Tài liệu Speed up your french

fb.com/ebook.sos ebooksos.blogspot.com Speed Up Your French Speed Up Your French is a unique and innovative resource that identifies and explains the errors most commonly made by students of French. From false friends to idiomatic expressions and the use of prepositions, each of the nine chapters focuses on an aspect of the language where English speakers typically make mistakes. Full explanations are provided throughout with clear, comprehensive examples, enabling students to acquire a surer grasp of French vocabulary and idiom, as well as grammar. Key features: • • • • carefully selected grammar topics and examples based on the most commonly made errors extensive exercises and answer key to reinforce learning, link theory to practice and promote self-study use of mnemonic devices, including illustrations, to aid understanding supplementary exercises and answer key available at www.routledge.com/ cw/jubb. Suitable for either classroom use or self-study, Speed Up Your French is the ideal resource for all intermediate learners of French wishing to refine their language skills. Margaret Jubb is Honorary Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Aberdeen. Speed Up Your Language Skills SERIES EDITOR: Javier Muñoz-Basols, University of Oxford, UK The Speed Up Your Language Skills series publishes innovative, high-quality textbooks focusing on common errors as an effective tool to improve one’s skills in a foreign language. Such errors are often either driven by linguistic transfer from English or caused by common misperceptions about the grammatical structure of a foreign language. The primary objectives of the series are to explain and illustrate in context the most common errors made by English-speaking students in a foreign language and to classify them in easy-to-reference categories. Students can thus learn the appropriate usage of words and expressions and understand the reasons why they persistently make the same mistakes. The inclusion of exercises, shortcuts, mnemonic devices and much-needed strategies, not usually seen in conventional grammar books, facilitates vocabulary acquisition and mastery of essential grammatical elements. Books in the series are intended as primary or supplementary texts at the intermediate and advanced levels. Due to its self-explanatory approach and userfriendly format, the series is also recommended for self-learners who wish to ‘speed up’ their language skills. Available titles in the series: Speed up your Arabic Sebastian Maisel Speed up your Chinese Shin Yong Robson Speed up your French Margaret Jubb Speed up your Korean Lucien Brown and Jaehoon Yeon Speed up your Spanish Javier Muñoz-Basols, Marianne David and Olga Núñez Piñeiro Speed Up Your French Strategies to avoid common errors Margaret Jubb First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Margaret Jubb The right of Margaret Jubb to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Jubb, Margaret A. Title: Speed up your French : strategies to avoid common errors / Margaret Jubb. Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, [2016] | Series: Speed up your Language Skills | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015035056| ISBN 9781138849990 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138850002 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315725062 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: French language—Grammar—Problems, exercises, etc. | French language--Errors in usage. | French language—Textbooks for foreign speakers—English. Classification: LCC PC2460 .J83 2016 | DDC 448.2/421—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015035056 ISBN: 978-1-138-84999-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-85000-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-72506-2 (ebk) Typeset in Swiss 721 and Zapf Calligraphic by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK Additional materials are available on the companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/jubb Contents Introduction vii 1 Gender and number 1 2 Mastering false friends: verbs 34 3 Mastering false friends: nouns 53 4 Mastering false friends: adjectives and adverbs 90 5 Common verb phrases and idiomatic expressions 110 6 Pronominal verbs 137 7 Problem pairs and other misused expressions 160 8 Use of prepositions 187 9 Spelling and more 215 Appendix 1: Use of prepositions with names of countries and islands Appendix 2: Answer key to exercises Bibliography Index 230 235 245 247 This page intentionally left blank Introduction This book is intended for English-speaking students, either at secondary school or at university, who have attained an intermediate level in French. It is designed primarily as a guide for self-learning, though it could also be used as a supplement to classroom materials, both for intermediate-level