Gender of Nouns

Unlike English, French nouns have a gender (genre): they can be masculine (masculin) or feminine (féminin). There are different ways to find out a noun’s gender: we can look in the dictionary and check for the abbreviations m. (masculine) or f. (feminine); we can check the noun’s ending, which generally gives an indication whether the noun is masculine or feminine; or we can look at the noun’s article. Nouns with le or un are masculine, and nouns with la or une are feminine. You should always learn nouns together with their articles to be sure of their gender.

1. Typical endings for French masculine nouns

Ending	Example
-e/-é	le maître, le résumé, le pré
-eur	le vendeur, le danseur
-ien	le musicien, le chien
-(i)er	le boucher, l’ouvrier
-on	le baron, le patron exceptions: la boisson, la façon, la liaison, la maison, la raison, la rançon, la saison, la chanson
-teur	le traducteur
-age	le garage, le sauvetage exceptions: la cage, l’image, la nage, la page, la plage, la rage
-al	le journal, le cheval
-eau	le bateau, le château exceptions: l’eau, la peau
-ent	le segment, le présent exception: la jument
-et	le billet, le projet
-asme/ -isme	le fantasme, l’enthousiasme, le tourisme, le charisme
-in	le cousin, le baldaquin
-oir	l’arrosoir, le fermoir
-ail	le travail
the cardinal points	le nord, le sud, l’est, l’ouest
days months seasons	le lundi, le jeudi, le dimanche février, avril, octobre l’été, le printemps, l’automne, l’hiver
the trees	le sapin, le peuplier, le chêne
the languages	le français, l’allemand, l’anglais

2. Typical endings for French feminine nouns

Ending	Example
-esse	la maîtresse
-euse	la vendeuse, la danseuse
-ienne	la musicienne, la chienne
-(i)ère	la bouchère, l’ouvrière
-onne	la baronne, la patronne
-trice	la traductrice
-ade	la pommade, la façade exception: le stade
-ance/-ence	l’ambulance, l’essence exception: le silence
-ée	l’arrivée, l’idée exceptions: le musée, le lycée, le trophée, l’apogée, le mausolée
-elle	la demoiselle
-ette	la poussette, la cigarette
-ie	la géologie, la librairie exception: l’incendie
-ine	la cuisine, la cabine
-ise	la surprise, la devise
-aille	la trouvaille
-t(i)é	la pitié, la confidentialité exceptions: le comité, le côté, l’été, le pâté
-ure	la confiture, la culture exception: le murmure
the continents	l’Europe, l’Asie
academic disciplines	la médecine, la philosophie, la chimie

3. People/Animals

For people and animals, the gender of the noun usually corresponds to the biological gender.

	Masculine	Feminine
People	le garçon (the boy)	la fille (the girl)
Animals	le coq (the rooster)	la poule (the hen)

Certain animal nouns have a fixed gender and refer to both males and females. To specify the animal’s biological gender, we add the word mâle (male) or femelle (female) before or after the noun.

La souris mâle. (The male mouse)
La femelle du crocodile. (The female crocodile)

However, there are also nouns that have one form for both the masculine and the feminine.

un/une touriste (a tourist)

4. Job titles

Certain job titles do not have a separate feminine form because they already end in -e.

un/une journaliste (a journalist)
un/une libraire (a bookseller)
un/une interprète (an interpreter
un/une ministre (a minister)

Likewise, there are other job titles that only exist in the masculine form but refer to both men and women.

un/une ingénieur (an engineer)
un/une professeur (a teacher)
un/une chirurgien (a surgeon)
un/une médecin (a doctor)

The majority of professions that were previously only associated with men now have their own feminine form, except for those ending in -e or -eur. However, the use of these feminine forms is not very common, not is it compulsory.

un magistrat – une magistrate/une magistrat (a magistrate)
un écrivain – une écrivaine/une écrivain (a writer)

Exception: un auteur – une auteure (a author)

Certain professions only exist in the masculine form (grammatically!) but describe both men and women:

un plombier (a plumber)
un mécanicien (a mechanic)

Likewise, there are some professions that only have a feminine form in French grammar:

une sage-femme (a midwife)
une hôtesse de l’air (masculine form: un steward) (an air hostess - a steward)
une femme de ménage (masculine form: un technicien de surface) (a housekeeper - a surface technician)

5. Names of countries and reagions

All countries ending with -e are feminine.

la France (France)

l’Allemagne (Germany)
la Chine (China)
la Bretagne (Brittany)
la Provence (Provence)

Exception: le Mexique (Mexico)

All countries ending with a different vowel or a consonant are masculine.

le Canada (Canada)
le Pérou (Peru)
le Maroc (Morocco)
le Japon (Japan)
le Portugal (Portugal)

Grammar

Gender of Nouns

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