# FR: Facebook - genre & article



## cherrisoda

What is the gender of Facebook?
I hear it referred to as "le Facebook" or sometimes just "Facebook". But in terms of adjective agreement, do we say "Facebook est bon/bonne?"

*Moderator note:* Multiple threads merged to create this one.


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## SwissPete

Here is my (biaised) take: *Book* is *livre*, which is masculine. So *le* facebook.


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## papkoooorn

Hi Cherrisoda, here we are told all the borrowed word are masculine.


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## wildan1

It's probably true in many cases, papkoooorn, but not all. The gender of the key word of the loan word/term usually will determine the gender.

_Facebook_ is masculine because _livre_ is masculine.

For example the _FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) - *le* FBI_ (_bureau_ is masculine in French)

and the _CIA (Central Investigation Agency) - *la* CIA_ (_agence_ is feminine in French)

The gender of car makes is feminine because _voiture_ is feminine: _une Volkswagen, une Rolls-Royce, une Toyota_

But the gender of airplane makes is masculine because_ avion_ is masculine:_ un Boeing, un Fokker, un Airbus_


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## Souxie

En fait facebook est utilisé comme un nom propre, et en général on ne lui met pas d'article (ni de majuscule). Lorsque nécessaire, son genre est neutre. On peut dire ou écrire:

- Tu es sur facebook?
- Je t'ai vu sur facebook/ J'ai vu ta page facebook
- Facebook, à quoi ça sert?
- Facebook, c'est cool! ou: Facebook, c'est bien. (pour répondre à ta question, cherrisoda, "Facebook est bon/bonne?")


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## DaveTraveler

I agree! There's no gender. It's like: "J'aime Messenger", "Le moteur de recherche que j'utilise, c'est Google", etc. But you do have: "La Wii", "La Xbox" because we have the words "console de jeu (game console)" in French and "console" is feminine.


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## cherrisoda

D:
Okay. So there is no gender? T_T
So it doesn't matter if I say something like... Facebook est grand. Instead of Facebook est grande.
D: I'm just wondering incase like, i need to use an adj, and it has to agree with it.


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## DaveTraveler

Correct. Just default to the masculin form if you add an adjective: "Facebook est nul et ennuyant!"


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## Souxie

Si tu utilises un adjectif, il doit être au masculin, puisque facebook est neutre.
Facebook est grand, bleu, énorme, etc.

(Désolée je n'avais pas vu la réponse de daveTraveler)


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## callumjackson1993

Bonjour!

C'est quel genre Facebook, masculin ou féminin? 

Merci d'avance

Callum


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## Seeda

Hello, usually we say, _*le* Facebook de qqn_.


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## JIBE1982

Well actually in most of cases it's used without article. We just say Facebook. But indeed if you want to say "have you seen my facebook" that will be "as tu vu MON facebook"


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## 1Whiterose

Je voudrais poser la question, "tu aimes *LE, LA* Facebook?  Est-ce qu'il y a une règle en français pour savoir si une expression étrangère est masculin ou féminin ?

Merci pour aider.


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## Oddmania

Hi,

_Facebook _is a proper noun (just like Youtube, Microsoft, Apple, or any other brand or make), so it doesn't require an article.

_Tu aimes Facebook ? _


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## Maître Capello

I agree about the omission of the article in normal usage.

To answer the question about the gender, it should be masculine as it is _*un* réseau social_.

By the way, if you qualify Facebook with a modifier, you should use the definite article in the masculine, e.g.:

_Il y a eu des améliorations entre *le* Facebook des années 2006-2007 et *le* Facebook qu'on a aujourd'hui._


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## MX140

And I would add that sometimes, we say "mon facebook", "ton facebook" (masculine) (ex: donnes-moi ton Facebook) et non pas "ma facebook", "ta facebook".

So it's definitely masculine. (but not on your initial exemple which is too general)


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