2. Nouns obviously denoting sex are of the corresponding gender; thus,
père, _father_; Jean, _John_; lion, _lion_, are masculine, while mère,
_mother_; Caroline, _Caroline_; lionne, _lioness_, are feminine.
3. Of nouns making their gender thus apparent there are, however, but
few compared with those which, from the English student's view-point, do
not; for animate as well as inanimate objects partake of sex, and are
subject to an inscrutable language-fancy;[B] thus, compare:
MASCULINE. FEMININE.
couteau, _knife_. fourchette, _fork_.
plat, _plate_. cuillère, _spoon_.
pain, _bread_. viande, _meat_.
pied, _foot_. tête, _head_.
N. B.--Nouns occurring in the foregoing story have their genders affixed
in the vocabulary.
[Footnote B: Some grammarians believe they have found a key by which
this sexual chaos can be solved. They have ingeniously discovered in the
language some sixty reliable rules, enabling the confiding student to
tell which of the fifty thousand nouns take either the article _le_ or
the article _la_. As, however, the exceptions balance the normals, and
as the student will have trouble enough without them, they have been
excluded here, out of sympathy for him. By close attention, and frequent
use of nouns with their proper articles, the student will easily
overcome the gender difficulty, and acquire in time an unconscious
knowledge of it. In using the correct article he need have no better
reason than a French boy has, who will say _le couteau_ because _le_
fits the word and _la couteau_ would sound funny.]
§ 5. FORMATION OF THE PLURAL OF NOUNS.
1. As in English, the plural in French is formed by adding _s_ to the
singular.
age, âges, _age_, _ages_.
banc, bancs, _bench_, _benches_.
bonnet, bonnets, _cap_, _caps_.
activité, activités, _activity_, _activities_.
bâton, bâtons, _stick_, _sticks_.
canard, canards, _duck_, _ducks_.