Genre des noms composés
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French compound nouns are made up of two or more words connected by hyphens, and figuring out their gender can be a little tricky. Here are some rules that can help you to determine the gender of compound nouns, based on the parts of speech of each of the words.
1) Noun + noun
Gender matches that of the first noun.
| un chou-fleur | cauliflower | |
| un oiseau-mouche | hummingbird | |
| une station-service | service station | |
| une pause-café | coffee break |
Exception: un tête-à-tête – private conversation
2) Noun + adjective
Gender matches that of the noun.
| un coffre-fort | safe | |
| une chauve-souris | bat | |
| une demi-heure* | half hour | |
| une grand-mère* | grandmother |
Exception: un rouge-gorge – robin
* Note that the adjectives demi and grand are invariable in compound nouns – more about this in a future lesson.
3) Verb + noun or preposition + noun
Usually masculine:
| un gratte-ciel | skyscraper | |
| un brise-glace | ice breaker | |
| un pour-cent | percent | |
| un en-tête | heading |
A few can be either masculine or feminine:
| après-midi | afternoon | |
| après-guerre | post-war years | |
| perce-neige | snowdrop |
3) Adjective + adjective or adverb + adjective
Gender matches that of the adjective(s)
| la douce-amère | bittersweet, woody nightshade | |
| un sourd-muet une sourde-muette |
deaf mute | |
| un tout-puissant une toute-puissante |
omnipotent person |
4) The prefix mi–
Nearly always feminine
| la mi-février | mid-February | |
| la mi-hiver | mid-winter | |
| la mi-cuisson | halfway through cooking | |
| la mi-temps | halftime (sports) |
Exception: le mi-temps – part-time work
5) Other combinations
Adverb + past participle | Adverb + verb | Verb + verb … usually masculine
| un nouveau-né | newborn | |
| un bien-aimé | beloved | |
| un laissez-passer | pass | |
| le va-et-vient | comings and goings |
The majority of compound nouns are masculine, so when in doubt you can always fall back on that.
More French nouns
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