Last week, we wrote about the importance of learning French noun gender and presented multiple categories of words that tend to be either masculine or feminine.
This week, we want to give you 3 more important clues to use to assess whether a French noun is masculine or feminine. We use the word “clue” as opposed to “rule” because – alas – in every category, there’s almost always an exception. But once you memorize and internalize these clues you’ll get the gender right, let’s say… 8 out of 10 times.
Not bad, eh? Here we go:
Clue #1: Most words that refer to men are masculine; those that refer to women are feminine.
Le père (the father)
Le fils (the son)
La tante (the aunt)
La soeur (the sister)
Clue #2: Certain nouns are always masculine or feminine regardless of the gender of the person/animal referred to.
Always masculine nouns:
Un ordinateur (a computer)
Un témoin (a witness)
Un manteau (an overcoat)
Un cheval (a horse)
Un guide (a guide)
Always feminine nouns:
Une voiture (a car)
Une souris (a mouse)
Une maison (a house)
Une école (a school)
Une personne (a person)
Une victime (a victim)
Clue #3: Certain French nouns endings indicate that the word is either masculine or feminine. Exceptions abound, however. We’ve included the more common ones below, but be always be on the look out for more.
Typically masculine endings:
- -age (le reportage, sondage, fromage, village)/ Exceptions: la plage, la cage
- -acle (le miracle, spectacle) / Exceptions: la bâcle, la bernacle, la debâcle
- -eur (un aspirateur, un ascenseur)/ Exceptions: la chaleur, la couleur, la fleur
- -é (le café, marché) / Exception: la clé and words ending with té (see feminine)
- -eau (bateau, réseau, drapeau) Exceptions: l’eau, la peau
- -ème (le deuxième, le cinquantième) / Exceptions: la/le troisième, la/le quatrième,
- -in (le vin, le train) Exception: la fin, la main
- -ing (le shampooing, le jogging)
- -isme (le tourisme, organisme, imperialisme)
- -ment (le gouvernement, appartement)
- -oir (le soir, le miroir, le devoir)
- -oi (le tournoi, l’emploi)
- -ou (le genou, le trou)
Typically feminine endings
- -ade (la limonade, la façade) Exceptions: masc & fem: le/la nomade, le/la malade
- -ance (la croissance, la nuance, une ambiance)
- -aille (la bataille, la taille, la paille)
- -ée (une idée, la chausée) Exception: le lycée, le musée, le pygmée
- -ette (la baguette, la courgette)
- -euse (la chanteuse, la berceuse)
- -ience (la patience, une experience)
- -ine (la tartine, la terrine) / Exception: le moine
- -rice (actrice, directrice) / Exceptions: le dentifrice
- -ssion (la passion, une emission) / Exceptions: le bouton-pression
- -tion (l’information, la question, une ambition)
- -té (la beauté, la fierté) / Exception: Le blé
- -tié (la moitié, la pitié)
- -tude (une habitude, la certitude, la gratitude)
- -ure (une allure, la candidature)
HOMEWORK: Pick 3 masculine word endings and 3 feminine word endings and find 3 new nouns with those endings. Write your answers in the comments below! And, of course, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask us below or contact us.