This is a guide to identifying whether a word is masculine or feminine, in French.

1. Masculine or feminine?
A lot of nouns that refer to men take their feminine form simply by adding an –e
e.g.
ami > amie (friend)
employé > employée (employee)
!If the word already ends in an –e, there is no need to add an extra one!
For example, élève ("student") can be either masculine or feminine.
Masculine Feminine
Definite article Le
L’ before a vowel
La
L’ before a vowel
Indefinite article Un Une

2. Masculine or feminine?
Sometimes the masculine and feminine forms of nouns
are very different from each other. Here are some
examples:
● Homme > femme – man > woman
● Taureau > vache – bull > cow
● Neveu > nièce – nephew > niece
Other patterns of change include:
● - f > -ve (veuf > veuve – widower > widow)
● -x > -se (époux > épouse – husband > wife)
● -eur>-euse (danseur > danseuse – male dancer >
female dancer)
● -an>-anne (paysan > paysanne – male farmer >
female farmer)
Common masculine
endings
Common feminine endings
Most foreign words
-ment
-eau
-ier
-age
-isme
-o
-a
-é
-i
-ette
-que
-ence
-ance
-ure
-ie
-té
-ée
-ion
-tion
-ssion