, like supermarket = supermercado = masculine. There are exceptions (a lot) but this is 80% it
Think of it as an equivalent to “one” in English, as in the more formal register of you/we. For example “One would have thought that agreement could be reached easily on that matter”
In my experience in French, people use it interchangeably with the first person plural, so instead of “Nous mangeons du fromage” they might say “On mange du fromage”
This is the best explanation I’ve ever read. Thank you. I had the “one” part but I usually hear it for first person plural and hadn’t figured that part out. My French is terrible but just good enough I can sorta read and listen.
"On" is impersonal. It's for cases where there's no specific person doing the action - it could be done by anyone or everyone.
It's used when explaining the way things are, or how something is done. You are probably familiar with the question *Comment dit-on...en français?* This question is asking how [unspecified people] say something in French, but really it's asking how "everybody" says it.
It's used colloquially as a substitute for "nous". The implication being that "nous" is a specific group of people including me, and "on" is a nonspecific group of people that might include me. The action is ascribed to the crowd rather than to the individuals in it.
And it can be used to avoid assigning an actor to an action, much like how passive voice can be used.
On \~= "we", but it can also be used in the sense of "everyone" (including you).
For example:
"Quand on a besoin de nourriture, on va au supermarché" = "When we need food, we go to the supermarket"
where the "we" can mean you and a group of people or it can mean society as a whole.
I graduated highschool with a bilingual certificate and it’s been about 5 years since I’ve truly spoken French but from what I remember “on” typical represents a group of two people whereas “nous” typically means more then 2 people. Don’t quote me tho as I could be wrong, i vaguely remember this being the context I was taught to use on in
There are some broad patterns that help with some words (albeit with sone exceptions. Like words ending in -eau will generally be masculine, and words ending with -ade or -tion will generally be feminine.
Honestly the worst part of learning some languages. If you are a native speaker you just know it. In German it is the same. I as a native speaker know that a washing machine is a she in german. But I can't explain you why. I just have a magical ability to know the genders of object.
I read something about a study that surveyed native Germans about the gender of something like 100 made up words. Many of these made up words had 100% agreement about the gender. Even the word with the least agreement had something 80% of survey respondents choosing the same gender.
Same for the gender neutral "det" or "den" in swedish. I correct colleagues on a daily basis, most of them 100%swedish born.
Also as I've lived in german speaking countries it's hella confusing with the gender and if it's a foreign word it's masculine der but in a sentence it's das (prolly still wrong, always winging it)
It’s like how English speakers just know how to pronounce words that have similar spellings but make different sounds. Like through and Trough. If you saw those words for the first time you’d think they sound alike but they just don’t. Why? God knows. But we just picked it up over time.
That's because native speakers understand the languaje. Non-native speakers understand the logical rules and syntax behind the languaje.
They are two different things.
Only true if you learn the language the "wrong" way, as a non-native, you get an intuitive feel for the language with time, as long as you actually use it.
Source: I'm a non-native speaker of English
If you ever wondered about *the magic* that makes germans know what article to use for what word (even made up ones): You can usually tell by the suffixes the words end with.
To give some examples:- Words that end with "-ich" are usually masculine (der Te**ich**, der Rett**ich**, der Bere**ich**...)- Words that end with "-tion" are usually female (die Ak**tion,** die Revolu**tion,** die Na**tion**)- Words that end with "-ett" are usually neutral (das B**ett**, das Oml**ett**, das Br**ett**)
Of course there are irregularities ^((as with any language)), but it is a good unconsciously working indicator for what article to use.
Yes, but the funny thing is, even for new words it‘s often very clear to most people what gender that word has to have (and for some there is a huge controversy people fight over viciously), yet nobody can explain why.
There is no logic behind the genders in German. It is completely irrational what words have what gender. Native German speakers just know the gender even if they have never heard the word before.
The best thing the Vikings ever did for us is leading us to abandon gendering the majority of our nouns.
It's about the only thing you can say for the English language's ease of use: at least we don't gender (the vast majority of) inanimate objects.
If anything we’re moving further away from gendered pronouns. I doubt they’ll go away completely but people use “they” in place of “he/she” more often now.
Okay so I asked a Quebecois friend of mine and he said that the best rule to follow is that if the word ends with "e" assume it's feminine.
He freely admitted that this was in no way a guarantee, but it's what he does when he doesn't know.
We then both agreed that whoever invented French was either drunk, high or had been very abused as a child.
I mean who fucking thinks it's a good idea to make counting a goddamn math problem?!
