French 1.3. Gender & Plural

Each noun and adjective in French has a gender. Nouns and adjectives in French have only two genders: masculine and feminine. There is no neuter gender. Throughout the lessons, we use the superscripts ^m and ^f to refer to masculine and feminine genders, respectively.

The adjective follows the noun it describes in gender and number. The only certain way to determine the gender of a noun is by looking it up in a dictionary. Nevertheless, there are some general rules that can help you be right most of the time. Remember, however, that these are general rules, and there are many exceptions.

1. Gender of a Noun

The main rule is that a noun that ends with “-e” or “-ion” is likely feminine, except for nouns ending in “-ge” or “-isme,” which are likely masculine even though they end with “-e.” Any other noun in French that does not end with “-e” is likely, but not certainly, masculine.

Of course, there will be some obvious masculine and feminine nouns. For instance, we know that “homme” (man) and “prince” (prince) are masculine regardless of the above rule.

Let us look at some examples of nouns that follow the general rule as well as some exceptions:

Gender	Ending	Nouns that follow the rule	Exceptions
feminine	-e	couverture (blanket), fenêtre (window), plante (plant)	spectacle (spectacle), stade (stadium), silence (silence), incendie (fire)
	-ion	destination (destination), nation (nation), production (production)	avion (plane), camion (truck)
masculine	-ge	âge (age), garage (garage), nuage (cloud), stage (internship), orage (thunderstorm), village (village), siège (seat), piège (trap), liège (cork), collège (college)	cage (cage), page (page), plage (beach), image (image), rage (rage)
	-isme	cyclisme (cycling), prisme, schisme, tourisme (tourism)	–
masculine	Other	bureau (office), papier (paper), journal (newspaper), bras (arm), changement (change), lit (bed)	eau (water), peau (skin), souris (mouse)

Different Meaning by Gender

Some words have a different meaning when used in the masculine form versus when used in the feminine form. For example:

livrem	book	livref	pound
modem	mode, way or method	modef	fashion
capitalm	capital (money)	capitalef	capital (city)
tourm	tour	tourf	tower
mémoirem	report	mémoiref	memory
postem	job	postef	post office
vasem	vase	vasef	mud

Other Exceptions

Notice that many words that end in “-me” and originate from Greek are masculine, for example:

problèmem	problem	dramem	drama
systèmem	system	dilemmem	dilemma
thèmem	topic or theme	diagrammem	diagram
diplômem	diploma	poèmem	poem

This exception does not apply to words that do not originate from Greek, such as “forme” (form) and “plateforme” (platform), which are feminine.

In addition, there are many foreign nouns that have made inroads into the French life and dictionary such as “sport” and “Internet.” In general, the majority of these nouns are masculine.

Some nouns that refer to people can be masculine or feminine. The most common pattern to form the feminine noun from a masculine noun is to add an “e” at the end. For example:

étudiantm	student	étudiantef	student
ingénieurm	engineer	ingénieuref	engineer

Nouns that end with a vowel followed by “n” or “t” often double the last consonant and add an “e” at the end. For example:

lionm	lion	lionnef	lioness
chatm	cat	chattef	cat

Nevertheless, this is not the only gender pattern in French. Other patterns include:

-teur/-trice	actor/actress	acteurm	actricef
	director	directeurm	directricef
-eur/-euse	hair dresser	coiffeurm	coiffeusef
	waiter/waitress	serveurm	serveusef
-e/-esse	poet	poètem	poétessef
	host/hostess	hôtem	hôtessef

Most nouns that end in “-iste,” “-yste,” or “-naire” can refer to masculine or feminine people performing a role or profession. For example:

dentistem,f	dentist	analystem,f	analyst
artistem,f	artist	pianistem,f	pianist
vétérinairem,f	veterinary	partenairem,f	partner
millionairem,f	millionaire	révolutionnairem,f	revolutionary

Others may only have one form (masculine or feminine) regardless of the gender of the person that the noun refers to, for example:

personnef	person	victimef	victim
professeurm	teacher	médecinm	doctor
écrivainm	writer	jugem	judge

It is also commonly acceptable to add the word “femme” (woman) to describe a female with a non-form changing masculine noun, e.g., “une femme médecin” (a female doctor).

