Day 5 · A1 · Lesson 5

Le or la?

Every French noun is masculine or feminine, and most of them leave clues. Learn the four clues that give the gender away, and the traps that don't.

Step 0 · Warm-up

Cold guess

Before any rules, guess whether each noun is masculine (le / un) or feminine (la / une). Guess freely. Your score is private. You'll get a fresh set at the end to compare.

garçon
boy
maison
house
soleil
sun
fenêtre
window
bureau
desk, office
chanson
song
lundi
Monday
été
summer
liberté
freedom
jardin
garden
journée
day
voyage
trip

Score: 0 / 12

Why it matters

English never made you care whether a book is masculine or feminine. French does, and the gender doesn’t stay inside the noun. It spreads to every word that touches it: the article, this, my, the adjective, even it. Watch the same sentence with a masculine noun and then a feminine one.

Masculine: le livre (the book)

Le livre est mon livre préféré. Il est intéressant.

The book is my favourite book. It's interesting.

Feminine: la chanson (the song)

La chanson est ma chanson préférée. Elle est intéressante.

The song is my favourite song. It's interesting.

Five words changed to follow one noun. Now guess wrong, and think chanson is masculine:

One wrong guess

Le chanson est mon chanson préféré. Il est intéressant.

One wrong guess, five mistakes. That's why gender is a foundation skill, not a footnote.

You don’t need mon, préféré or il yet. They come in later lessons. For now, just notice the dominoes. The good news: most nouns leave clues, and there are four of them.

The four clues

Clue 1: whole families

The easiest wins need no ending at all. If a noun belongs to one of these families, the gender is decided for you.

Always masculine

Days	le lundi, le dimanche
Months	janvier, le mois de mai
Seasons	le printemps, l'été, l'automne, l'hiver
Languages	le français, l'anglais, l'espagnol
Directions	le nord, le sud, l'est, l'ouest
Trees	le sapin, le chêne, l'érable
Colours (as nouns)	le bleu, le rouge, le vert, le rose

Always feminine

Continents	l'Afrique, l'Asie, l'Amérique, l'Europe, l'Océanie
School subjects	la médecine, la chimie, la physique, la biologie, la géographie

School subjects are a strong pattern rather than a law: le droit (law), l'art and le français are masculine.

Yes, even l’automne (autumn), which ends in -e. Seasons are masculine, full stop. And even le rose (pink): la couleur is feminine, but every colour in it is masculine.

Clue 2: word endings

Start with one rule of thumb: a noun ending in a consonant, or in any vowel except -e, is probably masculine (le lit, le bus, le menu, le vélo). A final -e on its own decides nothing. After that, the specific endings below do the real work.

Endings are strong hints, not guarantees. Treat each one as “probably”, and learn the short list of exceptions that sits next to it.

Masculine endings

Ending	Examples	Exceptions
-age	le voyage, le fromage, le garage	la page, la plage, l'image, la cage, la nage, la rage
-ain	le pain, le train, le bain	la main (hand)
-al	le journal, l'animal, l'hôpital	very rare
-eau	le bateau, le gâteau, le chapeau	l'eau (water), la peau (skin)
-isme	le tourisme, le journalisme	none worth learning
-ment	le mouvement, le gouvernement, l'appartement	la jument (mare)
-oir	le miroir, le couloir, le trottoir	almost none
-eur	jobs and machines: le professeur, l'ordinateur, le moteur	feelings and sensations go feminine: la peur, la chaleur, la douleur, la couleur, plus la fleur. But le bonheur (happiness) stays masculine
-er, -ier	le déjeuner, le boulanger, le calendrier	la mer (sea)
-ant, -ent	le restaurant, l'argent, le vent	la dent (tooth)
-t (-at, -et, -it)	le chocolat, le billet, le lit	la nuit, la forêt, la mort, la part
-ème, -me	le problème, le système, le poème	la crème, la femme
-phone, -scope	le téléphone, le microphone, le microscope	none
-in	le jardin, le matin, le chemin	la fin (end), la faim (hunger)
-on	le garçon, le ballon, le salon	la maison, la chanson, la leçon, la saison, la raison, la façon
-o	le stylo, le vélo, le piano	la photo, la moto, la radio, la météo, la vidéo
-a	le cinéma, le pyjama, le visa	la villa, la diva

