Gender of Nouns in French

In French, every noun has a gender: masculine or feminine. While there’s no absolute rule, common suffixes and patterns can help predict gender.

1. General Rules

A. Masculine Nouns (Typical Patterns)

Common Suffixes:

• -age → le fromage (cheese), le voyage (trip)
  (Exceptions: la plage, la page, l’image)
• -ment → le gouvernement (government), le téléphone (phone)
• -eau → le bateau (boat), le chapeau (hat)
  (Exception: l’eau – water)
• -isme → le tourisme (tourism), le capitalisme (capitalism)
• -ier → le pommier (apple tree), le dictionnaire (dictionary)

Other Clues:

• Metals → l’or (gold), l’argent (silver), le cuivre (copper)
• Languages → le français (French), l’espagnol (Spanish)
• Days/Months → lundi (Monday), janvier (January)

B. Feminine Nouns (Typical Patterns)

Common Suffixes:

• -tion/-sion → la nation (nation), la télévision (TV)
• -té/-ité → la liberté (freedom), la société (society)
• -ence/-ance → la patience (patience), la distance (distance)
• -ure → la figure (figure), la voiture (car)
• -ie → la boulangerie (bakery), la folie (madness)

Other Clues:

• Sciences → la biologie (biology), la médecine (medicine)
• Fruits → la pomme (apple), la banane (banana)
  (Exceptions: le citron, le melon)

2. Exceptions & Special Cases

Nouns with Different Meanings by Gender

Masculine	Feminine
le tour (a magic trick)	la tour (a tower)
le livre (a book)	la livre (a pound currency)
le mode (a method)	la mode (fashion)

Gender-Neutral Nouns (Same Spelling)

• Un/une élève (student) → Gender depends on the person.
• Un/une artiste (artist) → Gender depends on the person.

3. How to Guess a Noun’s Gender

• Check the ending (e.g., -tion = usually feminine).
• Look at the article (le/la, un/une).
• Memorize common exceptions (e.g., la personne, le problème).
• Verify gender using our Conjugation and Declension tool.