Le genre des noms
NOUN
Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner.
For example:
- Table
- Pencil
- The dog
- A white house
Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts.
For example:
- birth
- happiness
- evolution
- technology, etc.
Noun Plurals
We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular.
For exaample:
- Book - Books
- House - Houses
- Chair - Chairs
When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es".
For exaample:
- sandwich - sandwiches
- brush - brushes
- bus - buses
- box - boxes
- potato - potatoes
When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form. But do not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel.
For exaample:
- nappy - nappies
- day - days
- toy - toys
However, there are many Irregular Nouns which do not form the plural in this way:
For exaample:
- Woman - Women
- Child - Children
- Sheep - Sheep
Nouns may take an " 's " ("apostrophe s") or "Genitive marker" to indicate possession. If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form.
For example:
- my girlfriend's brother
- John's house
- The Browns' house
- The boys' pens
The genitive marker should not be confused with the " 's " form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good student = John is a good student.
Noun Gender
Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress".
For example:
- David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor.
- Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
- The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"
Types of Nouns
- Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Jhon, France. They usually begin with a capital letter.
- Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can be either concrete or abstract.
- Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone.
- Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth.
- Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural)
- Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular)
Les personnes ou les animaux
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Les noms désignant des personnes ou des animaux du sexe féminin sont du genre féminin (girl, mother, sister, queen, niece, dog...). Ils peuvent être représentés par des pronoms féminins ou pluriels (she, they...).
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Les noms désingnant des personnes ou des animaux du sexe masculin sont du genre masculin (boy, father, brother, king, nephew, dog...). Ils peuvent être représentés par des pronoms masculins ou pluriels (he, they...).
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Les noms désignant les personnes ou les animaux peuvent parfois être de l'un ou de l'autre sexe (a dog > un chien ou une chienne, a cousin > un cousin ou une cousine) et ils peuvent alors être représentés par des pronoms féminins ou par des pronoms masculins selon le contexte, ou bien encore par des pronoms neutres (it, they...) lorsqu'on ne connaît pas le sexe.
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Toutefois, les noms désignant beaucoup d'animaux domestiques diffèrent selon le sexe (a cow > une vache, a bull > un taureau, a tigress > une tigresse, a tiger > un tigre...).
Les métiers
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Les noms désignant des métiers peuvent parfois être identiques pour les deux sexes (an artist > un artiste ou une artiste, a cook > un cuisinier ou une cuisinière, a dancer > un danseur ou une danseuse, a guide > un guide ou une guide...).
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Les noms désignant des métiers peuvent parfois présenter une terminaison ifférente (an actor > un acteur, an actress > une actrice, a hero > un héros, a heroine > une héroïne...).
Les voitures et les bateaux
Les pays et les régions
Les autres noms
- Tous les autres noms sont du genre neutre (sock, house, fish...).
| féminins |
masculins |
neutres |
| personnes et animaux du sexe féminin
girl, mother
|
personnes et animaux du sexe masculin
boy, father
|
personnes et animaux dont le sexe n'est pas déterminé
cousin, dog
|
|
métiers désignant des personnes du sexe féminin
actress
|
métier désignant une personne du sexe masculin
actor, hero
|
métier désignant une personne dont le sexe n'est pas déterminé (ni évoqué dans le contexte)
cook, dancer
|
| voitures ou bateaux dont on parle avec affection ou considération |
|
voiture ou bateaux en général |
| pays ou régions |
|
|
| |
|
tous les autres noms |
COUNT NOUN
Definition: A Count Noun is a noun which can be modified by a numeral and occur in both singular and plural form, as well as co-occurring with quantificational determiners like every, each, several, most, etc. Countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc. which can be counted. Count nouns can be made plural, usually by adding -s or -es at the end.
For example:
- She saw seven cows in the garden
- There is a cow in the garden.
- Every cow is an animal.
Examples:
| Usually count nouns |
| Persons |
Places |
Things |
child/ren
teacher/s
student/s
plumber/s
lawyer/s
psychologist/s
historian/s
economist/s
biologist/s
reporter/s
dean/s
coordinator/s
researcher/s |
store/s
mall/s
park/s
bar/s
office/s
school/s
home/s
station/s
church/es
deli/s
cafeteria/s
shop/s
airport/s |
shoe/s
car/s
door/s
house/s
key/s
letter/s
chair/s
box/es
cow/s
poster/s
glass/es
ball/s |
Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun.
For example:
- How much time did it take for you to drive to school?.
Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes).
- How many times did you take the test before you passed?.
Here, time is a count noun, because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test.
- They had a death in the family.
- Death is a tragic thing.
- Supermarkets have aisles for different foods.
- The animals at the zoo wanted food.
The "much" and "many" Rule
Many is used with count nouns.
For example:
- How many papers do you have to write?
- There were too many books required for that class.
Much is used with non-count nouns.
For example:
- How much homework did you have last night?
- I had to read so much literature for my English class.
You can use "some" and "any" with countable nouns.
For example:
- Some dogs can be dangerous.
- I don't use any computers at work.
You only use "many" and "few" with plural countable nouns.
For example:
- Many elephants have been hunted.
- There are few elephants in England.
You can use "a lot of" and "no" with plural countable nouns.
For example:
- No computers were bought last week.
- A lot of computers were reported broken the week before.
PROPER NOUN
Definition: Proper nouns ( also called proper names) are the words which name specific people, organisations, places, titles, cities, countries, calendar times, etc. They are always written with a capital letter.
For example:
- Janet; Simon; John Wesley; London; The President; Tuesday; Christmas; Thanksgiving; Atlantic Ocean; Spain.
Examples:
- Peter lives in Spain.
- Many people dread Monday mornings.
- Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
- Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran
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UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
Definition: An uncountable noun (or non-count noun) is a type of common noun that cannot be modified by a number without specifying a unit of measurement. In general, non-count nouns are considered to refer to indivisible wholes (which are not individual objects and can not be counted). For this reason, they are sometimes called MASS nouns. Uncountable nouns are used to describe a quality, action, thing or substance that can be poured or measured. Non-Count nouns also refer to a whole category made up of different varieties or a whole group of things that is made up of many individual parts. Uncountable nouns are always singular. Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns.
For example:
- There is some water in that pitcher.
- That is the equipment we use for the project.
Examples:
| Usually non-count nouns |
| Things |
Qualities |
Actions |
Fields of Study |
water
stuff
money
advice
proof
equipment
dust
homework
fun
information
ink
luck |
dependability
honesty
loyalty
sincerity
integrity |
walking/to walk
typing/to type
jumping/to jump
thinking/to think
swimming/to swim |
psychology
history
social work
economics
biology
English
anatomy
philosophy
religion
theology |
Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun.
For example:
- How much time did it take for you to drive to school?.
Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes).
- How many times did you take the test before you passed?.
Here, time is a count noun, because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test.
- They had a death in the family.
- Death is a tragic thing.
- Supermarkets have aisles for different foods.
- The animals at the zoo wanted food.
The "much" and "many" Rule
Many is used with count nouns.
For example:
- How many papers do you have to write?
- There were too many books required for that class.
Much is used with non-count nouns.
For example:
- How much homework did you have last night?
- I had to read so much literature for my English class.
You can use "some" and "any" with uncountable nouns.
For example:
- I usually drink some wine with my meal.
- I don't usually drink any water with my wine.
You only use "much" and "little" with uncountable nouns.
For example:
- I don't usually drink much coffee.
- Little wine is undrinkable though.
You can use "a lot of" and "no" with uncountable nouns.
For example:
- A lot of wine is drunk in France.
- No wine is drunk in Iran.
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