This essay is intended to assist English speakers in learning the gender of French nouns. English, unlike Spanish, Italian and German, does not link the noun with a gender-showing article such as "la" or "le" or "der" or "el." English is not for the most part (except for pronouns) a gendered language. There are some nouns which are feminine, such as "actress," "heroine," and "alumna," but most feminines have disappeared from the language. At the same time, only a few masculine nouns remain, such as "widower," "actor," and "baron." When a French native learns the language they learn the article along with the noun and that gives them the gender. That is why there is a great emphasis on using the article in learning French--the gender is noted and accentuated. When you learn the word for "house" you learn it as "la maison," not simply "maison." In English we are not taught this way. We learn to key on endings for changes in noun meaning. Plurals add an "s" or "es" or are irregular: "phenomena," "alumni." or "oxen." Possessives add an apostrophe plus "s" or in some cases just an apostrophe: "neighbors'." English takes a very different learning approach to nouns than does French or German or Italian.
This different approach is why English-speaking learners have much to gain from learning the gender of French nouns from endings, and it also explains why many native teachers of French do not see the importance of noun endings for English-speaking students. The significance of French noun endings in learning gender has been greatly underplayed and neglected by French teachers born or raised in France. In his excellent article, "Predictability in French gender attribution: A corpus analysis," Prof. Roy Lyster of McGill University quotes the authors of a French grammar as saying, "Criteria based on word endings (e.g. vowel vs. consonant) will be of no use for knowing whether a word is masculine or feminine." (French Language Studies 16, Cambridge Univ Press, 2006).
Our lists of endings to French nouns are based on statistical studies that demonstrate the percentage of nouns that are masculine or feminine with certain endings. Some endings, such as "---aison" are always (100%) feminine. Other endings, such as "--ce" might be only 88% feminine (depending on how extensive the wordlist that one uses). Our primary category is endings that show gender with ALMOST COMPLETE CERTAINTY. In this category there are very few or no exceptions, and we have tried to note the exceptions wherever possible. We have eliminated exceptions that are either rare or obscure. Why should you worry about rare exceptions?--they will probably not come up more than once in ten years, and for readers primarily interested in speaking French, they probably will not appear in a lifetime.
It is a challenge good to simplify all the individual rules and generalize to make memorization easy. So at the beginning there is one rule (which we have not seen elsewhere but which probably has been previously promulgated) which you might use:
IF A NOUN ENDS IN A CONSONANT OTHER THAN 'N' IT IS MASCULINE
This rule is far from 100% but it is quite reliable. Note that this does not say if a noun ends in "N" it ISN'T masculine. The rule just states that if a noun doesn't end in "n" and but ends in some other consonant, it is likely to be masculine. Particularly for "s," "t'" and "r" there are quite a few exceptions. A number of common words ending in "r" for instance are feminine--la mer, la tour, la cuiller---but if one has to make a guess, this rule has a high percentage. Keep in mind that the reverse of this rule is NOT ACCURATE-- If a noun ends in something other than a consonant that does not mean it's feminine--there are many masculine words that end in a vowel or end in "n." Use this rule only for nouns ending in a consonant other than "N." More sophisticated learners may ignore this rule--it's just a good beginning and a good tool for guessing.
One aspect of our lists is the KEYWORD--this is an example which can be memorized with the ending to show the gender. For instance, for the masculine ending "oi" we have chosen the French "roi" (meaning "king") as the KEYWORD. Since this word is obviously masculine, it helps to combine the ending with a masculine word that is easily associated with it for better memorization.
MASCULINE ENDINGS WITH ALMOST COMPLETE CERTAINTY |
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| ENDING | KEYWORD | EXCEPTION(S) |
| --ment | le jugement | la jument (mare) |
| --c | le duc | la fac (short for "faculté," which is fem.) |
| --d | le boulevard | |
| --f | le cerf (stag) | la soif (thirst) |
| --k | l'anorak | |
| --l | le sel | |
| --m | le nom | la faim, la gym (short for "gymnastique") |
| --p | le loup (wolf) | |
| --cle | l'oncle | la debacle, la boucle |
| --i | le roi | la foi, la loi, la fourmi (ant) |
| --ier | l'ouvrier | |
| --ing | le pressing | |
| --isme | l'existentialisme | |
| --heur | le pecheur | |
| --eau | le couteau (2+ SYLLABLE ONLY) |
la peau, l'eau, la vertu |
| --age | le ménage (2+SYLLABLE ONLY) |
une image, la plage, la nage, la page |
| --aire | le légionnaire | |
| --lon | le salon | |
| --ron | le citron | |
| --ton | le mouton | |
| --oir | le trottoir (sidewalk) | |
| --ou | le clou (nail) | |
FEMININE ENDINGS WITH ALMOST COMPLETE CERTAINTY |
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| ENDING | KEYWORD | EXCEPTION(S) |
| --sion | la télévision | |
| --tion | la nation | |
| --ance | l'enfance | |
| --ence | la patience | le silence |
| --esse | la duchesse | |
| --ise | la cérise | |
| --tte | la coquette | le squelette (skeleton) |
| --nne | la personne | |
| --mme | la femme | un homme, le gramme, le dilemme, le programme |
| --rre | la terre | le beurre, le verre, le tonnerre |
| --nde | l'onde, la demande | |
| --aison | la maison | |
| --ure | la lecture (reading) | le murmure |
| --ue | la vue | |
| --erie | la boulangerie | |
| --rice | l'actrice | le dentifrice |
| --ologie | la pharmacologie | |
MASCULINE ENDINGS WHICH YOU CAN GUESS WITH CONFIDENCE |
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| ENDING | KEYWORD | EXCEPTION(S) |
| --ome | le dome | |
| --in | le vin | la fin, la main |
FEMININE ENDINGS WHICH YOU CAN GUESS WITH CONFIDENCE |
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| ENDING | KEYWORD | EXCEPTION(S) |
| --ade | la salade | le stade, le grade, le clade, l'alcade, le jade, le cade,l'escalade |
| --ité | la fraternité, l'égalité l | |
| --tié | l'amitié, la pitié | |
| --ole | la parole | |
| --ude | l'habitude | le prélude,une interlude,une coude, une leude (also fem,) |
At a certain point, one realizes that to extend the nouns and exceptions too far defeats the purpose, which is to have a simple, brief means of learning and recognizing noun endings. If one follows the above lists, one will gain a huge advantage in learning gender endings for French nouns.
D. Macdonald, Evanston, Illinois September 2008