Language/French/Grammar/Grammatical-and-real-gender

Grammatical and real gender

With a handful of nouns, the real gender (sex) of the person referred to may determine the choice of third person pronouns il/ils or elle/elles. For example, victime, recrue, sentinelle are grammatically feminine nouns, but not all 'victims', 'recruits' or 'sentries' are necessarily female: mannequin, recteur, conseiller municipal are grammatically masculine nouns, but not all 'models', 'university Vice-Chancellors' or 'town councillors' are necessarily male. In such cases the real gender of the person referred to normally determines the choice of il/ils or elle/elles:

• Nous avons fait une nouvelle recrue. Il va se joindre à nous ce soir

We have gained a new recruit. He will pin us this evening

• C'est une femme qui a été nommée recteur de l'université. Elle n'a que 42 ans

A woman has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the university. She is only 42