So! with regard to English counties, Where does Mersyside come into it. Male or female?

I would treat it as a feminine region (the "-shires" being exceptions to the rule): Je viens de la Mersyside. Je vais en Mersyside. -- Chris (not a native speaker).

Thank you, Claus/Chris. On your advice, from now on I will treat it as feminine. :)

Bonjour Ian, Chris, je m'excuse, mais voyez ces deux leçons-ci: https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/my-languages/french/view/4713 https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/my-languages/french/view/3118 English provinces ending in "-shire" are masculine Ron

Hi Ron, Thanks for your help, but I'm still confused. Are we saying then that all English counties are masculine?

Hi Ron, Thanks for your help, but I'm still confused. Are we saying then that all English counties are masculine?

The take-away from the lesson that I referenced would be that all of the «-shires» are masculine; if there are other counties that have endings other than -shire then they may be feminine or masculine. Aurélie clearly notes this in both of the lessons that I referenced. You might wish to consider addressing this to Aurélie specifically. I understand that she lives in the UK so would have first-hand knowledge. My response to your question is based solely on the lesson. Bonne journée,

Hi Ron, Thanks for taking the time to help me.I will take your advice and ask Aurélie. Merci encore et passez une bonne journée. Ian.

Yes, of course the -shires are masculine. If you reread my original post that's what I said: they are the exception to the rule that all regions ending on e are feminine. I apologize if I haven't been clear on that. -- Chris.

Bonjour Ian !

Mmmmmhhh, I checked to make sure that my first instinct was correct, and indeed, Merseyside is masculine in French:

See https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merseyside

This got me wondering whether all English counties are actually considered as masculine in French (regardless of their ending), so I went around to check.

It turns out that Merseyside seems to be the only -e county (except for the -shire ones), and all are masculine, with two notable exceptions:

- Cornwall, which in French is translated as la or les Cornouailles.
- Isle of Wight, which is a special case due to the term "île" : l'île de Wight.

Thanks to you, I learned something today :)

I hope that's helpful to you too!
Bonne journée !