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Gender and Articles in French
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Why every French noun is masculine or feminine, and the words for "the" and "a" — le, la, les, un, une.
Every noun is masculine or feminine
Every French noun has a gender, and it shows in the article. Le is "the" for masculine singular, la for feminine singular, les for all plurals. Un and une mean "a" for masculine and feminine. Before a vowel, both le and la become l': l'ami, l'eau, l'école.
How to guess the gender
Most nouns ending in -e are feminine (la table, la porte) — but there are big exceptions like le livre (book) and le fromage (cheese). Some endings are reliable: -tion, -sion, -té, -ette are feminine (la nation, la liberté), while -age, -ment, -eau are masculine (le voyage, le château).
Making plurals
Plurals usually add a silent -s: les livres, les maisons. Words ending in -eau or -eu take -x instead: le château → les châteaux. The article les is the only real clue in speech, because the -s is not pronounced.
Agreement with adjectives
Adjectives agree with the noun. Most add -e for the feminine: petit / petite, grand / grande — un petit livre but une petite maison. Adjectives ending in -e already stay the same: rouge, jeune.
| Article | Meaning |
|---|---|
| le | the — masculine singular |
| la | the — feminine singular |
| les | the — all plurals |
| l' | the — before a vowel (le/la elided) |
| un / une | a — masculine / feminine |