Editing French grammar (section)

==Nouns==

=== Gender ===
Every French [[noun]] has a [[grammatical gender]], either masculine or feminine. The grammatical gender of a noun <u>referring to a human</u> usually corresponds to the noun's <u>natural gender</u> (i.e., its referent's [[sex]] or [[gender]]). For such nouns, there will very often be one noun of each gender, with the choice of noun being determined by the natural gender of the person described; for example, a male singer is {{lang|fr|un chanteur}}, while a female singer is either {{lang|fr|une chanteuse}} (a pop singer) or {{lang|fr|une cantatrice}} (an opera singer). A plural noun that refers to both males and females is masculine. In some cases, the two nouns are identical in form, with the difference only being marked in neighbouring words (due to gender agreement; see [[#Articles and determiners|below]]); a Catholic man is {{lang|fr|un catholique}}, while a Catholic woman is {{lang|fr|une catholique}}. Nonetheless, there are some such nouns that retain their grammatical gender regardless of natural gender; {{lang|fr|personne}} 'person' is always feminine, while (at least in "standard" French) {{lang|fr|professeur}} 'teacher' is always masculine. In Canadian French, {{lang|fr|une professeure}} is the standard feminine form, which is becoming more and more common in European French.

A noun's gender is not perfectly predictable from its form, but there are some trends. As a very broad trend, nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-e}} tend to be feminine (e.g., {{lang|fr|une étoile}} 'a star', {{lang|fr|une voiture}} 'a car'), while the rest tend to be masculine (e.g., {{lang|fr|un ballon}} 'a balloon', {{lang|fr|un stylo}} 'a pen'), but it sometimes can be the opposite. More consistently, some endings, such as {{lang|fr|-sion}}, {{lang|fr|-tion}}, {{lang|fr|-aison}}, {{lang|fr|-ité}} and {{lang|fr|-logie}} occur almost exclusively with feminine nouns, while others, such as {{lang|fr|-aire}}, {{lang|fr|-isme}}, {{lang|fr|-ème}} and {{lang|fr|-ège}} occur almost exclusively with masculine ones. Many nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-e}} preceded by double consonants are also masculine (e.g. {{lang|fr|un cadre, un arbre, un signe, un meuble}}). Nonetheless, a noun that seems masculine judging by its ending might actually be feminine e.g., {{lang|fr|la peau}} 'the skin', {{lang|fr|une dent}} 'a tooth' or vice versa e.g., {{lang|fr|le coude}} 'the elbow', {{lang|fr|un squelette}} 'a skeleton' are masculine. [[Noun clause]]s are masculine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/search?source=anglais&query=it+is+disappointing|title=it is disappointing – Traduction française – Linguee|work=Linguee.fr|access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref>

A very small number of nouns can be used either in masculine or feminine gender with the same meaning (e.g., {{lang|fr|après-midi}} 'afternoon'). Often one gender is preferred over the other. Some (very rare) nouns change gender according to the way they are used: the words {{lang|fr|amour}} 'love' and {{lang|fr|délice}} 'pleasure' are masculine in singular and feminine in plural; the word {{lang|fr|orgue}} 'organ' is masculine, but when used emphatically in plural to refer to a church organ it becomes feminine ({{lang|fr|les grandes orgues}}); the plural noun {{lang|fr|gens}} 'people' changes gender in a very unusual way, being usually masculine but triggering feminine agreement when certain adjectives precede the word.

Other nouns change meaning depending on which grammatical gender they are used in. For example, {{lang|fr|le critique}} (masculine) refers to a critic, while {{lang|fr|la critique}} (feminine) means criticism; {{lang|fr|le livre}} refers to a book, while {{lang|fr|la livre}} means the pound (in the sense of both weight and currency). Similarly, {{lang|fr|le voile}} means "veil", whereas {{lang|fr|la voile}} means "sail".<ref>{{cite book |last=Arragon |first=Jean-Claude |date=1986 |title=French Grammar |publisher=NTC Publishing Group |page=[https://archive.org/details/frenchgrammar00arra/page/58 58] |isbn=0-8442-3772-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchgrammar00arra/page/58 }}</ref>

The vocabulary of French includes many [[homophone]]s, i.e., pairs of words with different spellings but the same pronunciation. Grammatical gender, however, may serve to distinguish some of these. For example, {{lang|fr|le pot}} 'the pot' and {{lang|fr|la peau}} 'the skin' are both pronounced {{IPA|[po]}} but disagree in gender.

