Explains the concept of gendered nouns for French beginners

1. NOUNS: Genders
In French, all nouns have a gender! They are either masculine or feminine. There are a few ways
to identify the gender of a noun, and therefore figure out whether to use le or la, un or une.
Some rules for masculine nouns:
Some rules for feminine nouns:
Whilst there are some tricks to help you remember the gender of nouns, most just simply need to
be memorised! If the first letter of a noun is a vowel, you would use l’ instead of le or la.
Have a go at completing these sentences using le, la or l’.
1. _____ garçon joue avec _____ fille.
2. _____ ami de Pierre joue avec _____ sœur de Marie.
3. _____ père de Jean a visité _____ bureau de poste.
4. _____ gouvernement a beaucoup de _____ puissance aux Etats-Unis.
5. _____ grand-mère de Marc aime faire _____ natation.
French word Translation Reason why the noun is masculine
un garçon a boy refers to a male
le frère the brother refers to a male
le sarcasme the sarcasm ends in -asme
un couteau a knife ends in -eau
le gouvernement the government ends in -ment
French word Translation Reason why the noun is feminine
la mère the mother refers to a female
une sœur a sister refers to a female
la version the translation ends in -ion
une culture a culture ends in -ure
la beauté the beauty ends in -té
la connaissance the knowledge ends in -ance

2. Some nouns can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether the subject is a male or female.
Here are some examples:
Have a go at selecting the correct gender for the noun in the following sentences:
1. La ___________ (chanteur/chanteuse) fera un concert à la fin du mois.
2. Pierre voudrait un __________ (chienne/chien) pour son anniversaire.
3. Le ___________ (cousin/cousine) de Marc fait ses devoirs.
4. Marie pose un question à la __________ (vendeuse/vendeur).
Masculine Meaning Feminine Meaning
le chat male cat la chatte female cat
le président male president la présidente female president
le cousin male cousin la cousine female cousin
le serveur waiter la serveuse waitress
le Français Frenchman la Française Frenchwoman