In French, all nouns are gendered. Bread (le pain) and street signs (le panneau de rue) are masculine. Mountains (la montagne) and windows (la fenêtre) are feminine.
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This may seem like unfamiliar territory since most nouns in English aren’t gendered. For speakers of Romance languages, though, grammatical gender is a given. It adds a layer of complexity to speech and writing, as you’ll need to make sure that words attached to or modifying nouns agree with a given gender.
We’ll help you get a firm handle on the basics of French gender rules, so you can speak confidently and correctly. If you want to skip the memorization method, Rosetta Stone can help you master grammar rules and learn French through an immersive method.
Why are gender rules important in French?
All nouns in French have gender. Other French parts of speech, such as articles, pronouns, adjectives, and even past participles will need to match the gender of the nouns they are connected to in a sentence.
Native speakers will have unconsciously learned the gender of a noun as soon as they learned the word. So, French gender seem very obvious to them.
Learning French as a non-native speaker, you might feel you are at a disadvantage every time you:
- want to use articles, such as “a,” “some,” or “the”
- choose a pronoun to avoid repetition and say “it” or “them”
- use an adjective to describe a person, place, thing, or idea
- use the past tense with irregular verbs
- learn vocabulary that can change meaning depending on the gender
Since grammatical gender is so important, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to a few related concepts, rules, and of course, the exceptions!
Rules for French masculine or feminine nouns
The first thing to note is that the gender of a French noun, either masculine or feminine, almost never has to do with the human concept of male or female—except when it comes to words for humans, such as l’homme (the man; masculine) and la femme (the woman; feminine).
You can look up nouns in a French dictionary and uncover their gender, as the entry will often include m. (masculine), nm (noun-masculine), f. (feminine), or nf (noun-feminine). But there are a few general guidelines that can help you determine the gender of a word faster.
A rule of thumb for the charts below: la (the) is feminine and le (the) is masculine. We’ll give a full overview of gendered articles in the next section!
Common feminine noun endings
There is no rule that can always tell you if a noun is feminine, but there are some common categories and endings that typically are. This is not an exhaustive list of examples or exceptions, but it can be a good starting place!
Treat this chart of endings as a reference for now, rather than something to memorize. You’re more likely to make connections to this chart as you learn new words, which is helpful in solidifying your vocabulary.
Categories of nouns that are often feminine
Many French words and phrases that refer to women and girls are feminine or have a corresponding feminine form.
- la femme
- la fille
- la dame
- l’épouse
- la mère
- la voisine
- l’amie
- la copine
If it’s an academic subject, go with the feminine as a general rule. But keep in mind that you also have specific languages, which are generally masculine nouns.
- la langue
- la biologie
- la chimie
- la littérature
- les sciences
- l’histoire
- la géographie
- les mathématiques
- l’algèbre
- la géométrie
Many abstract concepts and qualities are feminine nouns. This has a lot to do with the common suffixes -té, –tude, –ence, and –esse that show up frequently in this list.
- la beauté
- la liberté
- la sagesse
- la patience
- la politesse
- la paix
- la joie
- la tendresse
- la vérité
- la gratitude
- la solidarité
- la bonté
Continents and planets are feminine.
- l’Asie
- l’Amérique du Nord
- l’Australie
- la Terre
- Vénus
Remember, these are guidelines to help you notice patterns when you encounter French nouns in context. If you need to be sure, it’s a good idea to look up the word in a trusted resource, because some words may surprise you! For example: La masculinité (masculinity) is a feminine word!
Common masculine noun endings
Like feminine nouns, there is no single rule we can use to determine if a noun is masculine, but there are some common categories and endings that can help. This is not an exhaustive list of examples or exceptions, but it does outline basic patterns you’re likely to encounter.
Categories of nouns that are often masculine
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When discussing humans, most nouns that refer to men and boys are masculine. Keep in mind that la personne, the word that means “the person,” is always feminine, even if you are referring to a man or boy.
- l’homme
- le garçon
- le monsieur
- l’époux
- le père
- le grandpère
- le voisin
- l’ami
- le copain
- le roi
You can count on using the masculine form when it comes to the cardinal points of direction.
- le nord
- l’est
- le sud
- l’ouest
Days, months, and seasons are masculine.
- le lundi
- le mercredi
- mai
- octobre
- le printemps
You can also count on masculine nouns to refer to colors, types of trees, and cheeses.
- le bleu
- le rouge
- le chêne
- le pommier
- le brie
- le gruyère
Remember, it’s not always what you’d think! For example, le féminisme (feminism) is a masculine noun. With time and practice, you’ll master the exceptions with ease.
Understanding French gender rules for articles
In the sections above, we’ve used le (the) and la (the) as markers of gender. Since French articles must be used with nouns—and they’re always gendered—they’re a great way to quickly determine the gender of a word.
Now, we’ll take a look at four different article types—definite, indefinite, partitive, and contracted—and how gender is applied to each.
Masculine and feminine in French definite articles
English has one definite article, “the.” French has four ways to say “the”:
- le (masculine, singular)
- la (feminine, singular)
- l’ (both le and la change to l’ in front of a vowel or silent “h”)
- les (plural, either masculine or feminine)
If you see a noun in a sentence using “the,” it might be easy to tell its gender. Take the following examples:
- Tu vas choisir la salade ou le fromage? = Are you going to choose the salad or the cheese?
You can tell that la salade is feminine because of the definite article, la. You can also tell that le fromage is masculine because of the definite article, le.
This will work much of the time, until you come across nouns that start with vowels or plural nouns.
- Elle va choisir l’ananas, mais je vais choisir les fraises. = She is going to choose the pineapple, but I’m going to choose the strawberries.
