🇫🇷 French

douanes

feminine

les douanes

customs

Try it

douanes
/le dwan/
← masculine feminine →

How do you say douanes in French?

IPA
/le dwan/

How do you pronounce douanes in French?

douanes is pronounced /le dwan/ in French.

Example sentences

La douane française est très stricte avec les marchandises importées.

The French customs (office) is very strict with imported goods.

Cette nouvelle douane à la frontière est impressionnante et bien organisée.

This new customs (office) at the border is impressive and well-organized.

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Why is it feminine?

Douanes is feminine. While the etymology tracing back through Italian "dogana" to Arabic "dīwān" is plausible, the gender assignment in French is better explained by the fact that "douane" was adopted as a feminine noun, likely due to the influence of the feminine ending "-ane" and analogy with other feminine nouns ending in "-ane" (such as "urbane," "profane"). The word's gender reflects French phonological and morphological patterns rather than purely the vagaries of borrowing.

What is the French word for customs?

The French word for customs is les douanes — feminine.

Practice with Accord

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