Summary French Nouns (Grammar)- Grammatical Gender

Grammatical Gender of Nouns in French

●​ The following are general rules and are subject to exceptions


Masculine Noun Endings and Nouns


●​ All days of the week, months of the year, and seasons

○​ Eg. Le lundi, le janvier, l'hiver
●​ Compass points

○​ Eg. Le nord, le sud, l'est, l'ouest
●​ Trees

○​ Eg. Le sapin (fir tree)
○​ 'Tree' (l'arbre) is also masculine
●​ Languages

○​ Eg. Le français
●​ Metric measurements

○​ Eg. Un gramme
●​ English loanwords

○​ Eg. Un sandwich
●​ -et

○​ Eg. Un billet (a ticket)
●​ -e and -é

○​ Eg. Un maître (a master)

■​ -asme
■​ Eg. Un fantasme (a fantasy)
■​ -isme

, ■​ Eg. Le tourisme (tourism)
■​ -age
■​ Eg. Un garage (a garage)
■​ Exceptions: la cage, l'image, la nage, la page, la
plage, la rage

■​ PLEASE NOTE: There are a significant number of endings
with an 'e' (eg. -elle) which mean a noun is feminine- see
list of feminine nouns
●​ -in

○​ Eg. Un cousin (a cousin)
●​ -oir

○​ Eg. Un fermoir (a clasp)
●​ -ail

○​ Eg. Le travail (work)
●​ -eur

○​ Eg. Un danseur (a dancer)
■​ -teur
■​ Eg. Un traducteur (a translator)
○​ Exceptions: la fleur, la couleur, la peur, la valeur, la chaleur
●​ -er

○​ Eg. Un boucher (a butcher)
●​ -on

○​ Eg. Un baron (a baron)
○​ Exceptions: la boisson, la façon, la liason, la maison, la raison, la
rançon, la saison, la chanson