students and for more advanced students who need to revise particular areas of the language. It focuses on the aspects of foreign language, such as false friends, idiomatic expressions, and the use of prepositions that typically cause English speakers difficulty in their production and understanding of French. The aim is to enable students to identify, understand and overcome their errors in order to become more competent and confident language users with a surer grasp of vocabulary and idiom, as well as grammar. The illustrative examples that accompany the sections of explanation are as important as the explanations themselves in encouraging students to break old connections based on false analogies with English and form new connections and associations with other related French expressions. Students will develop their own learning strategies through active engagement with the material in the book, but at particular points mnemonic devices are suggested, both for immediate support and in the hope that they will encourage the creation of other self-tailored devices. Throughout the book, it is emphasised that the examples given can rarely be exhaustive, and students are advised, when appropriate, to consult a good bilingual dictionary or a reference grammar to further their independent learning. Active learning is promoted by the extensive exercises and answer key for selfchecking. In each chapter, the final exercise takes the form of a continuous text with gaps to be filled. Unlike the earlier sentence-based exercises, each of which relates to a particular section or sections of a chapter, this final exercise covers the whole chapter and serves as a revision tool. It would be impossible to cover in a single book every type of common error, so a selection has necessarily had to be made. The author has deliberately decided viii Speed Up Your French not to write a revision grammar, but rather to follow the precedent set by the Spanish volume in the Speed Up Your Language series with a focus on vocabulary and idiom as much as on grammar. This book brings together a variety of material, accompanied by exercises, that is not readily available elsewhere in such a systematised form. We hope that it will enable students to improve their mastery of French not only by avoiding common errors but also by acquiring a deeper understanding of the language and a richer range of expression. Chapter 1 deals with the gender and number of simple and compound nouns in French. The first part underlines how important it is for students to learn the gender of nouns so they can improve the accuracy of their spoken and written French. A list of general patterns helps to predict the gender of a noun, in some cases according to meaning, but more often according to ending. Notable exceptions are highlighted and attention is drawn to common problem nouns. Some subtleties of the language are then explored by discussing nouns that change meaning according to gender, e.g. un crème (a white coffee) as opposed to la crème (cream), or whose gender varies according to use, e.g. tous les braves gens (m.), but toutes les vieilles gens (f.). The second part of the chapter focuses on the formation of the plural of simple and compound nouns in French. It then highlights differences between the two languages in their treatment of the plural, discussing cases where a plural in French corresponds to a singular in English and vice versa. The final section of the chapter tackles common problems with adjective agreements, which arise as soon as matters of gender and number are considered. Chapters 2, 3 and 4, though they deal respectively with verbs, nouns, and adjectives and adverbs, all focus on the phenomenon of ‘false friends’, which are a common cause of error for English-speaking students. These words look like English words, but they have a different meaning. In each chapter, there are two lists, the first consisting of ‘false friends’ proper and the second of words whose meaning overlaps partially with the assumed English equivalent. Example sentences are chosen to illustrate the meaning of the words in context and useful phrases are given to help fix them in the memory. Related words and synonyms are discussed, all with the aim of expanding students’ vocabulary and accuracy of usage. Chapter 5 deals with common phrases and idiomatic expressions used with the verbs aller, avoir, donner, être, faire, mettre, prendre, tenir, tomber and venir. If students are not aware of the variety of ways in which these verbs are used and how often their meaning is not a literal one, e.g. venir de faire quelque chose (to have just done something), common errors of misunderstanding may arise. This chapter encourages students to add these expressions to their active, as well as their passive, vocabulary. Chapter 6 highlights pronominal verbs like se