=== Number ===
As in English, nouns inflect for [[grammatical number|number]]. 

Orthographically, the plural is usually formed from the singular by adding the letter {{lang|fr|-s}} (cf. {{lang|fr|maison > maisons}} 'houses'). Nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-au, -eu,}} and {{lang|fr|-ou}} often take the ending {{lang|fr|-x}} instead (cf. {{lang|fr|jeu > jeux}} 'games'). However, the endings {{lang|fr|-s}} and {{lang|fr|-x}} are in most cases not pronounced, meaning that in speech the plural form of a noun generally has the same pronunciation as the singular. Nouns that end in {{lang|fr|-s, -x}} or {{lang|fr|-z}} in the singular are left unchanged in the plural in both pronunciation and spelling (cf. {{lang|fr|croix > croix}} 'crosses', both pronounced {{IPA|[kʁwa]}}).

[[Liaison (French)|Liaison]] between a plural noun and a following adjective is one case where the plural ending {{lang|fr|-s}} or {{lang|fr|-x}} may be pronounced: {{lang|fr|des fenêtre'''s''' ouvertes}} {{IPA|[dɛ fənɛtʁə'''z'''‿uvɛʁt]}} ("open windows"). However, this form of liaison usually only appears in careful formal speech (for example by newsreaders). In most everyday speech singular and plural forms of most nouns are therefore homophonous in all contexts.

In spoken French, the plurality of most nouns is marked not on the form of the noun itself but by a preceding article or determiner (cf. {{lang|fr|la maison}} [la mɛzɔ̃] 'the house' > {{lang|fr|'''les''' maisons}} [le mɛzɔ̃] 'the houses'; {{lang|fr|mon frère}} [mɔ̃ fʁɛːʁ] 'my brother' > {{lang|fr|'''mes''' frères}} [me fʁɛːʁ] 'my brothers').

French nouns whose spoken plural forms are distinguished from the singular include most of those ending in {{lang|fr|-al}}, whose plural form is {{lang|fr|-aux}} (cf. {{lang|fr|cheval}} {{IPA|[ʃəval]}} > {{lang|fr|chevaux}} {{IPA|[ʃəvo]}} 'horses'), as well as a few nouns ending in {{lang|fr|-ail}} that also follow this pattern (cf. {{lang|fr|travail}} {{IPA|[tʁavaj]}} > {{lang|fr|travaux}} {{IPA|[tʁavo]}} 'works'). Three nouns form completely irregular plurals: {{lang|fr|aïeul}} {{IPA|[ajœl]}} > {{lang|fr|aïeux}} {{IPA|[ajø]}} 'ancestors' (but {{lang|fr|aïeuls}} {{IPA|[ajœl]}} 'grandfathers'); {{lang|fr|ciel}} {{IPA|[sjɛl]}} > {{lang|fr|cieux}} {{IPA|[sjø]}} 'heavens' (but {{lang|fr|des ciels de lit}} 'bed canopies'); and {{lang|fr|œil}} {{IPA|[œj]}} > {{lang|fr|yeux}} {{IPA|[jø]}} 'eyes' (but {{lang|fr|des œils-de-bœuf}} 'oculi' (round windows), {{lang|fr|des œils-de-perdrix}} 'calluses' (on the feet)). Three other nouns have regular plurals in spelling but have irregular pronunciations: {{lang|fr|bœuf}} {{IPA|[bœf]}} > {{lang|fr|bœufs}} {{IPA|[bø]}} 'oxen, cattle'; {{lang|fr|œuf}} {{IPA|[œf]}} > {{lang|fr|œufs}} {{IPA|[ø]}} 'eggs'; and {{lang|fr|os}} {{IPA|[ɔs]}} > {{lang|fr|os}} {{IPA|[o]}} 'bones'.

As with English, most uncountable nouns are grammatically treated as singular, though some are plural, such as {{lang|fr|les mathématiques}} 'mathematics'; some nouns that are uncountable in English are countable in French, such as {{lang|fr|une information}} 'a piece of information'.

=== Case ===
Nouns in French are not inflected for any other grammatical categories. (However, personal pronouns are inflected for [[grammatical case|case]] and [[grammatical person|person]]; see [[#Pronouns|below]].)