Essential French Grammar – Masculine and Feminine
In English, the gender of nouns is based on sexual characteristics. For example, girl, cow, and queen are feminine, while boy, bull, and king are masculine. Nouns that do not have sexual attributes are neutral, which means they have no gender. In French, all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine.
Because French articles agree with the nouns they refer to, French articles also have gender. The chart below shows the difference between the masculine and the masculine forms of articles.
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| Definite article | Le L' in front of a vowel |
La L' in front of a vowel |
| Indefinite article | Un | Une |
A lot of nouns that refer to men form their feminine forms simply by adding an –e, as in ami>amie "friend," or in employé>employée "employee." Of course, if the word already ends in an –e, there is no need to add an extra one. For example, élève "student" can be either masculine or feminine.
Sometimes the masculine and feminine forms of nouns are very different from each other. Here are some examples:
- Homme>femme – "man, woman"
- Taureau>vache – "bull, cow"
- Neveu>nièce – "nephew, niece"
Other patterns of change include:
- - f > -ve (veuf>veuve – "widower, widow")
- -x > -se (époux>épouse – "husband, wife")
- -eur>-euse (danseur>danseuse – "male dancer, female dancer")
- -an>-anne (paysan>paysanne – "male farmer, female farmer")
- -ion>-ionne (lion>lionne – "lion, lionness")
When the same word is used to refer to men and women, its gender changes according to the sex of the person to whom it refers. Examples: un collègue/une collègue – "a colleague"; un Belge / une Belge – "a Belgian man/woman."
Some words have only one possible gender, regardless if they refer to a man or a woman, a boy or a girl. Thus bébé "baby" is always masculine, even if the word is used to refer to a baby girl. Here is a list of words that behave in the same way:
- Une vedette "a star" is always feminine.
- Un guide "a guide" is always masculine.
- Une personne "a person" is always feminine.
- Une victime "a victim" is always feminine.
Sometimes, gender makes total sense. For example, just like in English, fille "girl," vache "cow," and reine "queen" are feminine. But most of the time, gender seems arbitrary. For instance, table "table" is feminine, while avion "plane" is masculine. Gender is purely a grammatical matter in these cases. Fortunately, there are patterns that help us distinguish between feminine and masculine words.
There are many exceptions to most patterns. Check in a dictionary to be sure of a noun's gender.
Some patterns are based on meaning, while other are based on form.
| Masculine gender: Patterns based on meaning | |
|---|---|
| Days of the week | le lundi "Monday" le mercredi – "Wednesday" |
| Months and seasons | décembre – "December" le printemps – "spring" l'hiver – "winter" |
| Languages | le français – "French" le roumain – "Romanian" |
| Trees and shrubs | le pommier – "the apple tree" le platane – "the plane tree" Exceptions : la ronce – "bramble," la vigne – "vine," l'aubépine – "hawthorn" |
| Cheeses and wines | le champagne – "Champagne" le bordeaux – "Bordeaux wine" le camembert – "camembert" le gruyère – "gruyere" |
| Metals and minerals | le platine – "platinium" l'or – "gold" le diamant – "diamond" le rubis – "ruby" Exceptions : l'améthyste "amethyst", la turquoise "turquoise", l'ambre "amber", la tourmaline "tourmaline", l'émeraude "emerald", l'opaline "opal" |
| Colors | le bleu – "blue" le vert – "green" |
| Weights and measures | le litre – "liter" le quart – "quart" Exception : la moitié – "half" |
| Masculine gender: Patterns based on form | |
|---|---|
| Nouns formed from infinitives | le devoir – "duty" le rire – "laughter" |
| Nouns formed from adjectives | l'impossible – "that which is impossible" le sérieux – "seriousness" |
| Nouns ending in – ai | le balai – "broom" l'essai – "essay" |
| Nouns ending in –age | le village – "village" le voyage – "journey" |
| Nouns ending in – ment | un appartement – "apartment" le vêtement – "garment" |
| nouns ending in –isme | un organisme – "organism" le cyclisme – "cycling" |
| Nouns ending in –oi | un emploi – "a job" un tournoi – "a tournament" |
| Nounds ending in –oir | un miroir – "mirror" le soir – "evening" |
| Nouns ending in –ou | le chou – "cabbage" le genou – "knee" |
| Feminine gender: Patterns based on meaning | |
|---|---|
| Names of fruit and vegetables ending in –e | la banane – "banana" l'orange – "orange" la carotte – "carrot" Exceptions: le concombre – "cucumber," le pamplemousse – "grapefruit" |
| Names designating women, ending n – esse, -euse, -ienne, - trice and –ière | la conductrice – "the female driver" la fermière – "the female farmer" l'esthéticienne – "the beautician" |
| Names of academic subjects | la philosophie – "philosophy" la linguistique – "linguistics" |
| Names of cars | la limousine – "the limousine" la Mercedes – "the Mercedes" |
| Feminine gender: Patterns based on form | |
|---|---|
| Nouns ending in –aie | la monnaie – "currency" la plaie – "wound" |
| Nouns ending in –aille | la bataille – "battle" les fiançailles – "engagement" |
| Nouns ending in –eine | la baleine – "whale" la peine – "punishment" |
| Nouns ending in –ence | l'influence – "influence" la carence – "deficiency" |
| Nouns ending in –aine | la haine – "hatred" une centaine – "a hundred" |
| Nouns ending in –euse | la tondeuse – "lawnmower" |
| Nouns ending in –ie | la partie – "part" la vie – "life" |
| Nouns ending in –tude | l'altitude – "altitude" l'habitude – "habit" |
| Most nouns ending in a double consonant + -e | la taille – "size" la baisse – "a drop" la chaussette – "sock" Exceptions : le squelette – "skeleton," le gorille – "gorilla," le portefeuille – "wallet." |
Some words have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine.
For instance, le critique is "a critic," while la critique means "criticism." Here are some other examples:
- Un aide – "assistant," une aide – "help," or "female assistant"
- Le garde – "guard," la garde – "protection"
- La mort – "death," le mort – "dead person"
- Le poêle – "stove/heater," la poêle – "frying pan"
- Le tour – "trick/tour," la tour – "tower"
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