Common rules and patterns for deciding if a French noun is masculine or feminine.

Generally masculine

Generally feminine

Nouns referring to male people.

Nouns referring to female

people.

These are feminine, whatever

A handful of nouns are masculine, whatever the
the gender of the
gender of the person they refer to,
person: personne,victime, rec
e.g.: amateur, auteur, tmoin,vainqueur, voyou
rue (recruit), connaissance (a
plus certain job titles.
cquaintance).
Certain nouns referring to
Certain nouns referring to animals that can refer to animals that can refer to only
the female of the species. For
only the male of the species. For
example: talon (stallion), cerf(stag), matou (tom example: chatte (female
cat), chienne (bitch), louve (sh
cat).
e-wolf).
Feminine nouns that are
Masculine nouns that are 'generic' terms and can 'generic' terms and can refer to
refer to either a male or female of the species. For either male or female of the
species. For example, la
example, le cheval can refer to either a male or
souris can refer to either a
female horse.
male or female mouse.
Names of towns. Other place names
(departments, rivers, countries) not ending in -e.

Place names ending in -e.

Common exceptions: le Mexique, le

Combodge, le Rhne, le Finistre (French
department), le Zimbabwe (-epronounced).

Common exception: la
Franche-Comt (French
department). Sometimes town
names, especially if they look
or sound feminine
(e.g. Marseillesending in -es),
can be treated as feminine.
This is quite rare, though.

Nouns ending in:

Nouns ending in:

-age

-tion, -sion and -son

-ment

-ure

-il, -ail, -eil, -ueil

-ude, -ade

- (but not -t)

-e

-eau and -ou

-t

-me, -ge

-ire

-i, -at, -et and -ot

-er

Consonant followed by ie

-oir

-euse

-ance, -ence

Most other endings

consisting of Vowel +
Consonant + e: -ine, ise, -alle, -elle, -esse, ette etc

-isme

-ing

-ard

Words ending in other consonants (in the

spelling).

Figurative nouns ending in Nouns ending in -eur, generally derived from a

eur, usually derived from an
verb, denoting people or machines carrying out an
adjective:rougeur, largeur, pl
activity:aspirateur, facteur, ordinateur
eur, couleur, horreur, rumeur
Principal exceptions (look feminine but actually
masculine):cimetire, episode, espace, intervall
e, lyce, magazine,mille, muse, rverbre, sile
nce, squelette, stade

Principal exceptions (look

masculine but actually
feminine): cage, eau,image, m
erci, page, peau, plage

Compound nouns of the form verb-noun: portemonnaie,pare-brise, tire-bouchon.

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