Gender of Nouns

CONTENT
  1. Feminine Nouns
  2. Masculine Nouns
  3. Look Out!

Unlike English, French nouns have gender: They can be masculine or feminine.

Because French articles have to agree with the nouns they are used with in both gender and number, you always have to learn a new noun along with its article.

Native

Translation

un arbre - une voiture

a tree - a car

Feminine Nouns

We can sometimes recognize a noun’s gender by its ending.

Rule 1: All nouns that end in -ette, -esse, -tude, -ance, -elle are feminine:

Native

Translation

la baguette


the baguette

la jeunesse

the youth

l’habitude

the habit

Masculine Nouns

Rule 2: All nouns that end in -et, -ier, -ail, -isme, -oir are masculine:

Native

Translation

le billet

the ticket

le métier

the profession

le travail

the work

Look Out!

Remember! The grammatical gender of the noun is not the same as the gender of the object it defies. When learning a new word, always check its gender.

Quiz

1/4

_ tourisme

0

correct answers.