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) is an exception.
-ssion, as in la passion, la repression.
-esse, as in la tristesse (sadness), la vitesse (the speed, gear), la paresse (laziness), la jeunesse (youth), la richesse (wealth).
Typical Masculine endings
-ment, for example le gouvernement (the government), un appartement (a flat), le commencement (the beginning), un abonnement (a subscription). An exception is la jument (the mare).
-age, for example le village, le paysage (the countryside), l'embouteillage (the traffic jam), le bricolage (do-it-yourself). Several exceptions include une image (a picture), la plage (the beach), la nage (swimming). Note that le page is a page boy, whereas la page is the page of a book (or newspaper, etc.).
-aire, as in un horaire (a timetable, working hours), l'anniversaire (the birthday), un annuaire (a directory), le frigidaire (the refrigerator).
-eau, for example le bateau (the boat), le manteau (the coat), le chapeau (the hat), l'oiseau (the bird). The one exception is l'eau (water), which is feminine.
-in, for example le vin (the wine), le magasin (the shop), le dessin (the drawing), le chemin (the road, way), le jardin (the garden). An exception is la fin (the end).
-isme, as in le tourisme, le cyclisme.
-ier, as in le fermier (the farmer), le chantier (the roadworks, building site), le cahier (the notebook, exercise book), le pommier (the apple tree).
-er, mostly occupation-related, for example le boucher (the butcher), le boulanger (the baker).
-eur, as in le travailleur (the worker), un ascenseur (a lift), le moteur (the moteur (the motor), un aspirateur (a vacuum cleaner). Exceptions include la douleur (the pain), la chaleur (the heat).
-on, as in le salon (the sitting room), le poisson (the fish), le pantalon (the trousers). An exception is la maison (the house).
Words ending in an e with an acute accent are generally masculine, unless that e is preceded by a t or an unaccented e, in which case they would be feminine.