Thom

[next falcon]

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.

[ionic socket]

There's a word for a girl cat: "une chatte", but it's only used specifically if you're saying "a female cat".
The generic term for a cat is just "un chat".

Also careful with "une chatte", as it's also slang for female genitalia.

Well you can name your house Fred and say it's a boy house, but the noun "maison" is still feminine. So you'd still say "ma maison est un garçon et s'appelle Fred" for example. Or "Fred est une belle maison, mais il m'a coûté vachement cher".

[ionic spruce]

Note that not all animals have a feminine or masculine version

For example, “une souris” (a mouse).. the word is always feminine. If you want to specify a male mouse, you need to say “une souris mâle”

Likewise other animals have totally different words for male and female animals.
Un bouc (a billy goat)
Une chèvre (a female goat)
In this case the generic term is still “chèvre”, but you’d say “bouc” to specify a male. (Un chèvre also exists, but it’s a goat’s cheese!)

[frozen bone]

Could I say il est beau?

Or would I still say "c'est belle?"

Pour ma maison

[ionic spruce]

You can never say “c’est belle”

[ionic socket]

If you're talking about Fred yes.

"c'est belle" cannot be correct, the pronoun "ce" is neutral and therefore always masculine.

Fred est grand et beau.
Fred est une grande et belle maison.

[ionic spruce]

The pronoun “ce” is neuter and agrees in the masculine

[frozen bone]

And ma maison garçon est une maison toujours?

[ionic socket]

the noun "maison" is always feminine.

[ionic spruce]

I’m a man, but the word “personne” is always feminine
So, je suis une personne heureuse
Regardless of if I’m a man or a woman

[frozen bone]

So the descriptor matches the noun regardless the gender of the noun?

[ionic spruce]

Something important to understand about grammatical gender is that it applies to the noun, not to the person the noun is describing. (Unless both a masculine and feminine version exist)

[frozen bone]

So I think of it as the gender of the word itself not the gender of the object the word is applied to

Like robot is masculine. Amazon Alexa is a female robot. But if I say it's a dumb robot I say dumb(masc) robot regardless of the fact that Alexa is a girl.

Cool

I know the idea of naming my bed and my house is weird but it's the only way I can think to conceptualize how the genders of the adjectives are being applied

I guess some people name their car 🤷‍♂️

[ionic socket]

When naming an inanimate object, you're kind of creating a separate imaginary entity that you can refer to directly as if it was a person. Like Fred the house.
You can say "Fred's annoying, he constantly needs maintenance". In that case you'd use the masculine "il" in French, because you're talking about Fred.