Free French Noun Gender List

Looking for a free French noun gender list? Grasping the gender of different nouns is one of the more difficult concepts for beginning students to master. Not only does the English language not have any concept of gender in words, but there are also many frequently used nouns in the French language that do not follow the typical patterns. Consequently, they simply must be memorized.

Agreement in French

All nouns in the French language are either male or female. While some nouns have a gender that makes sense (for example the girl, la fille, is feminine as you might expect), most nouns in the French language simply are one way or the other. In other words, there is nothing inherent about the word that makes it more masculine or more feminine.

However, it is important to master the rules as well as the exceptions because agreement of gender in a sentence is fundamental to structuring the sentence correctly. In French, all adjectives agree with the nouns they are describing as do definite and indefinite articles.

One tip for learning nouns and remembering which gender they are, is to memorize the noun along with its article. This is much easier to do instead of memorizing the word and then trying to remember which gender it is. Most French lesson books present vocabulary in this way.

French Gender Rules to Keep In Mind

Like much of grammar, there are no hard and fast rules. Almost all rules have some exceptions. With that said, remembering the general rule will greatly improve your fluency and the exceptions can be learned later.

In addition, there are some nouns that have both masculine and feminine forms that coincide with whether or not that being referred to is female or male. Many professions have masculine and feminine forms, as do the words 'dog' and 'cat'. Also remember that in groups where there is at least one male present, you would use the masculine plural form. Likewise, when a word has both female and male forms, you always use the male form unless referring to a specific female.

Free French Noun Gender List: A Reference

If you are learning French, memorizing the gender of the nouns you are learning is a must. Below are some of the most popular nouns in the French language.

Notice that the indefinite article is included to indicate gender. (Le is for masculine nouns and la is for feminine nouns.) Note that for nouns that begin with vowels, the gender is noted in parentheses after the word. (Example: l'eau f)

For Further Study

Here are just a few more places to look if you're looking for more clarification on French grammar and gender of nouns.

• Tex's French Grammar is an amusing but useful grammar tool explaining all sorts of tricky aspects of French grammar.
• Language Guide offers a 'no frills' approach to French grammar.

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