débrouiller (to manage). Englishspeaking students of French are sometimes surprised by the frequency with which Introduction ix these verbs occur when there is no reflexive or reciprocal meaning at issue. This chapter explains how and why they are used, and distinguishes between the pronominal and non-pronominal usage of verbs like améliorer/s’améliorer (to improve). It also discusses the use of a pronominal verb to translate an English passive and the distinction, often problematic for an English speaker, between action and state, as in elle s’assied (she sits down) and elle est assise (she is sitting). Chapter 7 examines so-called problem pairs and other misused expressions. The problems discussed in the first part of the chapter arise from pairs or groups of French words that students sometimes find it difficult to choose between. These include: verbs such as savoir and connaître; nouns such as le parti, la partie, and la part; the pronouns y and en; and the adjective meilleur and the adverb mieux for ‘better/best’. The next section of the chapter considers common French expressions that have more than one meaning, e.g. arriver (to arrive or to happen). The chapter concludes by highlighting some common French expressions that are sometimes misused, e.g. il s’agit de (it is a question of; it is about) or misunderstood, e.g. tu me manques (I miss you). Chapter 8 deals with the use of prepositions. This is an area that can still cause difficulties even for quite advanced language learners, because usage is idiomatic and frequently different from English. The opening material is sub-divided into four categories (place, time, manner, measurement). Differences between the two languages in each category are then highlighted and mnemonic devices are provided to help reinforce the points. The remaining four sections of the chapter discuss: (i) common translation problems from English to French posed by particular prepositions; (ii) French verbs with two different usages, e.g. penser à and penser de; (iii) different constructions in English and French after a verb, e.g. dépendre de (to depend on); (iv) the translation of English phrasal verbs, e.g. ‘to swim across’, into French. Chapter 9 presents spelling and more. It highlights key differences between French and English with regard to spelling, capitalisation and the presentation of numbers. It also focuses on particular features of French, such as the use of accents, elision and the notion of the aspirate ‘h’. The exercises enable students to practise the various conventions and hence improve the professional appearance of their written French. Appendix 1 is intended to complement Chapter 8 by providing students with more detailed information about the usage of prepositions with names of countries and islands. Experience has shown that although general guidance, as given in Chapter 8, is a good starting point, students often need more specific guidance and more information than they can find in a dictionary about a variety of place names. Appendix 2 provides answers to the exercises contained in the chapters of the book. x Speed Up Your French Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank Javier Muñoz-Basols, the creator and editor of the Routledge Speed up your Language series, for inviting me to submit a proposal for this French book and for his advice and encouragement in the early stages. I am grateful also to Samantha Vale Noya and Ruth Berry at Routledge for their guidance throughout the publication process. My particular thanks are due to my former colleague at the University of Aberdeen, Dr Roger Ravet, who has read the text carefully and given detailed feedback on it. Former students have also helped me, often unknowingly, by raising questions and so identifying problem areas for learners of French. Website Supplementary exercises for all the chapters are available on the companion website, www.routledge.com/cw/jubb. Author Margaret Jubb was Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Aberdeen until she retired in 2014. She has an MA in Modern and Medieval Languages (French and Spanish), a PhD in French from the University of Cambridge, and a PGCE from the University of Nottingham. Before becoming a university lecturer, she taught French and Spanish to A level in a sixth-form college. At the University of Aberdeen, she taught French at all levels from first-year beginners to final-year Honours students. She is the co-author with Annie Rouxeville of French Grammar in Context, 4th edition (Routledge, 2014) and the sole author of Upgrade Your French, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2007). 