Nouns for People in -aire and -ièr

Level 4

Add -aire to the stem of a verb to name the person who does it, and -ièr to a noun to name a trade.

How It Works

Suffix	Built from	Masculine	Feminine
-aire	an -ar verb	cantaire, trabalhaire, pescaire	ensenhaira
-ièr	a noun	jardinièr, sabatièr	jardinièra, cosinièra

For a verb in -ar, drop -ar and add -aire: cantar, cantaire. Other verbs change a little: legir gives legeire (reader), and escriure gives escriveire (writer).

A noun for a person who does a job follows the rule you know from jobs without an article: Joan es cantaire, Maria es ensenhaira.

The feminine matches the person: Maria es jardinièra. Plurals add -s: cantaires, jardinièrs.

Examples (5)

Joan es cantaire.
Joan is a singer.
Cantaire is built from cantar, with no article.
Maria es ensenhaira a Albi.
Maria is a teacher in Albi.
Ensenhaira is the feminine of ensenhaire.
Mon fraire es jardinièr.
My brother is a gardener.
Jardinièr names a trade.
Ma sòrre es cosinièra.
My sister is a cook.
Cosinièra is the feminine of cosinièr.
Aqueles trabalhaires son de Besièrs.
Those workers are from Béziers.
Trabalhaires is the plural of trabalhaire.

Common Mistakes

Using the masculine for a woman.
Maria es jardinièr.
Maria es jardinièra.
The noun agrees with the person, and a woman is jardinièra.

How It Connects

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Nouns for People in -aire and -ièrLevel 4

Learn This First

The endings -aire and -ièr make nouns for people and trades, so jobs and the adjectives in -ièr come first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Nouns in -ariáLevel 4

Words in This Pattern

-aire-ièr

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