Noun genders
In French, all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine.
If the noun is a person, the gender should be obvious, but for places or things, the gender must be learnt.
Working out a noun’s gender
Most nouns follow a set of rules that define what gender they will be, based on the ending.
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| -ien | -aison |
| -et | -euse |
| -ing | -esse |
| -isme | -tude |
| -oir | -ise |
| -ou | -trice |
| -ment | -lle |
| -eur | -ette |
| -age | -sion |
| -eau | -tion |
| -ine | |
| -ure | |
| -nne | |
| -té | |
| -tié |
Articles
Articles are used in front of nouns to show their gender, there are two types, definite and indefinite.
The definite article suggests that you are referring to a specific noun, while the indefinite article is used to refer to a random instance of that noun that is not known.
| Definite | Indefinite | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French | English | French | English | |
| Masculine | le | the | un | a |
| Feminine | la | the | une | a |
Contractions
If a noun begins with a vowel, they must be contracted, replacing the article with ” l’ “.
Plurals
Most French nouns simply add an “s” on the end of the word and use the article “les”.
Nouns that end in “s”, “x”, or “z” don’t change when put in the plural form.
Some nouns can have irregular endings, however they are typically based on their original ending.
| Noun Ending | Irregular Plural Ending |
|---|---|
| -al | -aux |
| -eau | -eaux |
| -eu | -eux |
| -ou | -oux |