Gender In French: Guide And Tips

One of the trickiest aspects of learning the French language is the gender of certain words.

There are ways to tell if a specific word is feminine or masculine, but they are not one hundred percent accurate.

However, as a beginner to the French language, it helps to know and memorize certain tips to determine gender and to be able to use them correctly.

Gender In French: Guide And Tips

Here is a handy guide to learning the gender of French words, with examples to help you out.

Masculine and Feminine Words in French

In French, there is a gender for every noun – they could be either masculine or feminine nouns.

The word for ‘woman,’ femme, is feminine, and une femme is the proper French word for “woman.”

Meanwhile, homme is a masculine word for ‘man.’ The proper term un homme is used to refer to a man.

Une is used for feminine nouns, while un is used for masculine terms.

But what are the other ways to determine whether a word is masculine or feminine?

People, Places,Things and Their Gender in French

The rules are very basic when it comes to nouns that are established to be of either a masculine or feminine such as men and women, boys and girls, or brothers and sisters.

The gender of the individual is reflected in the word.

A man is called un homme, a boy is called un garçon, and a nephew is called un neveu.

A woman is referred to as une femme, while a girl is called une fille, and a niece is une niece.

Nouns referring to people in French, such as ‘brother’ and ‘aunt,’ are usually gender-specific.

Gender for places and objects, on the other hand, is a whole other matter.

In French, there is absolutely no logic when it comes to the gender of things.

Gender has nothing to do with how macho or girlie anything is. This simply isn’t the case.

Here is a list of masculine and feminine words in French that are rather gender-bending.

Masculine items 

• le bureau – desk
• le cahier – notebook
• le four – oven
• le manteau – coat
• le parapluie – umbrella

Feminine items 

• la carte – map
• la chaise – chair
• l’horloge – clock
• la chemise – shirt
• la cravate – tie

Places 

Masculine

• l’aéroport airport
• l’avion (m.) lah vee ohn plane
• le bateau luh bah toe boat

Feminine

• la mer – sea
• la plage – beach
• la rue – street

How is gender determined in French words?

In French, there is no clear explanation for how particular locations or things came to have a gender. History, on the other hand, frequently points to the French language’s beginnings in Latin and Roman, where nouns can be feminine or masculine. French and the evolution of the language adopted the gender aspect of its Latin/Roman origins.

How do you tell if a French word is male or female?

The quick answer is that learners of French must simply memorize the words.

You must learn the gender of a new word while learning it in French.

For a beginner, it’s a lot of effort, but there are several ways you can learn to make it easier.

You wouldn’t want to pause and consult your dictionary to find out the gender of a word if you’re asking for help from the concierge or conversing with a museum guide.

Some clues may assist you in correctly guessing whether a noun is masculine or feminine.

You may have observed that feminine nouns are more likely to finish with an e.

Note that the feminine une also ends in an e to help you remember this tip.

Ways to Know the Gender of French Words

There are two basic ways to tell if a word in French is masculine or feminine – by taking note of the article used or by the ending of each word.

1. Check the articles

You may have noticed when learning French words that they are often paired with an article, which can be definite,  indefinite or partitive.

Indefinite articles – “a/an” in English:

un (masculine)

une (feminine)

des (plural)

Definite articles – “the” in English:

le (masculine)

la (feminine)

les (plural)

Partitive articles – “some” in English:

du (masculine)

de la (feminine)

des (plural)

2. Look at the ending of the word in French

The only way to know which nouns are feminine and masculine with 100 percent accuracy is to memorize them all. However, there is an easier trick you can do.

If you look at the ending of the word in French, you can tell what gender the noun is with 80% accuracy. To establish if a noun is feminine or masculine, follow this easy guide:

Feminine Nouns in French

Nouns ending in  “-e” or “-ion.” are usually feminine, except for

 the endings “-age,” “-ège,” or “-isme.”

Almost every other noun ending is therefore masculine.

Feminine Noun Endings

 -aie, -oue, -eue, -ion, -te, – ée, -ie, -ue

-asse, -ace, -esse, -ece, -aisse, -isse/-ice, -ousse, -ance, -anse, -ence, -once

 -enne, -onne, -une, -ine, -aine, -eine, -erne

-ande, -ende, -onde, -ade, -ude, -arde, -orde

-euse, -ouse, -ase, -aise, -ese, -oise, -ise, -yse, -ose, -use

 -ache, -iche, -eche, -oche, -uche, -ouche, -anche

-ave, -eve, -ive

 -iere, -ure, -eure

-ette, -ete, – ête, -atte, -otte, -oute, -orte, -ante, -ente, -inte, -onte

-alle, -elle, -ille, -olle

-aille, -eille, -ouille

-appe, -ampe, -ombe

-igue

Masculine Nouns in French

A noun is masculine if  the ending is any of the following: 

-an, -and, -ant, -ent, -in, -int, -om, -ond, -ont, -on (but not after s/c¸)

-eau, -au, -aud, -aut, -o, -os, -ot

-ai, -ais, -ait, -es, -et

-ou, -out, -out, -oux

-i, -il, -it, -is, -y

-at, -as, -ois, -oit

• -u, -us, -ut, -eu

-er, -é after C (C=t)

-age, -ege, – ème, -ome, -aume, -isme

-as, -is, -os, -us, -ex

-it, -est

-al, -el, -il, -ol, -eul, -all

-if, -ef

 -ac, -ic, -oc, -uc

-am, -um, -en

-air, -er, -erf, -ert, -ar, -arc, -ars, -art, -our, -ours, -or, -ord, -ors, -ort, -ir, -oir, -eur

(if animate)

-ail, -eil, -euil, -ueil

-ing

Other Categories of Nouns and Their Gender in French

Places

When determining the gender of a location or city, take note of the endings.

If the name doesn’t end in -e, it’s most likely masculine. When a city or place name ends with -e, it’s usually a feminine name.

This is a fairly normal rule with only a few exceptions, which are listed below:

• le Bélize (Belize)
• le Cambodge (Cambodia)
• le Mexique (Mexico)
• le Mozambique (Mozambique)
• le Zaïre (Zaire)
• le Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe)

Animals

When determining the gender of animals in French, the male version of a species is referred to as a masculine noun, whereas the female form is referred to as a feminine noun.

Examples:  

• une chatte – female cat
• un chat – a male cat
• un chienne – female dog
• un chien – male dog
• un eléphant – male elephant 
• une éléphante – female element
• un lion – male lion
• un lionne – female lion

However, there are certain exceptions to these rules, such as animal nouns that refer to both genders.

Examples: 

• le cheval – the horse
• la souris – the mouse
• le hibou – the owl
• le papillon – the butterfly 
• le cochon – the pig

Job Titles

Most job titles in French have both masculine and feminine forms.

Back in the old days,however, only males used to work in certain vocations, and many of the job titles began as purely masculine nouns.

As women began to work a wider range of jobs, more of these job names began to take on feminine reference.

Here are some examples of masculine and feminine job titles:

• un Iteur, une actrice – actor
• un boulanger, une boulangère – baker
• un charpentier, une charpentière – carpenter
• un avocat, une avocate – lawyer
• un infirmier, une infirmière – nurse
• un pâtissier, une pâtissière –  pastry chef
• un pharmacien, une pharmacienne – pharmacist
• un enseignant, une enseignante – teacher
• un serveur, une serveuse – waiter

Want to learn more French phrases? Check out our language guides below:

• Body Parts in French
• Dates In French
• Numbers In French
• Colors In French
• Family In French Vocabulary
• Beautiful In French
• C’est La Vie – Meaning And How To Use It