📖LearnModule 15 · Lesson 24 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2 mastery — the capstoneUnit 5 · La grammaire de la précision
Le genre, une dernière fois
Module 15 of the free French course (CEFR C2 mastery — the capstone), lesson 24 of 30: Fourth: gender, and specifically the nouns that look wrong. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 24.
The words
French
English
Say it
le système
the system
luh sees-TEHM
le programme
the program
luh proh-GRAHM
la science
science
lah SYAH(n)S
la plage
the beach
lah PLAHZH
le genre du nom
the gender of the noun
luh zhah(n)r dew NOH(n)
sans exception
without exception
sah(n) zehk-sehp-SYOH(n)
une large part
a large share
ewn lahrzh PAHR
contre-intuitif
counter-intuitive
koh(n)-truh a(n)-tew-ee-TEEF
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Fourth: gender, and specifically the nouns that look wrong. Le problème, le système, le programme are masculine; la page, la plage, la cage are feminine; le silence and la science sit side by side.
Et aussi · And also
Abstract nouns in -tion, -sion, -té and -ure are feminine almost without exception, and that one rule covers a very large share of C2 vocabulary.
Attention · Watch out
le problème, le système, le programme are masculine despite the -e; la page, la plage, la cage are feminine. Nouns in -tion, -sion, -té and -ure are feminine almost without exception — la science too, but le silence.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le système.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 24 in Module 15 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.