French Grammar in Context

a Gender

• Ve r b+ nounare masculine, e.g. le tire-bouchon, le gratte-ciel.


• Noun+ nountake the gender of the principal noun, which is usually the first, e.g. le mot-clé,
  la pause-café.


• Noun+adjective(or vice versa) take the gender of the noun, e.g.un rond-point, un grand-
  parent.

b Plural

The rules for the plural of compound nouns are complex, but they can be reduced to a few

guiding principles:

• Verb + noun
  The verb part remains invariable. Never add -sto a verb! Some nouns remain invariable,
  others take a plural, e.g. les gratte-ciel, les tire-bouchons.


• Noun + noun in apposition or noun + adjective
  Both parts are put in the plural, e.g. les mots-clés, les pauses-cafés, les grands-parents, les ronds-
  points.


• Noun + prepositional phrase
  The first word takes a plural, the second remains invariable, e.g.
  l’arc-en-ciel/les arcs-en-ciel, le chef-d’œuvre/les chefs-d’œuvre.

4 TROUBLE SPOTS

a Singular and plural nouns in French and English

In a number of cases the French use a plural noun where the English use a singular, and vice

versa. Here are the more common examples:

French plural English singular

les vacances holiday

les cheveux hair

des informations information

des progrès progress

des recherches research

English plural French singular

economics l’économie

linguistics la linguistique

physics la physique

French windows la porte-fenêtre

pyjamas le pyjama

shorts le short

trousers le pantalon

76 French Grammar in Context