Michiganien

[faint sable]

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.

[oak marlin]

Every noun in French is either masculine or feminine.
Masculine nouns use masculine adjectives and pronouns. Feminine nouns use feminine adjectives and pronouns.
You have to know for each noun whether it's masculine or feminine to correctly build the sentence around it.

I do realize this isn't a satisfactory answer, but that's kind of it. If you want me to give specifics, feel free to ask followup questions.

[polar hedge]

this isnt related to the question but is still quite related, what is the difference between "Autiste" and "Autisitique" (i hope i spelled it right 👍 )?

[oak marlin]

for instance, take the words "mer" (sea) and "ciel" (sky)

• Le ciel est bl__eu__ (ciel is masculine)
  The sky is blue
• La mer est bl__eue__ (mer is feminine)
  The sea is blue

[oak marlin]

"autiste" is a noun. It refers to an autistic person.
"autistic" is an adjective. Just like in English, it qualifies someone that is autistic.

[polar hedge]

so like "autiste" is like saying "autism" and "autisitique" is like saying autistic?

[oak marlin]

to be exact, "autiste" can also be an adjective. "autistique" is a variant of it.

[polar hedge]

like how would i know when to use masucline or feminine nouns?

is a better put question

[oak marlin]

no, "autism" is "autisme" and is the neurological disorder.
"autiste" is the autistic person, it refers to someone.

[polar hedge]

oh oops 🫢

[oak marlin]

"autisme", the disorder, is always masculine.
"autiste", as a noun, can be either masculine or feminine, based on the gender of the person.

Adjectives have masculine and feminine forms. For the adjectives "autiste" and "autistique", they're identical and can qualify nouns of both genders.

the gender of a noun is given in any dictionary. See "nm" next to "autisme", this is for "masculine noun"

[polar hedge]

so i could use autiste and autisique for both genders..?

[oak marlin]

yes

[polar hedge]

did you see this?

[oak marlin]

There are some patterns to try and guess whether a noun is masculine or feminine, but even knowing 200 patterns or so you'd only get up to like 80~85% accuracy.
The actual rule is that noun gendering works on a case by case basis. You have to learn for each noun whether it's masculine or feminine. This might sound like much, but it mainly just comes down to learning the gender as you're learning the noun.
For instance, don't learn "book = livre" but rather "a book = un livre"