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Noms féminins
There’s no simple trick to knowing the gender of every single French noun (other than looking in a dictionary), but there are several categories of words that are always or usually feminine.
Academic subjects
Nearly all academic and scientific subjects are feminine:
- la chimie – chemistry
- l’histoire – history
- la langue – language
Exceptions: le droit (law) and specific languages
Approximate numbers
All numbers that end in –aine are feminine.
- une dizaine – about ten
- une douzaine – a dozen
- une centaine – about a hundred
Cars
Une voiture, une auto, and all car names are feminine
- la 2CV
- la Citroën
- la Peugeot
Food
Most foods that end in -e are feminine.
- la banane
- la tomate
- la viande
Exceptions: le beurre, le blé, le concombre, le fromage, le pamplemousse, le poivre
Geography
All continents are feminine:
- l’Australie
- l’Amérique
- l’Europe
Note: there’s some debate about Antarctique, which is feminine according to Larousse but masculine according to Le Petit Robert, perhaps because the latter doesn’t seem to consider it a noun in its own right, but rather an abbreviation of le continent antarctique.
Nearly all countries that end in -e are feminine.
- la France
- l’Égypte
- la Chine
Exceptions: le Belize, le Cambodge, le Mexique, le Mozambique, le Zaïre, le Zimbabwe
Rivers that end in -e are feminine:
- la Garonne
- la Loire
- la Seine
Exceptions: le Rhône, le Danube
Holidays and Festivals
All holidays and festivals that include saint in the name are feminine (because the name is a contraction of la Fête de Saint …)
- la Saint-Sylvestre
- la Saint-Valentin
- la Toussaint
Planets
Une planète is feminine, as are all planets:
- la Terre
- Vénus
- Pluton
Although,
et je cite …
Traditionnellement, les noms des corps célestes étaient de genre masculin, sauf ceux qui étaient composés d’un déterminant féminin ou dont le nom était celui d’un personnage féminin de la mythologie. C’est pourquoi on rencontre encore parfois des noms de planètes, d’étoiles ou de constellations au masculin, bien que le féminin soit aujourd’hui plus courant.
Traditionally, the names of celestial bodies were masculine, except those that were made up of a feminine determiner or whose name was that of a female mythological figure. That’s why today we still find some planet, star, and constellation names in the masculine, even though the feminine is today more typical.
Watches
La montre is feminine, as are all brand names:
- une Rolex
- une Swatch
- une Tag Heuer
| Quiz: Gender |
Related lessons
- Feminine noun endings
- Masculine noun categories
- Gender of compound nouns
- Introduction to nouns
- Articles
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