# FR: quelque chose + accord : genre masculin / féminin



## buttermuffin18

If quelque chose is and object of a clause, does it have the same agreement as    une chose would?

1. J’avais envie de quelque chose que mon père ne m’a pas donné.
-or-
2 J’avais envie de quelque chose que mon père ne m’a pas donnée.

*Moderator note: *Multiple threads merged to create this one. See also this thread on the Français Seulement forum.


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## FBC

Sorry, I really think that the first proposal is the good one (donn*é*) but I can't find any explanation except this one : "quelque chose" is masculine : we say "un petit quelque chose" and not "une petite quelque chose".


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## Regemoelle

The correct proposition is Number 1, because _quelque chose_ has to be taken in its entirety, as a whole.
It is one more exception of French grammary...
"_chose_" is actually feminine, however "quelque chose" is neutral.



> _Il y a quelque chose que vous n'avez pas encore dit (et non quelque chose que vous n'avez pas encore dite).
> Voici autre chose de plus amusant (amusant est au masculin)._
> 
> Les pronoms _autre chose_ et _quelque chose_ sont des pronoms neutres. Le genre neutre (qui n'existe en français que pour certains pronoms) se manifeste sous la forme du masculin singulier.


(source : grammaire.reverso.net)


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## OLN

_quelque chose_ (= une chose) est considéré comme un seul mot invariable


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## davez

In my French book (Violà 6th edition), it has a idiom on page 205:

prendre (un petit) quelque chose ----- "to have a snack"

Why is "un petit" masculine, given that "chose" is feminine? What role is "quelque" in this sense? Adjective? Adverb? Am I missing some clue in this web site's dictionary?

Thanks!

davez


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## Juan Jacob Vilalta

davez said:


> Why is "un petit" masculine, given that "chose" is feminine?
> Well, because petit is masculine.
> What role is "quelque" in this sense? Adjective? Adverb? Am I missing some clue in this web site's dictionary?
> Quelque = some.


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## davez

Are you suggesting that "petit" is not an adjective in this expression?

I thought "petit" was an adjective in this case, and therefore required to match the gender of the noun that it modifies ("chose").


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## radagasty

Juan Jacob Vilalta said:


> Why is "un petit" masculine, given that "chose" is feminine? Well, because petit is masculine.


That answer is disingenuous. _Petit _is indeed masculine, but the question is why it is masculine.

Although the noun _chose_ is feminine, it loses its status as a noun in expressions like _quelque chose_ (= 'something'), which is an indefinite pronoun and always takes agreement in the masculine singular.

_Un petit quelque chose_ literally translates as 'a little something'.


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## Fred_C

the pronoun "quelque chose" is no longer felt to mean "some... thing".
It is a neutre pronoun, that becomes masculine by default when it is nominalised, in exceptional cases.


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## jann

Welcome, Davez!

To restate Fred's answer:

You need to think of _quelque chose_ as a unit, as if it were one single word.  And (even though _chose _= "thing" by itself is feminine) the "word" _quelque chose_ = "something" is masculine.


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## AKAMAHZ

Hi,
When I have a question says: "Quelle est la réaction de Patrick quand un enfant jette quelque chose par terre?"
And I would answer:" Il lui demande de la mettre à la poubelle."
Is my answer grammatically correct? I mean I put "la" to indicate to "quelque chose" is it correct?


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## Alkanna

Quelque chose : pronom indéfini, masculin ou neutre.
Il lui demande de le mettre à la poubelle.


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## yuechu

Bonjour,

Est-ce que la locution (terme, expression ?) "quelque chose" est toujours masculin(e?) en français ? Par exemple, est-ce qu'on dirait "quelque chose que j'ai fait" ou "quelque chose que j'ai faite" ou est-ce que les deux sont correct(e?)s ?
Merci d'avance !

(Veuillez corriger mes erreurs s'il y en a. Merci !)


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## Alkanna

Quelque chose : pronom indéfini, masculin ou neutre.
… quelque chose que j'ai fait.


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## Maître Capello

You should think of the set phrase _quelque chose_ as _cela_, which is also neuter, i.e., masculine singular.

Just mind the following exception, where _quelque_ is concessive (hence used with a verb in the subjunctive): _Quelque chose qu'il t'ait fait*e*, tu devrais lui pardonner_.


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## amerloqueNYC

to add to what Jann said:


jann said:


> You need to think of _quelque chose_ as a unit, as if it were one single word. And (even though _chose _= "thing" by itself is feminine) the "word" _quelque chose_ = "something" is masculine.


This quirk about "chose" vs "quelque chose" is why he have to make the adjective masculine and singular when we add it on: "something interesting" would be "quelque chose d'intéressant" (even if the interesting thing you end up choosing is "une maison hantée" or "des documents secrets"!).


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