Names of Countries

In general, most countries ending with “-e” are feminine, e.g., “la France” (France). Exceptionally, the following six countries end with “-e” but are masculine:

Mexiquem	Mexico	Belizem	Belize
Cambodgem	Cambodia	Mozambiquem	Mozambique
Zimbabwem	Zimbabwe	Surinamem	Surinam

Most other countries that do not end in “-e” are masculine. Here are some examples:

Marocm	Morocco	Iranm	Iran
Canadam	Canada	Portugalm	Portugal

Notice that most countries are often preceded by a definite article, while only a few cannot be used by a definite article, such as:

Bahreïnm	Bahrain	Chypref	Cyprus
Singapourm	Singapore	Haïtim	Haiti
Cubam	Cuba	Sri Lankam	Sri Lanka
Maltef	Malta	Monacom	Monaco

Some countries are always in plural form, such as:

États-Unism	United States	Pays-Basm	Netherlands
Philippinesf	Philippines	Bahamasm	Bahamas

2. Gender of an Adjective

An adjective follows the noun it describes in gender and number.

Adjectives in French, unlike in English, come after the noun they describe, for example, “bâtiment historique” (historic building). There are some exceptions to this rule, for example, “grande ville” (big or great city). Many adjectives that come before the noun are indefinite adjectives, which are covered in Level III, Lesson 3.

Most adjectives form the feminine singular by adding a final “-e” to the masculine singular form. For example, the feminine form of “grand” is “grande.” However, there are many exceptions that follow different patterns. The following are the most common patterns:

1. Adjectives ending in “-eux”

The feminine form of masculine adjectives ending in “-eux” is often obtained by changing the final “-eux” to “-euse.” For instance, the feminine singular form of “nerveux” is “nerveuse.” Similarly, the feminine form of “sérieux” is “sérieuse.” Here are some examples:

happy	heureuxm	heureusef
joyful	joyeuxm	joyeusef
serious	sérieuxm	sérieusef
curious	curieuxm	curieusef
nervous	nerveuxm	nerveusef
religious	religieuxm	religieusef

2. Adjectives ending in “-é”

The feminine form of masculine adjectives ending in “-é” is often obtained by adding an extra “-e”:

tired	fatiguém	fatiguéef
busy	occupém	occupéef
complicated	compliquém	compliquéef
salty	salém	saléef

3. Adjectives ending in a silent “-e”

The feminine form of masculine adjectives ending in a silent “-e” is the same. For instance, the feminine singular form of “drôle” is the same, i.e., “drôle.” Here are some examples:

clean	proprem	propref
comfortable	confortablem	confortablef
dirty	salem	salef
easy	facilem	facilef
empty	videm	videf
funny	drôlem	drôlef
honest	honnêtem	honnêtef
poor	pauvrem	pauvref
pleasant	aimablem	aimablef
sad	tristem	tristef
weak	faiblem	faiblef

4. Adjectives ending in “-f”

The feminine form of masculine adjectives ending in “-f” is often obtained by changing the final “-f” to “-ve”:

active	actifm	activef
attractive	attractifm	attractivef
decisive	décisifm	décisivef
positive	positifm	positivef
negative	négatifm	négativef
widower/widow	veufm	veuvef

5. Adjectives ending in a consonant “l,” “n,” or “s”

The feminine form of many masculine adjectives ending in the consonant “l,” “n,” or “s” is obtained by adding an “-e” to the end of the word and doubling the consonant before the final “-e”:

cruel	cruelm	cruellef
European	européenm	européennef
fat	grosm	grossef
former, old, or ancient	ancienm	anciennef
good	bonm	bonnef
kind or nice	gentilm	gentillef
low	basm	bassef

