Language/French/Grammar/Nouns-which-change-meaning-when-they-change-gender

Nouns which change meaning when they change gender

Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. Unfortunately there are no simple rules which non-native speakers can use to predict with complete accuracy the gender of a given noun. However, there are some patterns, either in the form or meaning of nouns, which can normally be used to predict the correct gender with greater than chance accuracy. The reader should remember, however, that these patterns are not comprehensive, and that there are exceptions.

Some nouns have different meanings when they are masculine and when they are feminine:

French	English	French	English
un aide	a helper	l'aide (f)	help
un chèvre	a goat's cheese	une chèvre	a goat
un crème	a white coffee	la crème	cream
le crêpe	crêpe (cloth)	une crêpe	a pancake
un critique	a critic	une critique	a criticism
un espace	a space	une espace	a space (in printing)
un laque	artwork	une laque	a hair lacquer or gloss paint
un livre	a book	une livre	a pound (money or weight)
un manche	a handle	une manche	a sleeve
un manoeuvre	an unskilled worker	La Manche	the English Channel
un mémoire	a dissertation	une manoeuvre	a manoeuvre
un merci	a thank you	la mémoire	memory (faculty of)
un mode	a way of. . .	la merci	mercy
(un mode de vie)	(a way of life)	une mode	a fashion
un moule	a mould	une moule	a mussel
un pendule	a pendulum	une pendule	a clock
le physique	appearance	la physique	physics
un poêle	a stove	une poêle	a frying pan
un poste	a job, TV or radio set	la poste	the Post Office
le solde	balance (in an account)	la solde	pay (usually with reference to soldier's pay)
un somme	a nap	une somme	a sum (of money)
un tour	a turn, trick	une tour	a tower
le Tour de France	bicycle race	La Tour Eiffel	The Eiffel tower
un vase	a vase	la vase	mud
un voile	a veil	une voile	a sail

chose

chose is normally feminine when it means 'thing': la/une chose. But the expressions quelque chose 'something', autre chose 'something else', peu de chose 'nothing much', pas grand-chose 'not a great deal' are masculine:

• Quelque chose est arrivé

Something happened

versus

• Cette chose est arrivée

This thing happened

gens

gens 'people' requires immediately preceding adjectives or quantifiers to be feminine, but following adjectives/participles or preceding adjectives/quantifiers separated from gens to be masculine:

• Ces vieilles gens sont heureux

Those old people are happy

• certaines gens

some people

• tous les gens

everyone

• Rassurés, les gens qui manifestaient se sont dispersés

Having been reassured, those demonstrating dispersed

amour

amour 'love' is normally masculine singular. It is sometimes, however, feminine plural: les amours. When feminine plural it can mean 'amorous adventures' or it can be a more poetic way of referring to love.