Noun Gender, Definite and Indefinite Articles

Introduction - You probably still remember from French 1 and French 2 that noun gender is extremely important in learning French - it is arguably the most foundational piece in learning French nouns well. Noun gender is definitely worth a review as you begin your third year of French.

In the French language, each noun is associated with a gender that French-speakers have internalized. That is to say that French-speakers are not actively thinking about the gender of the noun because they grew up immersed in the language and have, therefore, internalized the gender of the nouns.

To be clear, the word "gender" here is a purely grammatical concept. Every French noun has a gender, either masculine or feminine, but the gender does not always directly connect to notion of human gender. In other words, it is not that a word is literally a male or literally a female. This is why it is important to use the proper grammatical terms: masculine and feminine.

In French, the word porte (door) is feminine. Because porte is feminine, everything that is associated with the word, in terms of articles and adjectives, must reflect that porte is feminine. So, when learning French, you have to memorize the gender of the noun with the word. So, you don't just learn that the French word for door is porte - you have to learn the article with the word porte so that you know it is feminine.

The two most important articles by far are definite and indefinite articles. When you learn that porte is the word for door in French, you have to learn either the definite or indefinite article with the word. In this French 3 course, you will generally learn the indefinite article with the French noun so that you know the noun's gender. Why? Because remember that French words that begin with a vowel or silent h, take l' as the definite article. That can make learning the noun's gender tricky. That's why French nouns are generally taught with indefinite articles - un (masculine - m) or une (feminine - f).

une porte - a door

Remember that the English equivalent of definite articles is always the. The indefinite articles in English are a or an depending on the word - a door, but an apple, for example.

French Articles
	Masculine	Feminine	Plural
Definite Article	le	la	les
Indefinite Article	un	une	des

Note:

Le and la become l' when the definite article precedes a noun with a vowel or silent h. Examples:

l'hôtel
l'homme
l'égalité
l'université

Review - Why pay attention to gender?

Why is noun gender so important to learn? Knowing a noun's gender is important for forming or correctly using:

Definite & Indefinite Articles
Adjectives
Past Participles (sometimes)
Possessive Adjectives
Pronouns
Partitive Articles

Are you getting the idea? Knowing the noun's gender is IMPORTANT! You can't get around it.

Common Gender Endings
Nouns are generally MASCULINE when ending with:	Nouns are generally FEMININE when ending with:
-age -ment -isme -ier -oir	-ance -ence -ée -eur -ie -ion,-sion,-tion,-xion -té -ure
Examples: le fromage, le voyage, le journal, l'hôpital, le pâtissier, le nationalisme, le socialisme, l'appartment, le gouvernement, le couloir, le lavoir	Examples: la confiance, l'intelligence, la patience, la pensée, l'arrivée, la chaleur, la fleur, la peur, la philosophie, l'économie, l'opinion, la passion la nation, la beauté, la fidélité, la nature, la peinture

Exceptions: in general, grammar rules will have exceptions and these gender rules concerning common endings are no different. Below are a few examples of exceptions to the rules above.

Feminine Nouns with a "masculine" ending:
- la page
- la plage
- l'image
Masculine Nouns with a "feminine" ending:
- le silence
- le lycée
- le musée

Note: The endings above are just some of the many endings in French that generally indicate a particular noun gender. However, for this course and your assessments, focus on the endings above. Remember - you generally just have to learn a word's noun gender by heart when learning the word in French.

À vous

Que faire ? - Complétez les activités suivantes pour savoir si vous comprenez bien le genre des noms et les articles définis et indéfinis.

Activity 1: Masculine vs. Feminine

Activity 2: un vs. une

Activity 3: le, la, or l'