Nouns 73f Some words have two genders and two meanings depending on the gender chosen, e.g. aide
(line 6). In this case it is a feminine noun meaning help or a female helper. In the masculine it
refers to a male helper.
Other common nouns whose meaning varies depending on their gender:
masculine feminine
le critiquecritic la critiquecriticism
le livrebook la livrepound sterling
le manchehandle la manchesleeve, Channel
le mémoiredissertation la mémoirememory
le modeway, method la modefashion
le moulemould la moulemussel
le poêlestove la poêlefrying pan
le postejob, set (radio or TV) la postepost office
le sommenap la sommesum
le tourturn la tourtower
le vasevase la vasemud
le voileveil la voilesail
2 PLURALa Regular plural
The plural of most nouns is formed by adding -sto the singular form, whether masculine or
feminine, e.g. policiers(line 8), économies(line 12), façons(line 14) etc.
b Nouns ending in -sor -x
These do not change in the plural:
e.g. le cas/les cas(line 4), le vieux/les vieux(line 43)
c Nouns ending in -ou
Seven of these form their plural by adding -x, e.g. les bijoux(line 19). The others are le caillou,
le chou, le genou, le hibou, le joujou, le pou.
All other nouns ending in -ouform their plural by adding an -s, e.g. le trou/les trous.
Other points to note in the text- Articles and quantifiers: toute aide(line 6), toutes des voleuses(lines 6–7), de faux policiers
(line 11), les bijoux ou un gros chèque(line 99), notaire(line 33), les vieux(line 43), toutes les
autres violences(lines 30–1) (see Chapter 13). - Comparatives: Pis(line 29), davantage d’argent que(lines 56–7) (see Chapter 18).
- Tenses: passé composéand imperfect in paragraph 1 (see Chapters 2 and 3).
- Pronominal verbs: il se vantait(lines 2–3), il ne s’est pas méfié(lines 7–8), ne s’en est pas remis
(lines 12–13), se multiplient(lines 35–6), se sont délitées(line 39), se substituer(line 40) (see
Chapter 20). - Infinitives: there are numerous examples of infinitives throughout the text (see Chapter 22).