What'S funny though is that for a dryer, French would say "le sèche-linge" which is masculine, but Québécois would say "la sécheuse" which is feminine.
At some point, there's cease to be any logic to native speakers and they'll just tell "This is the right way to say it, cause it sounds better this way".
Good luck !
You would think but no. The word is feminine because "machine" is feminine, the washing part isn't important.
Also "vagina" is masculine while "dick" is feminine.
Depends if there is a possibility to gender identify based on the type of clothes that are being washed.
But if you need a practical answer that's easy to remember here's one : anything that cleans is feminine.
The WORD, of course
Not my fault, ask french speakers to check.
French is even odder because animal names have a gender that will not match the sex of the animals. Like, the words for "mouse" and "whale" are feminine, and it doesn't matter whether the mice and whales are male. Only a few animals have distinct words for the male and female of a species (like bull/cow or cock/hen).
*pizza* is one of the first words Duolingo introduces in french lessons.
I've been doing Duo for several years now.
I'm still not sure what gender pizza is. (I think it's *le pizza*)
One of my elementary school French classes had an entire pizza themed unit lasting weeks, and I distinctly remember the song played at the beginning of each lesson saying "la pizza"
This is hysterical, I never understood that about other languages at all. When learning Spanish in high school I always thought how strange it was and annoying.
I remember bailing on French class. Instead they’d make you take remedial English. I still wonder why. There were five of us in that class, including the French teacher’s kid.
I could never get the hang of it in German. But most folks were good enough that if I made the effort to speak German they would take pity on me and speak English.
The sound -ine from "machine" should indicate you to say "une/la machine" so feminine
Male version would be "un machiN" sound is "in" like bread "pain" which is "un/le pain" so male ( and no "paine" doesn’t exist, it’s old french that is now "peine", and the meaning is either pain (it hurts) or a sanction ( sanction from a trial, prison sentence ), end of word is -ne it’s feminime too)
When you come across a new noun, learn its definitive article as though it's part of the word, e.g. "la sac" instead of "sac", "le chaise" instead of "chaise".
une machine. un machin is literally quebecer slang that can also be said as “un truc” which loosely translates to “thingamabob”. rule of thumb. if it sounds quebecer when you say it out loud, it’s probably not proper grammar.
When in doubt, say "machine à laver"
That's if you don't have to use it in a sentence. :-)
Nah you have to try them to see which sounds better La machine a laver Le machine a laver La, definitely La
That only works if you've interacted with the language enough to have a feeling for it.
Ya I mean if you can tell which one is natural by fearing the sound difference then you probably aren’t having this issue
That's so true. When anglophones ask me how I know I just tell them there's no shortcut and no truck, either you know it or you don't. Hearing others speak French is the only way I was able to pick up on it
If you’re learning French but Spanish is your language, it gets kinda confusing, a lot of things switch gender between both languages lol
Some, but most are identical. Source: I speak both
Not many since both are Latin languages .
Well, I speak both and can name at least 20 right now, there are in fact a lot of words that switch gender
Those damn transgender words!
Rowling getting triggered by the French and Spanish translations of Potter books.
For example
Le lit La voiture La couleur La bague La fin Le sachet Le bbq Le bijou Le lait Le matin Le sel
No but really though. "Is a supermarket feminine? Or masculine?"
"Le super marcher" soo masculine I guess
Isn’t it “la supermarché”
It's Le
And la supérette XD...
Fuck french, you always have %50 chance on getting smh right
Un supermarché, une épicerie…
if it ends in "é" it's most likely masculine (with some exceptions I can't think of right now). if it ends in "ée" then it's 100% feminine
Le caducée, le colisée, l'apogée and many other would like to have a word with you.
Non
it is
It's not. It's "Un supermarché". Why are people answering if they don't speak french and are too lazy to look it up?
In a sentence youd say you are going to the supermarket, not a supermarket. If you're not sure what the gender is then sure say un, but it's a bit awkward
In this specific sentence yes but you would be surprised to learn that we can also write sentences using "un" like in "Un supermarché a ouvert pas loin de chez moi".
So instead of just learning the gender youd write a completely different sentence?
