I can't remember the word for it in French but remember being bemused that it took the feminine la rather than le. I think it was beard it might have been moustache but it was definitley male face hair.
2007-07-27 01:19:21 · 16 answers · asked by Grinning Football plinny younger 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Grammatical gender is something assigned in a weird way.
You might find it odd if your mother tongue is English. Most of Indoeuropean languages assign genders to objects. And there is no logic behind those. They are just as they are.
2007-07-27 02:00:25 · answer #1 · answered by kamelåså 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"La barbe" comes from the Latin "barba" which is a feminine word.
"Moustache" has a more complicated origin and comes to the English language via the Middle French Moustache which in turn is derived from the Old Italian Mustaccio which originates from the Middle Greek Moustaki, a diminutive of Greek mystak-, mystax: upper lip, mustache.
The other names for hair, whether on a male or a female, are masculine: le cheveu (head hair) and le poil (body hair) in the singular (les cheveux/ les poils in the plural).
2007-07-27 01:34:17 · answer #2 · answered by WISE OWL 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
La barbe et la moustache.
It is beacuse the beard clings to the man, like a wife. A beard in Gay culture, is slang for a female companion.
Either that or its just the French looking for a pointless arguement as usual.
Hey funguy, does that mean Pierre is feminine or what?
2007-07-27 01:23:57 · answer #3 · answered by bouncer bobtail 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Le chat (masculine)is also used even if the cat is a she-cat.
La table is feminine even though a table is obviously sexless.
It's difficult for you as there is no neuter gender in English. I'm Welsh and grew up with nouns being of a different gender.
It does get complicated at times, the word for minute...'munud' is masculine in North Wales but feminine in South Wales. So Two minutes would be;
Dau funud (NW) and dwy funud (SW).
2007-07-27 02:25:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
La barbe & la moustache: are singular and feminine gender in the same way that a "ship" or a male cat is a "she" in English = no reason, I think!
Ship and cat are of masculine gender in French.
I am French.
2007-07-27 13:09:00 · answer #5 · answered by Nicolette 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you're able to do your homeowrk your self. we are able to in simple terms right your artwork for you, yet we can't sit down and do it for you. start up with some thing like: "Bonjour! C'est ma famille. Mon pere s'appelle xyz. Il est (despite occupation). Il a des cheveux noirs et le nez long.... Ma mere s'appelle abc. Elle est une professuer..... Mon frere est abcxyz. Il est un étudiant et il habite à (some city) J'aime ma famille!" you are able to desire to end like that.
2016-10-09 10:33:33 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
La barbe. Yes it's feminine, but then the Latin word for farmer is also feminine - agricola. And I was told Latin was logical.
2007-07-27 07:15:54 · answer #7 · answered by cymry3jones 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the spelling and the sound made it female.
Une barbe/la barbe
Well, the Name Barbara is feminine (lol)
2007-07-28 19:27:36 · answer #8 · answered by rejy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dont get me started, I am so confused about the gender of things in europe. But its natural to everyone i think except us English speakers.
2007-07-27 01:30:44 · answer #9 · answered by Emma B 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes for the gender, no for the word! we say
une barbe
la barbe
It's ending with a 'e' so logically it's feminine! there's no trick in it!
To answer Bobtail: yes, at the beginning, pierre (=stone) is feminine
It has then become a name after the latin couple petra (stone)/petrus (Peter, the name)
2007-07-27 01:22:59 · answer #10 · answered by funguyfr19 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