Voted Best Answer
May 30, 2011 - 09:16 PM
Salut! This is just a guess so take it with a grain of salt. I believe that with "enfance", mon is used instead of ma because ma ends with a vowel sound and enfance starts with a vowel sound. The French language doesn't seem to like that scenario. Ma enfance doesn't just roll off the tongue, so mon is used instead. I've played with this using a couple of different english to french translators and the results are consistent for other feminine nouns that start with a vowel. To say "my childhood" or "my school" - both are feminine - the results are "mon enfance" and "mon école". But to say "A childhood" or "A school", the translation is "une enfance" and "une école". It seems to be a matter of phonetics. You might want to check in with the team at the Fluenz lab just to be certain. Bon chance!