Gender of the Nouns
The nouns in French exist in the masculine and feminine gender. The neuter gender does not exist in French.
The differentiation by the article
| Masculine | Feminine |
| le photographe | la photographe |
| le journaliste | la journaliste |
| le secrétaire | la secrétaire |
Some nouns have the same form in both masculine and feminine gender and are only different in the article. All nouns ending in -e make the feminine gender in this way, especially those made by adding the suffixes of -aire and -iste towards the word stem.
Forming the feminine gender from the regular nouns
The feminine gender is formed by adding the silent -e at the end of a masculine noun in singular:
– in case a masculine noun ends in a vowel (but not in -e) or in a pronounced consonant, the pronunciation in the feminine gender is not different:
| Masculine | Feminine |
| un ami | une amie |
| un réfugié | une réfugiée |
– in case a masculine noun ends in a silent consonant, the pronunciation of the feminine gender changes by adding the -e ending and then this consonant is pronounced:
| Masculine | Feminine |
| un étudiant | une étudiante |
| un Anglais | une Anglaise |
Making the feminine gender by a suffix
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
| -(i)en | un musicien | -(i)enne | une musicienne |
| -eur | un coiffeur | -euse | une coiffeuse |
| -(i)er | un cuisinier | -(i)ère | une cuisinière |
| -teur | un acteur | -trice | une actrice |
The nouns existing in the masculine gender only
| Monsieur Martin est un bon professeur. |
| Madame Martin est aussi un bon professeur. |
Some nouns, mostly the jobs, exist in the masculine gender only.
Gender of the geographical names
Most countries ending in -e, are in the feminine gender: la France, la Belgique, la Suisse.
| Exceptions: | le Mexique, le Cambodge. |
Countries ending in a consonant or a vowel (but not in -e) are of the masculine gender: le Maroc, le Canada.
There is no fixed rule for countries and islands with no article (e.g. Haïti, Cuba, Israël).