1 Gender and number Gender Gender according to meaning Gender shown by ending Gender of compound nouns Nouns that change meaning according to their gender Nouns whose gender varies according to use Number The plural of nouns The plural of compound nouns Differences between French and English in the treatment of the plural The agreement of adjectives: common problems 2 2 5 10 14 20 23 23 26 29 31 It is vital to learn the gender of nouns in French so that you can use the correct form of the article and make the necessary adjective and past participle agreements. The first part of this chapter outlines some general patterns that 2 Speed Up Your French can help you remember the gender of nouns and highlights common nouns that tend to cause problems. It also draws attention to nouns that change meaning according to their gender. The second part of the chapter discusses the formation of the plural and highlights cases where a plural noun in French corresponds to a singular noun in English and vice versa. It concludes by discussing common problems with adjective agreements. Gender Gender according to meaning 1 Gender and sex In general terms, most nouns referring to males are masculine and most nouns referring to females are feminine, e.g. un homme (a man), une femme (a woman), un garçon (a boy), une fille (a girl). In the past, nouns referring to professions predominantly occupied by men had only a masculine form, e.g. un juge (a judge), un médecin (a doctor), un ministre (a minister), un professeur (a teacher). A French government commission in the 1980s proposed feminine forms for such nouns, but it has taken time for some of these to be accepted into general usage. For instance, although une médecine for a female doctor is allowed, normal usage is une femme médecin. With some nouns, it is possible simply to change the determiner from masculine to feminine, e.g. un / une maire (a mayor), un / une ministre (a minister). In direct address to women, you will find either the masculine or the feminine article, e.g. Madame le Ministre or Madame la Ministre. If possible, it is advisable to ask the woman in question what she prefers. Usage varies according to register, user and country, so the abbreviated form, la prof, is quite common in familiar language, especially among young people, whereas la professeure has yet to gain widespread acceptance in metropolitan France, though it is accepted in Canadian French. Some nouns are always feminine, even when they refer to a man, e.g. une connaissance (an acquaintance), une personne (a person), une victime (a victim). Some nouns can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the sex of the person concerned, e.g. un / une camarade (a friend), un / une collègue (a colleague), un / une élève (a pupil). The same applies to all nouns ending in -iste that refer to people, e.g. un / une touriste (a tourist). Some nouns change their form, as well as their gender, depending on the sex of the person concerned. Some examples of regular patterns are given below. Gender and number 3 un ami un employé un candidat un berger un paysan un hôte un prince un acteur un lecteur une amie une employée une candidate une bergère une paysanne une hôtesse une princesse une actrice une lectrice un instituteur un chanteur un voleur une institutrice une chanteuse une voleuse a friend a worker a candidate a shepherd / shepherdess a farmer a host / hostess a prince / princess an actor / actress a reader; a language teaching assistant a primary school teacher a singer a thief Irregular patterns include the following: un époux un héros 2 une épouse une héroïne a husband / wife a hero / heroine Gender and other categories Most nouns in the following categories are masculine. • Names of trees and shrubs, e.g. un chêne (an oak tree), un pommier (an apple tree) • Names of fruits and vegetables not ending in -e, e.g. un ananas (a pineapple), un chou (a cabbage) • Names of languages, with no exceptions, e.g. le français (French), le russe (Russian) • Names of colours, e.g. le blanc (white), le bleu (blue), le rouge (red). Exception: l’écarlate (scarlet) is feminine. • Names of metric weights and measures, cardinal numbers and most fractions, e.g. un gramme, un litre, un deux (a two), un tiers (a third), un dixième (a tenth). Exception: la moitié (half). Note also la livre (pound; half a kilo) and the historical measure of distance, la lieue (league) • Names of days of the week, months, seasons and points of the compass, e.g. le dimanche (Sunday), janvier dernier (last January), un printemps tardif (a late spring), le nord (North) The names of most fruits and vegetables ending in -e are feminine, e.g. une banane (banana), une pomme (apple), une courge (vegetable marrow). Exceptions: un pamplemousse (grapefruit), un concombre (cucumber). 