Feminine endings

Ending	Examples	Exceptions
-tion, -sion	la nation, la question, la télévision	almost none: very reliable
-té	la liberté, la beauté, la santé	l'été (summer), le côté (side), le comité, le traité (treaty)
-ure	la voiture, la nature, la culture	le murmure (whisper)
-ique	la musique, la politique, la république	le plastique, le moustique, le pique-nique
-ance, -ence	la chance, la patience, la science	le silence
-ette	la fourchette, la baguette, la bicyclette	le squelette (skeleton)
-ise	la valise, la chemise, la surprise	hardly any
-ille	la famille, la fille, la vanille	le gorille
-aine	la semaine, la douzaine, la laine (wool)	le domaine
-ude	l'habitude, l'attitude, la solitude	le prélude
-esse	la tristesse, la vitesse, la politesse	hardly any
-ie	la boulangerie, la pharmacie, la vie	le parapluie (umbrella), le génie, l'incendie (fire)
-ée	la journée, l'année, la pensée	le musée, le lycée (high school)
-ine	la cuisine, la cousine, la vitamine	le magazine
-elle	la poubelle, l'échelle (ladder), la ruelle (alley)	very few
-ade	la promenade, la limonade, la salade	le stade (stadium)

The -e trapA final -e makes people guess feminine, but on its own it's a weak clue. Plenty of -e words are masculine (*le groupe, le verre, le beurre*), and so are nearly all words in -ème. Let the specific endings above lead, never the bare -e.la livre, la problème, la systèmele livre, le problème, le système

Clue 3: people and jobs

For people, grammar follows the person: un garçon, une fille, un oncle, une tante (boy, girl, uncle, aunt). Job titles change in a handful of predictable ways:

Pattern	Masculine → feminine
Already ends in -e	un/une journaliste, dentiste, artiste, ministre: only the article changes
-teur → -trice	directeur → directrice, acteur → actrice
-eur → -euse	vendeur → vendeuse, danseur → danseuse (job words built on a verb: vendre, danser)
-ien → -ienne	pharmacien → pharmacienne, musicien → musicienne
-er → -ère	boulanger → boulangère, infirmier → infirmière
Same word	un/une médecin, un/une professeur(e)

A few words keep one gender whoever they describe. Une personne, une star, une victime are feminine even for a man. Un témoin (witness), un génie and un mannequin (a fashion model) are masculine even for a woman.

Most animals also have one gender for both sexes: une girafe, une souris, un serpent, un oiseau. To be specific, add mâle or femelle: une girafe mâle. Only familiar animals get a pair: un chat, une chatte; un lion, une lionne.

French is updating its job titles. Une professeure, une autrice, une écrivaine are now widely used, especially in Canada. You’ll see both older and newer forms, and both are correct.

Clue 4: countries

One rule covers almost everything: a country ending in -e is feminine, and anything else is masculine.

Ends in -e: feminine

la France, l'Italie, l'Espagne, la Chine, l'Inde, la Belgique

Anything else: masculine

le Canada, le Japon, le Portugal, le Brésil, le Maroc, les États-Unis

Learn the five rebels that end in -e but are masculine: le Mexique, le Cambodge, le Mozambique, le Zimbabwe, le Belize. Canadian provinces mostly follow the same rule: la Colombie-Britannique, la Nouvelle-Écosse, but le Québec, l’Ontario, le Manitoba, le Nouveau-Brunswick. Two rebels go the other way: l’Alberta and la Saskatchewan are feminine.

You’ll need country genders in Lesson 27, where they decide whether you say en France or au Canada.

