The French word of the day is nom. It translates to “name” or “noun” in English and is a fundamental word in both everyday conversation and grammar.
Meaning
Pronunciation with IPA
Example sentences
Meaning
The French word nom means “name” when talking about a person or place and “noun” in grammar. For example, nom de famille (last name) and nom commun (common noun).
To say “my name is”, use je m’appelle, literally “I call myself”. Saying mon nom est, literally “my name is” would be understood but incorrect when introducing yourself.
Pronunciation
Example sentences
For this first sentence, the term nom de famille means last last name or surname. Note that the French word le surnom is a faux ami (false cognate) meaning “nickname”.
Macron est le nom de famille du président français.
Macron is the French president’s last name.
This second sentence uses the terms prénom (first name) and deuxième prénom (middle name)
Mon prénom est Françoise et mon deuxième prénom est un secret !
My first name is Françoise and my middle name is a secret.
For this sentence, quel (what, which) is an example of a French interrogative adjective. Cette, the feminine form for “this” a demonstrative adjective.
Quel est le nom de cette montagne ?
What’s the name of this mountain?
For this sentence, le nom refers to the grammatical term “noun”. Se placer (to place, to put) is an example of a reflexive verb being used as a passive voice.
En français, l’adjectif se place pour la plupart du temps après le nom.
In French, most of the time the adjective is placed after the noun.
Words related to le nom
- Appeler to call, to be called
- le surnom nickname
- nom d’utilisateur username
- nom de scène stage name
- nom de plume pen name