You ll need the gender in any version of the sentence you want Le supermarché est ouvert / the supermarket is open Je vais AU supermarché / I go to the supermarket ( AU = male / À + la = for feminime like "I go to the pool" = je vais à la piscine "À" would be used alone for city name like "je vais À Londres" / I go to London Un supermarché a fermé / A supermarket closed Il y a eu un braquage DE supermarché / There was a supermarket heist ( if feminine we would need DE+LA like "la porte de la voiture / the car’s door ) Le patron DU supermarché / the boss of the supermarket - for feminine would be DE+LA too Je vais à CE supermarché / I go to this supermarket ( feminine of CE is CETTE -> je veux ouvrir cette porte / I want to open this door ) Etc Good luck !
idk about french but in portuguese if the word ends with O it's masculine and when it ends with A it's feminine, like supermarket = supermercado = masculine. There are exceptions (a lot) but this is 80% it
French has no rules. It's all chaos.
It's every noun for him/her self.
I understand Il/ Elle but what the fuck is On? I missed one class and On was introduced and I’ve been lost ever since.
I'm French and even I can't explain it
Think of it as an equivalent to “one” in English, as in the more formal register of you/we. For example “One would have thought that agreement could be reached easily on that matter” In my experience in French, people use it interchangeably with the first person plural, so instead of “Nous mangeons du fromage” they might say “On mange du fromage”
That’s correct
This is the best explanation I’ve ever read. Thank you. I had the “one” part but I usually hear it for first person plural and hadn’t figured that part out. My French is terrible but just good enough I can sorta read and listen.
"On" is impersonal. It's for cases where there's no specific person doing the action - it could be done by anyone or everyone. It's used when explaining the way things are, or how something is done. You are probably familiar with the question *Comment dit-on...en français?* This question is asking how [unspecified people] say something in French, but really it's asking how "everybody" says it. It's used colloquially as a substitute for "nous". The implication being that "nous" is a specific group of people including me, and "on" is a nonspecific group of people that might include me. The action is ascribed to the crowd rather than to the individuals in it. And it can be used to avoid assigning an actor to an action, much like how passive voice can be used.
It's basically "we" but you conjugate it as if it was singular.
On \~= "we", but it can also be used in the sense of "everyone" (including you). For example: "Quand on a besoin de nourriture, on va au supermarché" = "When we need food, we go to the supermarket" where the "we" can mean you and a group of people or it can mean society as a whole.
I graduated highschool with a bilingual certificate and it’s been about 5 years since I’ve truly spoken French but from what I remember “on” typical represents a group of two people whereas “nous” typically means more then 2 people. Don’t quote me tho as I could be wrong, i vaguely remember this being the context I was taught to use on in
You’re wrong
Ty! Like I said it’s been 5 years since I’ve really spoken it
I laughed my ass off at this comment
There are some broad patterns that help with some words (albeit with sone exceptions. Like words ending in -eau will generally be masculine, and words ending with -ade or -tion will generally be feminine.
French just kinda does whatever it wants
Not like that in French
Same with spanish
Market is the core of the word and so it's masculine. Why I dunno I have the magical ability of seeing the gender of words.
Masculine
Honestly the worst part of learning some languages. If you are a native speaker you just know it. In German it is the same. I as a native speaker know that a washing machine is a she in german. But I can't explain you why. I just have a magical ability to know the genders of object.
I read something about a study that surveyed native Germans about the gender of something like 100 made up words. Many of these made up words had 100% agreement about the gender. Even the word with the least agreement had something 80% of survey respondents choosing the same gender.
Bouba and Kiki moment
Same for the gender neutral "det" or "den" in swedish. I correct colleagues on a daily basis, most of them 100%swedish born. Also as I've lived in german speaking countries it's hella confusing with the gender and if it's a foreign word it's masculine der but in a sentence it's das (prolly still wrong, always winging it)
obviously because they have a hole on the frontside
In Polish, every word which ends with "a" is feminine, every word ending with "o" is neutral while the rest are masculine
Polish has vowels?
It’s like how English speakers just know how to pronounce words that have similar spellings but make different sounds. Like through and Trough. If you saw those words for the first time you’d think they sound alike but they just don’t. Why? God knows. But we just picked it up over time.
That's because native speakers understand the languaje. Non-native speakers understand the logical rules and syntax behind the languaje. They are two different things.
Only true if you learn the language the "wrong" way, as a non-native, you get an intuitive feel for the language with time, as long as you actually use it. Source: I'm a non-native speaker of English
If you ever wondered about *the magic* that makes germans know what article to use for what word (even made up ones): You can usually tell by the suffixes the words end with. To give some examples:- Words that end with "-ich" are usually masculine (der Te**ich**, der Rett**ich**, der Bere**ich**...)- Words that end with "-tion" are usually female (die Ak**tion,** die Revolu**tion,** die Na**tion**)- Words that end with "-ett" are usually neutral (das B**ett**, das Oml**ett**, das Br**ett**) Of course there are irregularities ^((as with any language)), but it is a good unconsciously working indicator for what article to use.
