Feminine and Masculine in French
Masculine and Feminine
In French all nouns have a gender, either masculine or feminine. The articles agree with the nouns they refer too, so they also have a gender. Except for animals and humans, most of the time, gender is arbitrary. A table is feminine (la table), whereas the sun is masculine (le soleil).
- 1. Articles:
|
|
Masculine |
Feminine |
|
Definite article |
le l’ in front of a vowel |
la l’ in front of a vowel |
|
Indefinite article |
un |
une |
2. The feminine of some masculine noun is obtained by adding an –e
F Example:
Un invité – une invitée (a guest)
Le marié – La mariée (the groom – the bride)
F Note: when the noun ends with –e like:
Un colorant rouge (a red couloring/ masculine)
Une rose rouge (a red rose/ feminine)
Un collègue – une collègue (a colleague)
3.Sometimes, like in English, French masculine and feminine differ greatly from each other.
F Examples:
Le cheval – la jument (horse – mare)
Le mouton – la brebis (mutton – ewe)
La vache – le taureau ( cow – bull)
Le cochon – la truie (Pig – sow)
L’homme – la femme (man – woman)
4. Some feminine nouns follow another pattern when the masculine ends in: -f –p –x –eur –an -ion
F Examples:
Le scorpion – scorpionne (scorpio – male and female)
Le paysan – la paysanne (the peasant - male and female)
Un danseur – une danseuse (a dancer - male and female)
Le loup – la louve (the wolf – male and female)
Heureux – heureuse (Happy – male and female)
Neuf – neuve (new - male and female)
- 5. Some nouns can only have one gender independently of their reference to a male or a female.
F Examples:
Un bébé – a baby
Une personne – a person
Un médecin – a docteur
6. Some words have a different meaning depending on whether they are masculine or feminine.
F Examples :
La mort – le mort ( death – the dead)
Le tour – la tour ( the trick – the tower)
7. Here is a list of masculine gender and feminine gender:
F Masculine gender:
|
ü Colors |
Le jaune (yellow) Le bleu (blue) |
|
Le vert (green) Le rouge (red) Le noir (black) Le blanc (white) Le gris (grey) |
|
ü Wines |
Le champagne |
|
Le bordeaux |
|
|
Le beaujolais |
|
|
Le sancerre Le sauterne Le riesling
|
ü Languages Le français
L’allemand
Le japonais
L’anglais
L’espagnol
Le portuguais
F Feminine gender:
ü nouns ending in –aille:
La pagaille (a mess)
Les Fiançailles (engagement)
La paille (straw)
ü nouns ending in –eine:
la baleine (whale)
la peine (punishment)
ü nouns ending in –aine:
La châtaigne (chesnut)
La haine (hatred)
ü nouns ending in –aie:
La plaie (wound)
La monnaie (change)
ü nouns ending in –ence:
Une agence (agency)
L’abstinence (abstinence)