by Liz Allen

Created on: February 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 10, 2007

The English language is the odd man out when it comes to gender, as nouns in most languages are either masculine or feminine. Whilst it is obvious that men, boys, brothers and uncles will be masculine and women, girls, sisters and aunts will be feminine, there often seems to be neither rhyme nor reason for the gender of other French nouns. Why should houses be feminine whilst gardens are masculine?

Trying to learn the gender of every noun may seem a daunting task, but you may begin to notice certain patterns that will help you. For example, nouns ending with a double consonant followed by the letter e (such as 'la chaussette') will almost definitely be feminine. Nouns ending in -eau, on the other hand, are typically masculine, for example 'le bateau'.

Below is a list of typical feminine and typical masculine endings of French nouns. For each ending there are a few examples as well as any notable exceptions. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should be of help to most learners.

Typical Feminine endings

-tion, for example many words that are identical to English: la situation, la question, la solution, la nation, l'action; also la natation (swimming), l'alimentation (food).

-ence, again, many words that are similar to English: la patience, la violence, la conscience, l'agence; also la concurrence (competition, in the sense of rivalry).

-ance, for example les vacances (holidays), la croissance (growth), l'enfance (childhood). An exception is le silence.

-ade, as in la promenade (the walk), la limonade. An exception is l'escalade (masculine, climbing).

-que, as in la boutique, la musique, la gymnastique. Exceptions are le plastique, le kiosque, le moustique (the mosquito).

-ure, for example la chaussure (the shoe), la blessure (the wound), la couture (dressmaking, the seam), l'allure (speed), la nourriture (food), la culture.

-erie, notably for names of shops such as la boulangerie (the bakery), la boucherie (the butcher's), la librairie (the bookshop); also la sonnerie (the ringing of a bell or phone), la gendarmerie (the police station).

-ette, for example la chaussette (the sock), la fillette (the little girl), une assiette (a plate), les toilettes, la tablette (the shelf, bar of chocolate), la roulette (the roller skate), la vignette (road-tax disc). An exception is le squelette (the skeleton).

-rice, commonly for occupations such as la directrice (the female director), une actrice (an actress), la traductrice (the female translator). Le dentifrice (the toothpaste)

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