acheter qqch. à qqu., buy something from ôter qqch. à qqu., take away for.

297. Position. Objects and prepositional complements regularly follow the verb, the direct object (if any) being first; but if of unequal length, the longer usually last. For position of personal pronouns, see the Pronoun.

298. Composite Complement. The various parts of a complement must be of the same grammatical value, i.e., all nouns, all verbs, etc.:

Il apprend à lire et à chanter.

Il apprend la lecture et le chant.

He learns to read and sing.

He learns reading and singing.

299. Manifold Verb. Two or more verbs can govern the same complement only if alike in government:

300. General Rule. Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. As an aid to memory, general rules for determining gender are given in the following sections.

301. Gender by Derivation. 1. Nouns derived from Latin masculines are regularly masculine:

Mur (L. murum); livre (L. librum); Wall; book; order; poet. ordre (L. ordinem); poète (L. poeta).

a. Exceptions are not uncommon; Latin masculine abstracts in -or (accusative -orem) have become feminine, except masculine honneur, déshonneur, labeur, amour:

candeur, f. (L. candorem), candour. *couleur, f. (L. colorem), colour.

douleur, f. (L. dolorem), pain.

erreur, f. (L. errorem), error.
fureur, f. (L. furorem), fury.

etc.

*Masculine in such phrases as 'couleur de feu,' 'couleur de rose,' etc., e.g., 'ce ruban est d'un beau couleur de rcse.'

2. Nouns derived from Latin feminines are regularly feminine:

Justice (L. justitiam); charité

(L. caritatem); main (L. man

um); foi (L. fidem).

Justice; charity; hand; faith.

3. Nouns derived from Latin neuters are regularly masculine :

Corps (L. corpus); fer (L. ferrum);

or (L. aurum); pré (L. pratum); siècle (L. sæculum); verbe (L. verbum).

Body; iron; gold; meadow; century; verb.

a. More than a hundred neuter plurals in -a have become feminine singular in French, just as if derived from nouns in -a of the Latin

first declension :

arme (L. arma), arm. date (L. data), date. dette (L. debita), debt.

étude (L. studia), study.

feuille (L. folia), leaf.
graine (L. grana), seed.
huile (L. olea), oil.

joie (L. gaudia), joy.

levre (L. labra), lip.

œuvre (L. opera), work. pomme (L. poma), apple.

etc.

302. Gender by Endings. 1. Masculine are most nouns

ending as follows:

(1) In a vowel sound (not -e mute):

Un opéra (côté, chapeau, cheveu). An opera (side, hat, hair).

Le sac (pied, joug, sol, nez, temps). The sack (foot, yoke, soil, nose, time).

Further, nouns in -son, -ion and most abstracts in -eur (cf. § 301, a):

(3) In -acle, -age, -asme, -ège, -ème, -isme, -tère :

Le spectacle (voyage, sarcasme,

collège, diadème, magnétisme,

mystère).

The spectacle (journey, sarcasm, college, diadem, magnetism, mystery).

a. The following feminines in -age should be noted:

cage, cage.

image, image.

nage, swimming.
page,page (of a book).

plage, beach.

rage, rage.

2. Feminine are most nouns ending as follows:

(1) In -e preceded by a vowel or double consonant :

Une année (vie, vue, raie, soie, roue, pluie, famille, flamme, couronne, tristesse, botte).

(2) In -ace, -ade, -ance, -ude, -ure:

La préface (salade, constance, présence, défense, lumière, histoire, habitude, culture).

303. Gender by Meaning.

A year (life, sight, streak, silk,

wheel, rain, family, flame, crown, sadness, boot). -ence, -ense, -ière, -oire,

The preface (salad, constancy, presence, defence, light, history, habit, culture).

1. Names of male beings

are usually masculine, and names of female beings feminine:

Un homme; une femme.

Un bœuf; une vache.

A man; a woman.

An ox; a cow.

a. Most nouns denoting professions, e.g., docteur, doctor, écrivain, writer, imprimeur, printer, etc., and a few nouns lacking a feminine form, e.g., ange, angel, témoin, witness, etc., remain masculine when applied to females:

Cette dame est un auteur distingué. That lady is a celebrated authoress.
Marie est un ange.
Mary is an angel.

b. Some names of lower animals are masculine only, e.g., éléphant, elephant, hibou, owl; others are feminine only, e.g., fourmi, ant, souris, mouse; ambiguity may be avoided by adding mâle or femelle :

Un éléphant mâle (femelle).

A he- (she-) elephant.

c. Some nouns are feminine only, whether applied to males or females:

:

2. The following are masculine :

(1) Names of cardinal points and winds:

Le nord; le sud; le zéphyr.

a. Feminine exceptions are:

bise, north wind.

brise, breeze.

The north; the south; the zephyr.

(2) Names of seasons, months, days of the week: Le printemps; octobre; lundi. Spring; October; Monday. (3) Names of countries not ending in -e:

Le Canada; le Dauphiné; le Chili.

(4) Most names of mountains

names of rivers :

Le Hartz; le Jura.
Les Apennins.

Le Volga; le Rhône; le Rhin.

Canada; Dauphiny; Chili.

not ending in -es, and most

The Hartz mountains; Mount Jura.
The Apennines.

The Volga; the Rhone; the Rhine.

a. The rivers of France in -e are nearly all feminine: La Seine, la Loire, etc.

The Seine, the Loire, etc.