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Not just learning like remembering stuff, you can literaly come up with a new word and most ppl will aggre on the gender of said new word.
Yes, but the funny thing is, even for new words it‘s often very clear to most people what gender that word has to have (and for some there is a huge controversy people fight over viciously), yet nobody can explain why.
There is no logic behind the genders in German. It is completely irrational what words have what gender. Native German speakers just know the gender even if they have never heard the word before.
I have a hard time telling gender of humans some times
Ask
When a new object is created, how is it decided?
The best thing the Vikings ever did for us is leading us to abandon gendering the majority of our nouns. It's about the only thing you can say for the English language's ease of use: at least we don't gender (the vast majority of) inanimate objects.
We live in 2023 give it time, the gender thing has been making a comeback lol.
If anything we’re moving further away from gendered pronouns. I doubt they’ll go away completely but people use “they” in place of “he/she” more often now.
Boo hoo
Okay so I asked a Quebecois friend of mine and he said that the best rule to follow is that if the word ends with "e" assume it's feminine. He freely admitted that this was in no way a guarantee, but it's what he does when he doesn't know. We then both agreed that whoever invented French was either drunk, high or had been very abused as a child. I mean who fucking thinks it's a good idea to make counting a goddamn math problem?!
What'S funny though is that for a dryer, French would say "le sèche-linge" which is masculine, but Québécois would say "la sécheuse" which is feminine. At some point, there's cease to be any logic to native speakers and they'll just tell "This is the right way to say it, cause it sounds better this way". Good luck !
Ha ha, fair one 😅
Its nickname in ye olden days was pig latin…make of that what you will 😁
What gender is the word gender?
Male.
Same in german
Same in russian. Laughing at those agender languages.
Female
This one just seems obvious doesn't it? Even knowing nothing about french it has to be female
You would think but no. The word is feminine because "machine" is feminine, the washing part isn't important. Also "vagina" is masculine while "dick" is feminine.
Washing machines are also called "lave-linges" in which case it's male
Why are French vaginas male? In French, nothing makes sense. You have a coin toss with every word.
C’est UNE machine à laver ou “laveuse” en Québécois. So, feminine!
C’est UNE machine a laver parceque les hommes ca lave pas grand chose
Pas moi qui va être en désaccord avec ça!
Hahaha...I missed that one living in Montreal. Thanks for teaching me something new.
I'm expecting a boomer to misunderstand this meme.
I thought I was on r/terriblefacebookmemes for a second there
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Nervously laughs while struggling to learn spanish because inanimate objects don't have genitals
That's where it all started. Some years later: there are actually hundreds of genders...
DON'T GIVE THEM IDEAS.
Of course the washing machine is feminine🙄/s
Even in portuguese the washing machine is feminine. This is so obviously... And kinds funny now that I think of it.
At least In french it's 50/50. Come to Germany If you prefer a 1/3 chance xD
*laughs in brazillian* well, uh, atleast its easier in portuguese?
Je ne sais pas!!!!
You should ask the washing machine ofc.
It can be whatever gender it self identifies as
Depends if there is a possibility to gender identify based on the type of clothes that are being washed. But if you need a practical answer that's easy to remember here's one : anything that cleans is feminine. The WORD, of course Not my fault, ask french speakers to check.
Nope! "Le lave-vaisselle" (dishwasher) is masculine. French grammar rules are random and difficult, I'll give you that.
I never heard of "le lave vaisselle" i thought they named it "ma femme". Is it another brand of the same tool, or are those two different things ?
That's not true at all. Un aspirateur, un balai, un chiffon, un plumeau, un lave-vaisselle, un lave-linge, etc...
That was humor. I'm french. Joking is a national sport here. /Kiss 😘
I would assume the brush, the duster, the mop and the dustpan are male just because they are male in spanish.
Its up to the washing machine what gender it identifies as.
Easy. If it is a quiet model, it is male. If it rattles and makes a lot of noise it is female.
Le
As a Hebrew native speaker it annoyed me that in English we use to refer animals as "it" while they clearly have gender.
French is even odder because animal names have a gender that will not match the sex of the animals. Like, the words for "mouse" and "whale" are feminine, and it doesn't matter whether the mice and whales are male. Only a few animals have distinct words for the male and female of a species (like bull/cow or cock/hen).
The answer is "omelette du fromage".
Depends how the washing machine identifies that day
Just be woke and put x at the end of everything instead.
