Question 1

Why does familière have a grave accent (è) instead of just adding an -e to the masculine form?

Accepted Answer

Adjectives that end in -er in the masculine don't just add an -e in the feminine, because that would make the end of the word hard to pronounce. Instead, their ending changes to -ère. Here, the masculine familier becomes the feminine familière to match the feminine noun chanson.

Question 2

Does changing familier to familière change how the word is pronounced?

Accepted Answer

Yes, significantly! In the masculine familier, the final -er sounds like 'ay' and the r is silent. In the feminine familière, the grave accent (è) makes a short 'eh' sound, and you clearly pronounce the final r.

Question 3

Why is the sentence using cette instead of ce for 'this'?

Accepted Answer

In French, 'this' or 'that' translates to ce for masculine nouns and cette for feminine nouns. Because chanson (song) is feminine, we must use the feminine form cette.

Question 4

Is there a trick to remembering that chanson is feminine?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Nouns ending in -son are almost always feminine in French. Remembering common noun endings is a great shortcut to help you know when to use feminine words like cette or familière without having to guess.

Cette chanson est familière.

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