Family
Family
French nouns carry grammatical gender in a way English no longer does — but for family words, gender simply tracks the person's sex, so it lines up naturally with English he/she and matches your instincts closely.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
le/la for people — tracks sex, just like English he/she
le père (masc.) / la mère (fem.)
the father / the mother
French has only masculine and feminine (no neuter). For family words this is easy and intuitive: le/un for men, la/une for women — the same distinction English already makes with he/she, just extended onto the article and adjectives too, which English doesn't do. The harder part comes later — French also genders inanimate objects (la table, le livre) with no biological logic at all, something English has no equivalent for since it dropped noun gender entirely.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| la mère | lah mair | mother |
| le père | luh pair | father |
| le frère | luh frair | brother |
| la sœur | lah suhr | sister |
| la grand-mère | lah grahn-mair | grandmother |
| le grand-père | luh grahn-pair | grandfather |
| le fils | luh fees | son |
| la fille | lah fee | daughter |