A “pinch” of linguistics

The French vocabulary is numerically more limited than the English one. There are different ways of overcoming this shortage of words. It is usually done through some grammatical artifice. One of these consists in adding a group of words to the noun to clarify its meaning, where the English language usually has just one word. For example we say “le bouton de la chemise” (button), “le bouton de rose” (rosebud), “le bouton de porte” (doorknob) and to cut quite a long list of “boutons” short “le bouton sur le nez” which is a pimple on the nose! There are many other words requiring a little supplement to be correctly understood.

Another way of getting more meaning from a word through a grammatical device: changing the gender of a given word. For example:

• “le” or “la” livre, one you read (book) the other you spend or weigh items with(pound)
• “le” or “la tour”, one on your bike around France the other may be called Eiffel!
• “le voile” which is worn over the head by a nun or a bride whereas “la voile” will enable you to sail your boat
• a bunch of flowers goes into “le vase”, but the slimy stuff at the bottom of the river is “la vase”

You also have “le mousse”, the youngest sailor onboard a ship or “la mousse”. You can also have yet more choices by adding the first grammatical artifice of adding words, with the second of a different gender:

• “la mousse au chocolat” (chocolate mousse)
• “la mousse de la bière”, the white stuff on your pint
• “la mousse” you create when you wash with a piece of soap

to name but a few.

 

As if that wasn’t confusing enough, there is more to using the masculine and feminine in French! Many masculine nouns also have also a feminine form. Some are pretty straightforward: “un coiffeur” becomes “une coiffeuse” in the feminine form, where both mean hairdresser (a man or woman). Unfortunately there are cases where the meaning varies a little and doesn’t sound very flattering to a woman’s ear. To name a couple: “un homme léger” is charming and witty man, “une femme légère” implies a fallen woman. “Un petit gars” is a cute young lad, whereas “une petite garce” is a husband’s nightmare. One might speculate that this could due to the fact that French grammar was originally devised by male scholars… Luckily we are here to help you sort out the subtleties of our intriguing language!