Rapace
Moderator
As I see a number of people are wishing “good luck†to those going to try and join the Legion or buying Euro millions lottery tickets, be aware that in French it's bonne chance, since chance is a feminine noun and bonne is the feminine form of adjective bon (good). The form used for an adjective must match the gender of the noun it qualifies.
On the other hand one says bon appétit since appétit is a masculine noun. But the tricky thing, in that case, is that the pronunciation of bon is the same as bonne because appétit starts with a vowel and when pronouncing one have to make what's called a liaison because it sounds better.
This distinction between feminine and masculine is a fundamental difference between French (and some other languages, in particular Latin languages) and English. And the bad news is there's no clear rules or logic to know the gender of a noun... That's why we often hear English speakers talking of un chaise (a chair), while it should be une chaise (chaise is a feminine word) or une tabouret (a stool), instead of un tabouret (masculine noun).
Now, if you ask me why chaise is a feminine noun and stool a masculine one... I have no clue .
On the other hand one says bon appétit since appétit is a masculine noun. But the tricky thing, in that case, is that the pronunciation of bon is the same as bonne because appétit starts with a vowel and when pronouncing one have to make what's called a liaison because it sounds better.
This distinction between feminine and masculine is a fundamental difference between French (and some other languages, in particular Latin languages) and English. And the bad news is there's no clear rules or logic to know the gender of a noun... That's why we often hear English speakers talking of un chaise (a chair), while it should be une chaise (chaise is a feminine word) or une tabouret (a stool), instead of un tabouret (masculine noun).
Now, if you ask me why chaise is a feminine noun and stool a masculine one... I have no clue .