Re: [vox] [ot] french

["R. Douglas Barbieri" <doug@doogliMAPSo.net>]

Plural markers in French don't really say much about the gender of a 
noun. A noun ending in -e can be feminine (la fenetre, la chaise, for 
example), but other times not: (le livre, l'homme). Usually -e is a 
marker attached to adjectives--since adjectives must agree with nouns in 
gender and number (for example "l'homme fous" vs "la femme folle" [the 
crazy man / woman] or "les femmes folles" [the crazy women]).

Don Werve wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 17, 2001 at 12:03:17PM -0800, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> 
>>you have to understand, i took one year of french in highschool and was way
>>more interested in the girl sitting next to me than the class itself.  :-)
>>i thought it was women because i thought "es" signified a plural feminine
>>noun.  or is something goofy going on like "man" is considered feminine in
>>french?
>>
> 
> I have never taken French, but I've picked up a bit here and there.  As far
> as I know, plurals are considered feminine in French, German, and Italian.
> 
> (German is my language, and yes, it's "Die Männer", not "Der Männer").
> 
> 



-- 
R. Douglas Barbieri
doug@dooglio.net
www.dooglio.net

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