Bienvenue, fellow French learners! My name is Matt and I’m one of Dr. Kerley’s students. Like many of you, I’m learning French and I’ll be blogging regularly about a variety of things – language resources, French concepts, my deepest secrets, and more. Feel free to leave comments below because we can certainly help each other learn. That’s me to the left with a look of hope on my face. Most likely, this photo was taken after I successfully used l’imparfait and le passé composé in the same sentence. Baby steps, y’all.
Alors, commençons!
“IST” BECOMES “ISTE”
Although memorization can be an effective (and necessary) way of learning a language, it’s also important to learn using larger concepts. These concepts add many words to our vocabulary in a very short amount of time – bypassing the rote memorization of lists. Why? Because once we know a concept, it can immediately applied.
For today’s example, we’re going to look at words in English that end in “-IST”. Most English words ending in “-IST” can be converted into French by adding an “-E” to the end. Another great aspect? The majority of these French words are masculine!
It’s a two-for-one deal today, folks: not only are we adding a bunch of words to our vocabulary, but we’re learning their gender. We may slip here and there until we learn the gender exceptions but it’s definitely a start. For now, let’s just say that the odds are ever in our favor.
Below are 40 examples of English “-IST” to French “-ISTE” words to get us started:
- the activist = l’activiste
- the alarmist = l’alarmiste
- the antagonist = l’antagoniste
- the artist = l’artiste
- the cyclist = le cycliste
- the biologist =le biologiste
- the botanist = le botaniste
- the capitalist = le capitaliste
- the centrist = le centriste
- the communist = le communiste
- the conformist = le conformiste
- the economist = l’économiste
- the dentist = le dentiste
- the dermatologist = le dermatologiste
- the extremist = l’extrémiste
- the fascist = le fasciste
- the feminist = le féministe
- the finalist = le finaliste
- the florist = le fleuriste
- the humorist = l’humoriste
- the idealist = l’idéaliste
- the journalist = le journaliste
- the linguist = le linguiste
- the materialist = le matérialiste
- the minimalist = le minimaliste
- the moralist = le moraliste
- the nationalist = le nationaliste
- the nutritionist = le nutritionniste
- the optimist = l’optimiste
- the pacifist = le pacifiste
- the pessimist = le pessimiste
- the pianist = le pianiste
- the populist = le populiste
- the racist = le raciste
- the realist = le réaliste
- the socialist = le socialiste
- the specialist = le spécialiste
- the stylist = le styliste
- the terrorist = le terroriste
- the tourist = le touriste
And JUST when you thought the fun was over, there’s even more. Below are four words that also happen to be French “-ER” verbs. And as we all know – “ER” verbs are always a welcome sight:
- he exists = Il existe. = EXISTER
- I insist = J’insiste. = INSISTER
- She persists = Elle persiste. = PERSISTER
- One resists = On résiste = RÉSISTER
MORE RESOURCES
Wiktionary has a nice list of French words suffixed with “iste” to check out. Also, there is a handy list of English “ist” words arranged by frequency at More Words. Take a look at both lists and generate some of your own combinations. If anything you’ll learn a bunch of fun English words that end in “-IST” that you never knew existed. You know, everyday words like “antivivisectionist”, “dodecaphonist”, and “martyrologist”.
Soon, we’ll take a look at words in English that end in “ion” and the ridiculous amount of words and verbs you can quickly add to your French vocabulary. Good times.
À plus tard!!
M. Matt
Very nice!
Sent from my iPad
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