Examples

Le voyage est long.The trip is long. (-age)
La boulangerie ouvre à sept heures.The bakery opens at seven. (-ie)
J'adore le fromage.I love cheese. (-age)
Une question, s'il vous plaît !A question, please! (-tion)
La liberté est importante.Freedom is important. (-té)
Le lundi, je travaille.On Mondays, I work. (days)
Le français est une belle langue.French is a beautiful language. (languages)
Un appartement, c'est cher.An apartment is expensive. (-ment, and l' would hide it)
La maison est grande.The house is big. (exception to -on)
La fleur est rouge.The flower is red. (exception to -eur)
Le musée est fermé le mardi.The museum is closed on Tuesdays. (exception to -ée)
La photo est belle.The photo is beautiful. (exception to -o)

Memory tricks

English -ty means French laLiberty, beauty, society, university: la liberté, la beauté, la société, la université… sorry, l'université. If English ends in -ty and French in -té, it's feminine. The one to watch: le traité (treaty).

-tion and -ism are free giftsNation, question, situation are la. Tourism, journalism are le. Thousands of words you already know, gender included.

The -on exceptions, as one sentence"In this maison we sing a chanson after every leçon of the saison, for no raison." All five are la.

The -age exceptions, as one storyOn la plage, she read la page with l'image of a bird in la cage, then went for la nage and flew into la rage.

Short words keep their long genderLa photo is short for la photographie, la moto for la motocyclette, la radio for la radiodiffusion, and la météo for la météorologie. That's why they break the -o rule.

Blame LatinL'eau, la peau, la dent, la nuit were all feminine in Latin, and French kept the family tradition even when the ending changed.

-eur has two jobsThings that work are masculine: le moteur, l'ordinateur, le professeur. Things you feel are feminine: la peur, la chaleur, la douleur. Le bonheur is the happy exception.

The four seasons wear one jerseyLe printemps, l'été, l'automne, l'hiver: same team, all masculine, even automne with its sneaky -e.

Learn the article as part of the nameNot maison, but une maison, said as one word. Your brain then stores the gender for free.

Don’t get French fried

L' hides the genderBefore a vowel or silent h, le and la both become l'. Learn these nouns with un or une instead, which always shows the gender.l'école → masculine?une école, un hôpital

Mon amie is still feminineBefore a feminine noun starting with a vowel sound, French says mon (not ma) to keep the sounds smooth. The noun hasn't changed gender.ma amiemon amie, mon école

Plurals hide the gender tooLes and des are the same for both genders, so plurals won't teach you anything. Always learn the singular.les maisons → so maison is…?une maison, des maisons

Une personne, even for a manSome words keep their gender whoever they describe.Paul est un personne.Paul est une personne.

"It" isn't always ilThings are "he" or "she" in French. A feminine thing is elle.La maison ? Il est grande.La maison ? Elle est grande.

Not sure? Four rescue moves

1	Learn every noun with un or une, as one unit. Dictionaries mark nm (masculine) or nf (feminine).
2	Go plural when you can. les, des are the same for both genders, so the noun stops being a risk.
3	When you proofread, scan for the reliable endings: -tion, -té, -age, -ment. Ten seconds catches most slips.
4	Pick a gender and stay consistent. A sentence that agrees with itself reads better than one that flips halfway.

Practice

Use the clue

Every answer hides a rule, or one of its famous exceptions. Read the why after each one.

___ tourisme
tourism
___ vendeuse
saleswoman
___ printemps
spring
___ médecine
medicine
___ chapeau
hat
___ boulangerie
bakery
___ mercredi
Wednesday
___ peau
skin
___ stade
stadium
___ couleur
colour
___ jardin
garden
___ leçon
lesson
___ voiture
car
___ téléphone
phone
___ nuit
night
___ musique
music
Paul est ___ personne.
Paul is a person.
un directeur → une ___
director
un vendeur → une ___
salesperson
un journaliste → une ___
journalist
un boulanger → une ___
baker
un pharmacien → une ___
pharmacist
un acteur → une ___
actor

Score: 0 / 23