French noun gender (masculine & feminine: un / une, le / la)

Le dictionnaire est sur la table.The dictionary is on the table.

Every French noun is either masculine or feminine — not just words for people, but words for objects and ideas too. The gender belongs to the word, so the best habit is to learn each noun together with its article: un livre, une table.

Quick shortcut: learn the noun with un or une, never on its own.

Gender is part of the word

un livre ("a book") is masculine, une table ("a table") is feminine — the object's own properties don't tell you the gender, and there is no third, neuter gender. Two words for similar things can differ: un vélo but une voiture, un livre but une revue.

For almost all nouns the gender is fixed: table is feminine in every sentence. (A tiny handful — amour, orgue, délice — shift gender in some uses; you can leave those for much later.)

The article shows the gender

The article in front of the noun is what usually tells you the gender:

Before a vowel or a mute h, both le and la shorten to l' (l'ami, l'école), and the plural les / des is the same for both genders — so those forms hide the gender. That's exactly why it helps to memorise the noun with un / une, where the gender is visible.

People: gender usually matches

For many words for people, the grammatical gender lines up with the person:

• un homme / une femme
• un ami / une amie
• un étudiant / une étudiante

Adding -e to the written form is a common way to make the feminine (un Français → une Française).

Animal names don't work this way — la souris stays feminine for a male mouse, le papillon stays masculine for a female one. Their gender is fixed regardless of the animal's sex, so learn these with the article too.

Endings that hint at the gender

Endings are clues, not rules — they help you guess the gender of a new word, but learn the exceptions.

Often masculine:

Often feminine:

A final -e does not guarantee feminine: ✅ un problème, un système, un programme, un musée are all masculine.

Why gender matters: agreement

Gender isn't only about un / une. It also decides the form of adjectives and of the pronouns il / elle:

• un petit livre → une petite table
• Il est grand. → Elle est grande.
• Le livre ? Il est là. → La table ? Elle est là.

So a wrong gender doesn't just sound off on the article — it spreads through the whole sentence. This carries over into adjective agreement and possessive adjectives (and, in verb forms you'll meet later, past participles).

A few nouns have two genders

A small set of nouns exist in both genders with different meanings:

• le livre (book) / la livre (pound)
• le tour (a turn, a trip) / la tour (a tower)

These are worth noticing but rare — most nouns have one fixed gender.

Common mistakes

• ❌ une problème → ✅ un problème (final -e isn't always feminine)
• ❌ le voiture → ✅ la voiture
• ❌ learning table with no article → ✅ learn une table / la table
• ❌ un petit maison → ✅ une petite maison (the adjective follows the noun's gender)
• ❌ l'eau est froid → ✅ l'eau est froide (eau is feminine, even as l')

Quick check

Choose un or une, or fix the agreement.

1. ____ nation
2. ____ fromage
3. ____ voiture
4. ____ problème
5. une maison ____ (blanc) → une maison ____ .

Key takeaways

• Every French noun is masculine or feminine — objects and ideas included, with no neuter.
• For almost all nouns the gender belongs to the word and stays fixed; learn each noun with un / une.
• l', les and des hide the gender — that's why un / une is the form to memorise.
• Endings like -tion, -té, -ure (often feminine) or -age, -ment, -eau (often masculine) are hints, with exceptions.
• A final -e is not a guarantee of feminine: un problème, un musée.
• Gender drives agreement — adjectives and il / elle follow it (and, in some later verb forms, past participles).