This sentence doesn’t give you the same clues, as both the masculine and feminine singular words for “the” will drop the final vowel in front of a vowel sound, leaving you with l’. Les is used for plural nouns of either gender.
French masculine or feminine in indefinite articles
The English words for “a/an” and “some” have corresponding indefinite articles in French that are affected by the gender of the noun. They can help to distinguish between masculine and feminine in French.
- un: a/an (masculine singular)
- une: a/an (feminine singular)
- des: some/any (both masculine and feminine plural, countable nouns)
Here’s how they look in sentences:
- Donne-moi un croissant, s’il te plait. = Give me a croissant, please.
- Je voudrais une banane. = I would like a banana.
There is a joke that if you want to avoid being judged for not knowing this French grammar rule, just make the noun plural, that way you don’t need to know.
If a noun is countable—as in, you can count the individual items in a group—you can use des to refer to an unspecified number. We would usually translate this to “any ” or “some” in English, or leave out the article altogether.
- J’ai acheté des fraises et des framboises. Vous avez des bluets? = I ate some strawberries, and some raspberries. Do you have any blueberries?
As in the case of the definite article, the plural indefinite article des does not help you figure out the gender of a noun.
French gender rules for partitive articles
In the case of a part of or an uncountable quantity of something, you’ll need to use the partitive articles.
- du: some (masculine)
- de la: some (feminine)
- de l’: some (in front of a vowel for both masculine and feminine nouns)
This can help you identify the gender of the noun you’re referring to.
- J’ai mangé du fromage et de la glace, et maintenant je veux de l’eau. = I ate some cheese and some ice cream, and now I want some water.
In this sentence you can guess the gender of the nouns for cheese and ice cream, but not for the case of water.
Masculine and feminine in French contractions with articles
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To preserve smooth speech and pronunciation, French uses contractions with certain articles, but not others. This can be confusing, but it’s good to know when they happen, so you can still figure out the gender of some nouns.
- de + le = du: from/of the (singular)
- à + le = au: to the (singular)
- de + les = des: from/of the (plural)
- à + les = aux: to the (plural)
If you see the contractions du or au, you’ll know that the singular noun is masculine.
- On vient du restaurant, et on va au marché. = We’re coming from the restaurant and we’re going to the market.
Understanding French gender rules for adjectives
Nouns and articles are just part of what is affected by grammatical gender in French. Adjectives, or descriptive words, also need to agree with the gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) of the nouns they describe. This is why many French adjectives can have four or five forms!
You can start to notice patterns in the highlighted changes, but keep in mind there are also many exceptions to these general rules.
When dealing with French grammar rules, it’s beneficial to spot patterns and rely on reference charts to recognize these changes in real-life situations. This way, you’ll easily spot the exceptions that diverge from the standard rules.
How to use adjectives to help identify a noun’s gender in French
If you are reading a sentence and the gender of the noun isn’t obvious, you can often use the adjective—which will agree with the noun in both gender and number—as a helpful way to figure out the noun’s gender.
- Les haricots verts sont délicieux. = The green beans are delicious.
You can tell that the word haricot (bean) must be masculine since verts (green) and délicieux (delicious) are in the masculine form.
With more time and exposure to the language, your brain will naturally associate common nouns and adjectives with their gender, and it will begin to “sound right” to you.
Understanding verb agreements in French
If articles, nouns, pronouns, and adjectives weren’t enough, it’s important to note that some verb endings will need to agree with the gender in the phrase.
When être is the helping verb
Some verbs in the past tense use être as the auxiliary, or helping, verb. The second part of the verb tense is the past participle, which will follow the agreement rules, similar to adjectives.
- Ma nièce est née hier. = My niece was born yesterday.
- Elle était partie avant moi. = She had left before me.
This will include reflexive verbs, as they use être as the past tense auxiliary verb.
- Les filles se sont habillées avant le dîner. = The girls got dressed before dinner.
When the direct object precedes avoir as the helping verb
Usually verbs that use avoir as the auxiliary verb do not require agreement of the past participle, unless the sentence is constructed so that the direct object comes before avoir.
- La voiture que j’ai achetée est rouge. = The car that I bought is red.
A general way to think of past participle agreement
If you get to the past participle in your sentence before you get to the noun that is either being described by or receiving the action, you don’t need to worry about agreement.
- J’ai acheté deux valises hier. = I bought two suitcases yesterday.
You don’t know what you’re talking about yet, so it wouldn’t sound weird if it didn’t agree.
If you have already referred to that noun before you get to the past participle, you should show agreement. Otherwise it will look and sound sharply incorrect to a native speaker, as you’ve already “activated” the feminine and/or plural in the sentence.
- Les valises que j’ai achetées sont grandes. = The suitcases that I bought are big.
Try noticing gender agreement, especially when you get a chance to read a text multiple times. You may not always notice this happening in speech, because the extra “e” and “s” can be silent.
- Elle est arrivée hier, mais ses frères sont arrivés ce matin. = She arrived yesterday, but her brothers arrived this morning.
In the example above, you would only notice the change to the past participle in writing.
Remember French gender rules easily with Rosetta Stone
Since their evolution from Latin, nouns in Romance languages like French have had grammatical gender categories of masculine or feminine. If you need someone to blame for this complexity, feel free to turn your frustration to the ancient Romans!
While you can certainly grasp the meaning of most sentences without worrying about grammar rules, grammatical elements build on each other—and in order to speak French confidently, you’ll need to know how to put complex sentences together correctly.
With so many exceptions to the rules above, mastery comes with repeated context and exposure—not just memorization. Rosetta Stone is tailor-made to provide this level of immersive learning with an engaging method built for learning at your own pace.
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This post was last modified on November 20, 2024 12:26 am