Olympiad: gender-pattern puzzles ★★★

Tests: 4 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 7 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 38 of the french course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Harry from Leeds goes, "Fromage is soft and creamy, so it's a girl word, like." Use the ending to put him right.

1. It ends in -age, so it's la fromage — ← Mova's choice · score 3
2. Cheese has no gender in French — no support
3. He's right, it's la fromage — no support
4. It ends in -age, so it's le fromage — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 25, line 10: «Most words ending in -age are masculine (le fromage, le garage, le voyage), but la plage, la page, la cage and l'image are feminine.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «end» (+2); the same place «age» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Ruby from Belfast says, "Sure they all end in -age, it's le plage." Her teacher smiles. Why?

1. Plage is a famous feminine exception — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
2. Plage is plural, so it's les plage — no support
3. Plage starts with a vowel, so it's l'plage — no support
4. Ruby is right, it's le plage — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 7: «Most -age words are masculine, but la plage, la page, la cage and l'image are feminine exceptions.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «plage» (+2); the same thing acted on «feminine exceptions» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Josh from Sydney reads "Mon frère travaille à la poste. Ma sœur a un nouveau poste." He goes, "Yeah nah, same word twice?" What is the true meaning?

1. Brother has a job; sister has a post office — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Both work at the post office — no support
3. Both have new jobs — no support
4. Brother at the post office; sister has a new job — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Amira from Leicester says, "The l' is hiding it, innit." In L'arbre est grand. L'école est grande. L'hôtel est petit., how many words are feminine?

1. Two — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. One — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Three — no support
4. None — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Theo from Bristol says "la été" because "-té words are girls, proper job". Fix it.

1. le été is right — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. les été is right — no support
3. l'été, and été is masculine — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. la été is right — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Isla from Inverness writes "une directeure" for a woman head teacher. Which example should she copy?

1. Just add e: directeure is right — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. boulanger to boulangère, so directère — no support
3. acteur to actrice, so directrice — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. chanteur to chanteuse, so directeuse — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Leo from Wellington goes, "Chur, Mexique ends in e, so en Mexique." What's the catch?

1. He's right, en Mexique — no support
2. Le Mexique is masculine, so au Mexique — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. It should be à Mexique — no support
4. It should be aux Mexique — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 12: «Countries: en Italie and en Allemagne (feminine), au Brésil and au Mexique (masculine); le Mexique ends in -e but is masculine.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «le mexique» (+2); the same property (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Olivia from Ohio says doudou must be "la" because "it's soft and cute, no cap". Which clues prove her wrong?

1. le lit, which is masculine — score 3
2. mon and il, both masculine — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. Nothing, she's right — no support
4. sous and lit, both masculine — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 13: «"Mon doudou ? Il est sous le lit." shows that doudou is masculine twice: mon, not ma, and il, not elle.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «il» (+3); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★★ · right ✓

★★★ Charlie from Kent says, "The sun's the boy, then. Easy." Why might a German speaker get it wrong?

1. German has the same genders as French — no support
2. In German the table is masculine — no support
3. In German the sun is feminine and the moon masculine — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. In German there are no genders — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 14: «In la lune, la mer, la table, le soleil, la plage, only le soleil is masculine; in German the sun is feminine and the moon masculine, which trips people up.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «sun» (+2); the same place «german» (+2); the same property (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Hannah from Edinburgh reads "Je suis fatigué mais content !" (no extra e's) on a note. Who wrote it, her brother or her sister?

1. Her sister — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Her brother — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Both of them together — no support
4. Either, you can't tell — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ Ava from Ohio reads "Mon amie Sacha est sportive" and says, "Sacha's a boy's name, so the sentence is wrong." What's true?

1. The sentence is about two different people — no support
2. Here Sacha is a girl: amie and sportive show it — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. She's right, it should be mon ami Sacha est sportif — no support
4. Sacha can never be a girl's name in French — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 38, line 16: «Camille and Sacha can be names for boys or girls in French: "mon ami Camille" is a boy, "mon amie Sacha est sportive" is a girl.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «french» (+4); the same doer «camille» (+3); the same thing acted on «names» (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-6). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 12 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ What would happen if you said "le tour Eiffel" to a Parisian?

1. Nobody would understand anything — no support
2. You'd be talking about a trip, not the tower — ✓ the right answer · score 3
3. You'd be talking about a cake — no support
4. It would be perfectly correct — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 38, line 17: «Un tour is a trip or a turn, but une tour is a tower, so the Eiffel Tower is la tour Eiffel.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «une tour» (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 2, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the gender of the noun "chaussette" on the basis of its terminal syllable.

1. Indeterminable without a dictionary — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Feminine, the ending -ette being characteristic thereof — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Feminine, by reason of its meaning — no support
4. Masculine, the ending -ette being characteristic thereof — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the noun ending in -té which constitutes an exception to the general feminine gender of such nouns.

1. liberté — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. santé — no support
3. beauté — no support
4. été — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Select the feminine form corresponding to the masculine noun "directeur".

1. directrice — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. directière — no support
3. directeuse — no support
4. directeure — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

In the statement "Mon doudou ? Il est sous le lit.", determine the gender of the noun doudou.

1. Neither — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Feminine — no support
3. Both, interchangeably — no support
4. Masculine — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/38-olympiad-gender-pattern-puzzles/