Neuter – neutre
Let's Define It!
What's *neuter*?
Neuter (le neutre) is a gender some languages have besides masculine and feminine.
I can tell you from the get-go that French is NOT a gender-neutral language, nor does it have a neutral gender.
The masculine gender is heavily applied to all things feminine and masculine. Many grammarians consider the masculine to be the default (neutral) gender.
There have some pushback on this stance, mostly from feminist activits. But the masculine seems to have tough skin and still appear to prevail in France. Canada and Belgium have adopted linguistic measures years ago to make the feminine gender more potent, or at least bring to equal footing with the masculine gender.
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Let's Pronounce It!
What does it sound like in French?
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Let's Have an Example or Two!
Can a little reinforcement do the trick?
No examples to offer in this section this time. Just remember that in French, the masculine tends to be used as default gender, and in that regard could be seen as "neutral" as controversial a stance this could be nowadays.
For example, "Les garçons et les filles sont venus à la fête. (masculine-plural for the past participle althoutgh the subjects also includes les filles (feminine subject).
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