lorelei0

[cosmic sinew]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[surreal marsh]

when possessive pronouns come before a vowel, the masculine is used regardless of the gender of the word

“mon address”, “mon ancienne maison” etc. etc.

[wild glade]

Saying ta adresse is a bit clunky, so thats why it isn't used. Likewise, you would say "cet homme" and not "ce homme" to avoid the double vowel sound. Cet sounds identical to cette.

[worn quail]

This can be confusing to begin with, but the more you speak French, the more it will make sense to you.

For example l'eau is la eau, but we say mon eau because ma eau is difficult to say (and to understand).

However -- don't be fooled! We change the ma to mon for pronunciation purposes, but the noun remains feminine, so if you want to say my hot water, it is mon eau chaud__e__, and not mon eau chaud.

Does that make sense?

[minor scroll]

It's kind of like why we say "an apple" instead of "a apple" in English. Ease of pronunciation trumps the gender.