Learn French online with our video lessons. Just click on the lesson you want to do next.
Learn French Online – Lesson 3 – Gender of Nouns and Articles
In French, every noun has a gender. It’s either masculin (male) or féminin (female).
You can tell the gender of a noun by the article that comes before it.
The English a will be un (m) or une (f).
The English the will be le (m) or la (f).
Examples:
| une tasse (f) a cup un poisson (m) la nuit (f) la journée (f) le soleil (m) la lune (f) la voiture (f) |
le camion (m) the truck une banane (f) un citron (m) la chaussure (f) le sac (m) la terre (f) le moteur (m) |
How do I know the gender of a French noun? I learn the noun with its article.
Qu’est-ce que c’est?
What is this?
C’est une tasse. (f)
It’s a cup.
For people, the grammatical gender is the same as the gender of the person.
| un homme a man un garçon |
une femme a woman une fille |
For animals, it depends.
Some animals have a “general gender” by which we refer to them.
We always say:
| un zèbre (m) a zebra |
une girafe (f) a giraffe |
If we want to be specific about the gender of the animal, we will add mâle or femelle to the noun.
un mâle
a male
une girafe mâle
a male giraffe
une femelle
a female
une girafe femelle
a female giraffe
Other animals have a different or modified noun for the female:
| un lion a lion un chat un chien un mouton un cochon |
une lionne (f) a female lion une chatte (f) une chienne (f) une brebis (f) une truie (f) |
More Basic French Lessons
- Previous Lesson – Greetings Part 2 In this basic French lesson we learn how to greet someone we know and are familiar with. These greetings are a little different than the ones we would use with someone we just met.
- Next Lesson – The L apostophe Learn all bout the L apostrophe as we expand on French articles and the gender of nouns and articles
Learn French Online Fast With Our Weekly Lessons
Leave A Reply (138 comments so far)
-
issa
9 years ago -
jean
9 years agoThank you, Jefrench.com. These video are useful for me.
-
how will i know for sure what is (F) or (M) when speaking french, will people understand me if i don’t know which is which?
-
JeFrench
9 years agoYou will know from the article in front of the noun… le, la, un, une. They will still understand you but you will sound better of you use the right article. So when you learn a new noun, you learn it with its article… le bateau (the boat – M)… la voiture (the car – F).
-
-
Andy
9 years agoWill I be understood in France even if I get the gender wrong?
ie. J’ai un tasse
-
JeFrench
9 years agoYes
-
-
MORTEZA JABBARY
9 years agodo u have French newsletter about your lessons?
may I receive it regularly?
best regards -
Annette Williams
9 years agoHow do I know and remember that a banana is female i.e.une banane?????
-
JeFrench
9 years agoYou just learn the noun with its article. LA banane. UNE banane.
-
-
sara
9 years agothank u very much for this great teacher
I’ve learned so much from u ,, thank u j french am so proud of my self now because of ur wonderful website and teacher .. merci -
William Hemmings
9 years agoExcellent program. Instructor is articulate and the lesson easy to follow. I look forward to visiting this site again. A bientot!
-
naki
9 years agoi dont understand the gender of f and m?? why une tasse not un tasse?
-
JeFrench
9 years agoThe gender of nouns in French goes back to latin. The “why” is not easy to answer, you just have to learn the gender when you learn the noun. It’s easy because you will always hear or read the noun with its article (le, la, un, une) and you will be able to know the gender right away.
-
-
victor
9 years agoThank you so much ! This teacher is awesome , everything is explain perfectly and very easy . I learn a lot and also a lot of fun ! God bless
merci beaucoup