Finally, there are some irregular adjectives that do not follow any pattern and must simply be memorized. Here are some examples:

beautiful	beaum	bellef
dry	secm	sechef
false	fauxm	faussef
favorite	favorim	favoritef
frank	francm	franchef
fresh	fraism	fraîchef
long	longm	longuef
new	nouveaum	nouvellef
old	vieuxm	vieillef
public	publicm	publiquef
soft/sweet	douxm	doucef
white	blancm	blanchef

“Beau” (beautiful), “Nouveau” (new), & “Vieux” (old)

Among the irregular adjectives, there are three adjectives that change form only if they come before a masculine noun that starts with a vowel or mute “h.” The three adjectives are: “beau” (beautiful), “nouveau” (new), and “vieux” (old). Here are some examples:

beaum (beautiful)	beau pays (beautiful country)	bel animal (beautiful animal)
nouveaum (new)	nouveau livre (new book)	nouvel ami (new friend)
vieuxm (old)	vieux port (old port)	vieil homme (old man)

If the noun is feminine or the adjective is placed after the noun, the change of form is not applied even if the noun starts with a vowel or a mute “h.” For example, “Cet animal est beau” (This animal is beautiful), “nouvelle année” (new year), etc.

3. Forming the Plural of a Noun or Adjective

Forming the plural of a singular noun or adjective is often straightforward and resembles the English common way of adding an “-s” at the end of a word. Here are some examples:

livrem	book	livresm	books
chatm	cat	chatsm	cats
téléphonem	phone	téléphonesm	phones
ballef	ball	ballesf	balls
maisonf	house	maisonsf	houses

Irregular Plurals

However, there are four main categories of nouns that do not follow the above simple rule to form the plural:

1. Nouns ending in “-s,” “-x,” or “-z”

The majority of nouns under this category do not change form in the plural, for example:

brasm	arm	brasm	arms
choixf	choice	choixf	choices
gazm	gas	gazm	gasses

2. Nouns ending in “-au” or “-eu”

Nouns ending in “-au” or “-eu” add an “-x” to the ending to form the plural, for example:

chapeaum	hat	chapeauxm	hats
rideaum	curtain	rideauxm	curtains
feum	fire	feuxm	fires
lieum	place	lieuxm	places

A notable exception is “pneu^m” (tire), whose plural is “pneus.”

3. Nouns ending in “-ail” or “-al”

Nouns ending in “-ail” or “-al” change the ending to “-aux” to form the plural, for example:

animalm	animal	animauxm	animals
chevalm	horse	chevauxm	horses
travailm	work	travauxm	works
corailm	coral	corauxm	corals

4. Some nouns ending in “-ou”

The following nouns ending in “-ou” add “-x” to the ending to form the plural. These words need to be memorized.

bijoum	jewel	bijouxm	jewels
cailloum	pebble	caillouxm	pebbles
choum	cabbage	chouxm	cabbages
genoum	knee	genouxm	knees
hiboum	owl	hibouxm	owls
poum	louse	pouxm	louses
joujoum	toy	joujouxm	toys

Although the categories above cover most irregular plurals. There are a few words that do not fall under any of these categories. For instance, the plural of “l’œil^m” (the eye) is “les yeux” (the eyes). Moreover, some words are only used in plural form such as “ciseaux^m” (scissors) and “lunettes^f” (glasses).

To form the plural of an adjective, the general rule is to add an “-s” to the end of the adjective, e.g., “petits” is the plural of “petit” (small), with the following exceptions:

1. If the adjective ends with “-s” or “-x,” the plural form is the same as the singular.
For example, “français” is the plural of “français” (French), and “heureux” is the plural of “heureux” (happy).

2. If the adjective ends with “-al” or “-eau,” the plural form ends in “-aux.”
For example, “principaux” is the plural of “principal” (main or principal), and “nouveaux” is the plural of “nouveau” (new).

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