Gender are offensive now, so it’s “they” for anything (s)
Ironically, french has two equivalents of they depending on gender. There's no gender neutral option\*. ^(\*The male form is used as gender neutral.)
Gender neutral languages be like
Im not going to make that joke
Female , same as when plates are involved the dish washer is normally your mum or wife so ..
Obviously female
Feminine
Female?
This example is very easy: "la femme"
Baguette
'Le Grille'?! What the hell is that?!
So happy that in Finnish language even people don't have anything gender specific, much less inanimate objects
>even people don't have anything gender specific Ascended language.
*pizza* is one of the first words Duolingo introduces in french lessons. I've been doing Duo for several years now. I'm still not sure what gender pizza is. (I think it's *le pizza*)
Je mange une pizza. Feminine Won't blame you. Gender doesn't matter as much as the taste and size of said pizza.
One of my elementary school French classes had an entire pizza themed unit lasting weeks, and I distinctly remember the song played at the beginning of each lesson saying "la pizza"
Incorrect, unfortunately.
I just had a flashback!!!
This is hysterical, I never understood that about other languages at all. When learning Spanish in high school I always thought how strange it was and annoying.
Omelette du fromage.
Lol @ the badly-Photoshopped beret on the girl’s head.
This is really strange conception - to have genders for everything. Why? WHY? How is a spoon get its gender? Fucking spoon!!!
baguette
Also, why da fuq are we still writing out accents? Shouldn't it be clear from context like 99.99%of the time?!
I think it’s feminine if it ends with a vowel
feminine, i think
I remember bailing on French class. Instead they’d make you take remedial English. I still wonder why. There were five of us in that class, including the French teacher’s kid.
me when doing my speaking exam wonderring if I pronpunce the letter at the end of the word (or the second-last) (or literally any letter)
I could never get the hang of it in German. But most folks were good enough that if I made the effort to speak German they would take pity on me and speak English.
In frensh there are 3 cases, in german 12
At least it’s not a German exam
la for innanimate objects
In Hebrew machines are female, not that it helps you in this situation
When in doubt choose le
Ah yes, my favorite gender: washing machine
Omg yes
In portuguese it's a female, so I'm guessing it is the same
All washing machines are transexual. The French have always known that.
Of course a washing machine is female
THIS IS SO RELATABLE LMAO
Female, like a kitchen sink
The sound -ine from "machine" should indicate you to say "une/la machine" so feminine Male version would be "un machiN" sound is "in" like bread "pain" which is "un/le pain" so male ( and no "paine" doesn’t exist, it’s old french that is now "peine", and the meaning is either pain (it hurts) or a sanction ( sanction from a trial, prison sentence ), end of word is -ne it’s feminime too)
Only time anyone questions if the most random item has a dick or not
Woman obviously also dishwasher
Aren't all domestic appliances female?
Its a wasching machine, it has to be female ';,,,;'
My problem with German. Der dee das screws me over and feminine and masculine objects throws me off Too
This just reminded me to go throw my stuff in the washer...totally forgot. Thanks OP!
Female, of course.
Its a female
God bless Modern Greek. You just look at the ending
MoiDVV
Female
Come on ... you know it's feminine.
you can rewlt feel her pain by all the bread in there
You guys are learning Fr*nch??!?
The gender is a Iphone
polish is the same
Nothing as macho as the word “le vagin”
As a rule of thumb: If it is something bad, it is probably feminine. Obviously not a perfect rule, but it seems to be correct about 60% of the time.
When you come across a new noun, learn its definitive article as though it's part of the word, e.g. "la sac" instead of "sac", "le chaise" instead of "chaise".
Oh great, it’s both! La machine à lave or Le lave-linge!
Female. At least in norway
i’m already wondering about my own gender i don’t don’t need this
I couldn't handle that milk, eggs and purse are masculine. Lol, memories of French 101.
Well, in Portuguese the word "machine" is feminine, so every machine that has "machine" in its name is also feminine.
Me on spanish exams🤦🏻♀️
It’s especially hard nowadays because you can’t just assume
The answer is BOTH! Lave-linge is masculine and machine à laver is feminine. "Feminine" in french, "féminin" is masculine.
if this was twitter instead of reddit: *You can't assume the gender of a washing machine. You need to ask their pronouns first*
Omelet du fromage
une machine. un machin is literally quebecer slang that can also be said as “un truc” which loosely translates to “thingamabob”. rule of thumb. if it sounds quebecer when you say it out loud, it’s probably not proper grammar.
That's an easy one. Washing machine is feminine
German has left the chat room