English “-IST” to French “-ISTE”

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