Language/French/Grammar/Gender-of-the-noun-indicated-by-its-final-letter

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Gender of the noun indicated by its final letter

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Bonjour! French learners 😀

Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. Unfortunately, there is no easy rules for predicting the gender of a noun. However, it is not necessary to learn all genders by heart as there are certain models that can be used to predict the genre with varying degrees of accuracy. Be careful to remember that there are always exceptions to these models.

In today's lesson, we will study noun genders signalled by the final letters.

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Possessive determiners, Omission of the article, Compound nouns & Adjectives.

MASCULINE NOUNS[edit | edit source]

Nouns ending with a consonant[edit | edit source]

Rule[edit | edit source]

Many nouns that end in a consonant in the singular are masculine.

  • -c un franc (a franc), un lac (a lake), le public (the public), etc.
  • -d le bord (the edge), le fond (the bottom), le pied (the foot), etc.
  • -g un camping (a camp site), un parking (a car park), un shampooing (a shampoo), etc.
  • -l un détail (a detail), le travail (work), le soleil (the sun), etc.
  • -r le fer (iron), l'hiver (winter), un couloir (a corridor), etc.
  • -t le chocolat (chocolate), le climat (the climate), un jouet (a toy), un poulet (a chicken), le ciment (cement), un jugement (a judgement), etc.

Exceptions[edit | edit source]

Exceptions are usually found with names ending in -n, -r, -s, -t, & -x

French  Translation
une maison  a house
une cuiller  a spoon
la mer  the sea
une tour  a tower
une fois  one time
une dent  a tooth
une nuit  a night
une jument  a mare
une croix  a cross

Nouns ending in -on[edit | edit source]

Rule[edit | edit source]

Nouns ending in -on are most of the time masculine "un poisson" (a fish), "un sillon" (a furrow), and so on... Although "une chanson" (a song) is an exception.

Exceptions[edit | edit source]

But nouns ending in -aison, -(s)sion, -hon or -xion are most of the time feminine:

French  Translation
une comparaison  a comparison
une saison  a season
une liaison  a liaison
une maison  a house
une raison  a reason
une décision  a decision
une émission  a broadcast
la tension  tension, blood pressure
une vision  a vision
une connexion  a connection
  • Exception: "un bastion" (a bastion).

Nouns ending in -eur[edit | edit source]

Rule[edit | edit source]

Nouns ending in -eur are usually masculine: un ordinateur (a computer), le bonheur (happiness), etc.

Exceptions[edit | edit source]

However, the following frequently-used nouns are feminine:

French  Translation
la chaleur the heat
une fleur a flower
une couleur a colour
une erreur a mistake
la largeur the width
la profondeur the depth
la longueur the length
la peur fear

Nouns ending with a vowel[edit | edit source]

Rule[edit | edit source]

Many nouns whose singular written form ends in a vowel (but excluding –e without an acute accent) are masculine.

Exceptions[edit | edit source]

However, there are a significant number of exceptions:

ending in -i[edit | edit source]
French  Translation
un délai a time limit
un essai an attempt (a 'try' in rugby)
un emploi a job
un roi a king
  • Exceptions: "la foi" (faith), "une loi" a law, "une paroi" a wall
ending in [edit | edit source]
French  Translation
le café the café or coffee
le marché the market
un fossé a ditch
le thé tea
  • Exception: "une clé" (a key)
Ending in -eau[edit | edit source]
French  Translation
un couteau a knife
le réseau the network
un marteau a hammer
le niveau the level
un tableau a picture
  • Exceptions: l'eau water, la peau skin
Ending in -i[edit | edit source]
French  Translation
l'abri  shelter
un cri  a shout
un pari  a bet
un pli  a fold
un raccourci  a short-cut
Ending in -ou[edit | edit source]
French  Translation
un bijou  a jewel
un clou  a nail
un caillou  a pebble
un genou  a knee
le hibou  the owl

FEMININE NOUNS[edit | edit source]

Ending in -e[edit | edit source]

Many singular nouns ending in -e without an acute accent are feminine:

  • l'audace (daring), la façade (the front), the outside, une salade (a salad)
  • une douzaine (a dozen), une fontaine (a fountain)
  • une baie (a bay), la haie (the hedge)
  • une ambulance (an ambulance), une flèche (an arrow)
  • une araignée (a spider), une bougie (a candle), etc.
  • une thèse (a thesis), une grève (a strike), etc.

Exceptions[edit | edit source]

But there are a large number of exceptions to this rule:

Ending in -isme[edit | edit source]

Nouns ending in -isme are masculine: le romantisme 'romanticism', le tourisme 'tourism', un idiotisme 'an idiom (linguistic)', etc.

Ending in -ède, -ege, -eme[edit | edit source]

French  Translation
un intermède  an interlude
un piège  a trap
un cortège  a procession
un stratège  a strategist
un poème  a poem
le système  the system
le thème  the theme or translation into a foreign language
  • la crème (cream) is an exception.

Ending in -age[edit | edit source]

Nouns ending in -age are usually masculine, but there are some notable exceptions:

French  Translation
le courage courage
un stage a work placement
un garage a garage
un message a message
un voyage a journey
  • Exceptions: une cage a cage, une image a picture, une page a page, une plage a beach, la rage rabies.

Other common exceptions:[edit | edit source]

French  Translation
un grade  a rank
un stade  a stadium
un groupe a group
le monde the world
le capitaine the captain
un musée a museum
le domaine the area
le silence silence
un lycée a (sixth-form) college
un trophée a trophy
un génie a genius
un incendie a fire
un cimetière a cemetery
le derrière the backside
le platine platinum
un magazine a magazine
un pare-brise a windscreen
un intervalle an interval
le rebelle the rebel
le chèvrefeuille honeysuckle
un chêne an oak tree
un gorille a gorilla
un portefeuille a wallet
un hêtre a beech tree
un carosse a carriage
un squelette a skeleton
un renne a reindeer
le mercure mercury
le murmure a murmur
un gramme a gram
un kilogramme a kilogram
un mètre a metre
un kilomètre a kilometre
un litre a litre
un parapluie an umbrella

NB: The majority of words with the prefix para- are masculine: un parachute (a parachute), un paratonnerre (a lightning conductor), le parapente (paragliding), un paravent (wind-shield, screen).

Video - How Can I Tell if a Noun is Masculine or Feminine?[edit | edit source]

Gender of Nouns (all lessons)[edit source]

Other Chapters[edit | edit source]

Table of Contents

Nouns


Determiners


Personal and impersonal pronouns


Adjectives


Adverbs


Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers


Verb forms


Verb constructions


Verb and participle agreement


Tense


The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives


The infinitive


Prepositions


Question formation


Relative clauses


Negation


Conjunctions and other linking constructions

Other Lessons[edit | edit source]

Contributors

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