4 3 Speed Up Your French Gender of place names As a general rule, the names of countries are feminine if they end in -e and masculine if they do not, e.g. le Canada le Danemark le Japon le Maroc le Portugal la Belgique la Chine la France la Norvège la Syrie Exceptions: le Cambodge, le Mexique, le Mozambique, le Zimbabwe Similarly, the names of most French regions, départements and rivers are feminine if they end in -e and masculine if they do not, e.g. le Languedoc le Jura le Lot la Normandie la Lozère la Loire Exceptions: le Finistère, le Maine, le Rhône and the names of foreign rivers, many of which are masculine even though they end in -e, e.g. le Danube, le Gange, le Tage, le Tibre, le Tigre The names of states and regions in other countries follow the general rule and are feminine if they end in -e and masculine if they do not, e.g. le Massachusetts le Texas la Californie la Floride Exception: British counties are generally masculine, even if they end in -e, e.g. le Sussex, le Lincolnshire, le Yorkshire The names of towns are normally masculine. Le grand Londres a une population de plus de 8 millions. (Greater London has a population of more than 8 million.) However, in formal written French, names that end in -e or -es are sometimes treated as feminine, e.g. Bruxelles fut occupée par les Allemands en 1940. (Brussels was occupied by the Germans in 1940.) If the name of a town includes a definite article, any accompanying adjectives or participles must agree with the gender of the article, e.g. Le Havre est situé en Normandie. La Baule est située en Loire-Atlantique. (Le Havre is in Normandy. La Baule is in the Loire-Atlantique.) Gender and number 5 4 Gender of cars, other vehicles and machines Usually, the gender of makes of vehicles and machines is the same as the gender of the general noun. Une voiture (a car) is feminine, so makes of car are feminine, e.g. une Ford, une Renault, une Jaguar (as distinct from un jaguar, which is an animal). Un avion (a plane) is masculine, so types of plane are masculine, e.g. un Boeing. Une cuisinière (a cooker) is feminine, so types of cooker are feminine, e.g. une Belling. Gender shown by ending It is impossible to predict with complete accuracy the gender of a particular noun according to its ending, but there are nevertheless some general patterns that can help. If in doubt, always check the gender of a noun in a dictionary. 1 Masculine Many nouns whose singular written form ends in a vowel (excluding -e without an acute accent) are masculine and many nouns whose singular written form ends in a consonant are also masculine. However there are some important exceptions to this very broad generalisation. The more detailed list of endings below will give you a better indication that a noun is likely to be masculine. In most cases, there are a few common exceptions to note. • -age, e.g. le chômage (unemployment), un stage (a training course or work placement) Exceptions: une cage (a cage), une image (an image), une page (a page), une plage (a beach), la rage (rabies) • -ai, -oi, e.g. un délai (a time limit), un emploi (job) Exceptions: la foi (faith), une loi (a law) • -ail, -eil, -ueil, -euil, e.g. un détail (a detail), un conseil (a piece of advice), un accueil (a welcome), un écureuil (a squirrel) • -at, e.g. le chocolat (chocolat), un résultat (a result) • -é (except -té and -tié), e.g. un marché (a market), un thé (a tea) Exception: la clé (key) 6 Speed Up Your French • -eau, e.g. le couteau (knife), le gâteau (cake), le tableau (picture), le veau (veal) Exceptions: l’eau (water), la peau (skin) • -ède, -ège, -ème, e.g. un remède (a medicine, a cure), un collège (a secondary school), un poème (a poem), un problème (a problem), un thème (theme; prose translation) Exception: la crème (cream), but see section below on nouns that change meaning according to their gender for un crème (a white coffee) • -er, whether pronounced or not, e.g. un hiver (a winter), le dîner (dinner) Exceptions: une cuiller (a spoon), la mer (the sea) • -ès, whether pronounced or not, e.g. un palmarès (a list of winners), un procès (a trial), un succès (a success) • -et, e.g. un billet (a ticket), un secret (a secret) • -i, e.g. un cri (a shout), un parti (a political party), le lundi, le mardi, etc. (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) Exceptions: une fourmi (an ant), la merci (mercy), but see section below on nouns that change meaning according to their gender for un merci (a thank you) • -ier, e.g. un chevalier (a knight), un clavier (a keyboard), un peuplier (a poplar tree) • -ing, e.g. un brushing (a blow dry), un parking (a car park) • -isme, e.g. le christianisme (Christianity). Note in particular: le féminisme (feminism) • -ment, e.g. un bâtiment (a building), un mouvement (a movement) Exception: une jument (a mare) • -oir, e.g. un soir (an evening), le terroir (land) • -ou, e.g. un bijou (a jewel), un voyou (a yob) • the consonants -b, -c, -d, -g, -k, -p, -q or -z, whether pronounced or not, e.g. un club (a club), un sac (a bag), un regard (a look), un poing (a fist), un bifteck (a steak), un coup (a blow), un coq (a cock), un nez (a nose) 2 