Trouble Spots

GENDER OF STATES IN THE USA

• Most states ending in -e are feminine. Obviously the rest are masculine!

BUT, exception: le Maine. Normally we say l'état de New York to differentiate from NYC.

• The way to avoid all genders of all states is to use the formula above: l'état de X.

• Some USA states have French names: la Pennsylvanie, la Floride, la Californie, la Louisiane, la Virginie, la Caroline du Nord/Sud, la Georgie, le Nouveau Mexique, la Dakota du Nord/du Sud.

COUNTRIES

• The same -e = feminine rule follows for countries. Some masculine countries:

le Mexique (despite the -e), le Canada, le Japon, le Danemark

CONTINENTS

• All continents are feminine. They all have French names. Can you name them?

l'Amérique du Nord/du Sud, l'Australie, l'Asie, l'Afrique, l'Europe, l'Antarctique

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