"The" or "the" Covid-19? The French Academy opts for the feminine

Text by: José Marinho Follow

Should we say "the" or "the" Covid-19? The question divides. In recent days, we begin to read or hear a shy here and there "the" Covid-19. While the custom in France is to speak the Covid-19 in the masculine, the prestigious French Academy has just ruled in favor of the feminine. But why this sudden reversal given that so far the term "the" Covid was unanimous?

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Was it necessary to correct the situation? The answer comes to us from across the Atlantic, more precisely from Quebec. Here, while the masculine was initially used, the Office québécois de la langue française decided to replace it with a feminine.

For him, Covid-19, being the acronym of Coronavirus Disease 2019 , therefore translates the disease. And since the disease is feminine, we must now stick to it. At the instigation of the Quebec government, the Covid has already been replaced by the Covid.

This changed the situation, because France follows the same example and is now in agreement with Canada. Despite the differences in French between Quebec and the rest of the Francophonie, as for example for certain anglicisms like "a job" or "a business", the prestigious French Academy is no exception to this spelling rule and cites the railway company as an example French national, SNCF.

For the moment, in the midst of neology work and lack of precise translation rules from English to French, it is indeed the masculine agreement that prevails in current usage.

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