Feminine A common, but rather dangerous, generalisation is that many nouns whose singular written form ends in -e without an acute accent are feminine. There are numerous exceptions to this rule, in particular the masculine nouns ending in -age, -ède, -ège, -ème, -isme noted in the section above. Gender and number 7 The more detailed list of endings below will give you a better indication that a noun is likely to be feminine. In most cases, there are a few common exceptions to note. • -ace, e.g. une menace (a threat), la race (race) Exception: un espace (space), but see section below on nouns that change meaning according to their gender for une espace (a space in printing) • -ade, e.g. une promenade (a walk), une salade (a salad) Exceptions: un / une camarade (a friend), un / une malade (a patient), le grade (rank), un stade (a stadium; stage) Note the phrase: à ce stade (at this stage) • -aie, e.g. la craie (chalk), la monnaie (currency, change) • -aine, -eine, -oine, e.g. la haine (hatred), une semaine (a week), une douzaine (a dozen), la peine (trouble), l’avoine (oats) Exceptions: un capitaine (a captain), un chanoine (a canon), un moine (a monk), un domaine (an estate, a field / domain), le patrimoine (heritage) • -aison, e.g. une comparaison (a comparison), une maison (a house), une raison (a reason), une saison (a season) • -ance, -anse, -ence, -ense, e.g. une croyance (a belief), une danse (a dance), une influence (an influence), une dépense (an expense) Exceptions: le silence (silence), le suspense • -èche, -èque, -èse, -ève, e.g. une crèche (a crib, a creche), une bibliothèque (a library), une thèse (a thesis), une grève (a strike) Exceptions: un chèque (a cheque), un / une élève (a pupil) • -ée, e.g. la durée (duration), une idée (an idea), la marée (tide), une pensée (a thought). Exceptions: un athénée (an athenaeum; a secondary school in Belgium), un lycée, un musée (a museum) • -euse, e.g. une religieuse (a nun), une mitrailleuse (a machine gun), une berceuse (a lullaby) • -ie, e.g. la biologie (biology), une boulangerie (a baker’s), une partie (a part), la pluie (rain), une vie (a life) Exceptions: un génie (a genius), un incendie (a fire), le Messie (the Messiah), un sosie (a double, look-alike) • -ière, e.g. une bière (a beer), une lumière (a light), une manière (a manner, way), une rivière (a river) Exceptions: un cimetière (a cemetery), le derrière (behind, rear) • -ine, e.g. une cuisine (a kitchen), une machine (a machine), une piscine (a swimming pool), une vitrine (a shop window) Exception: un magazine 8 Speed Up Your French • -ise, e.g. une brise (a breeze), une crise (a crisis), une église (a church) Exception: un pare-brise (a windscreen) See section below on compound nouns • -sion, -tion, e.g. une occasion (an opportunity), une question (a question), une situation (a situation) Exception: un bastion • -lle, -ille, -sse, e.g. une poubelle (a dustbin), une bulle (a bubble, a balloon in a cartoon), une feuille (a leaf), une famille (a family), une caresse (a caress), une hausse (rise), une tasse (cup) Exceptions: un intervalle (an interval), un violoncelle (a cello), un / une gosse (kid) • -ette, e.g. une chaussette (a sock), une fourchette (a fork) Exception: un squelette (a skeleton) • -ffe, -nne, -ppe, e.g. une truffe (a truffle), une personne (a person), une enveloppe (an envelope) Exception: un renne (a reindeer) • -té and -tié, e.g. la bonté (goodness), la santé (health), la vérité (truth), une amitié (a friendship), la moitié (half) Exceptions: un arrêté (an order, decree), un comité (a committee), un côté (a side), l’été (summer), le pâté (pâté; block of houses), un traité (a treaty) • -tte, e.g. une carotte (a carrot), une lutte (a struggle) • -tude, e.g. une habitude (a habit), la solitude (solitude) • -ure, e.g. une couverture (a blanket), une injure (an insult), la nature (nature), la nourriture (food) Exceptions: chemical substances, e.g. le mercure (mercury) and un murmure (a murmur) 3 Some more problematic endings and some common mistakes to avoid -a The common mistake is to assume that nouns with this ending are feminine, as you might expect them to be if you are familiar with Latin, Italian or Spanish. There are some feminines in French, e.g. une cafétéria, une pizza, une villa, but there are also many masculines, e.g. un agenda (a diary), un cinéma, un panorama, un opéra, un visa. -mme, -rre The common mistake is to assume that most nouns ending in -e, and particularly those ending in a double consonant + -e are feminine. In fact there are more masculine than feminine nouns that end in -mme and -rre. They include un dilemme (a dilemma), un programme (a programme), le beurre (butter), le tonnerre (thunder), un verre (a glass). Common feminine nouns include une femme (a woman), une gamme (a scale), une guerre (a war), une pierre (a stone), la terre (the earth).