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Noun gender & number
GrammarA1gendernouns

Noun gender & number

Le genre et le nombre des noms

A1fr22 min

What you'll learn

  • Know every noun has a gender
  • Form plurals
  • Use ending patterns as clues

Tips for this lesson

  • Always learn a noun WITH its article — un livre, une table — never the bare word.
  • Gender is grammatical, not logical: une table isn't 'feminine' in meaning.
  • The plural -s is silent — you hear plurality on the article, not the noun.
Step 1 of 6
1Reading

In context

Read. Notice that every noun has un/une or le/la attached — never a bare noun.

In context

Sur la table, il y a un livre, une lampe et des clés. Dans la salle, il y a le canapé et les chaises. J'aime la musique et le cinéma. L'eau est sur la table aussi.

Les objets sur la table sont importants. Un livre peut nous apprendre beaucoup de choses. Une lampe éclaire la pièce et crée une ambiance agréable. Des clés sont nécessaires pour ouvrir des portes.

Dans la salle, le canapé est confortable pour s'asseoir et se reposer. Les chaises sont aussi utiles pour les invités. J'aime passer du temps dans cette pièce.

La musique me fait sentir heureux, et le cinéma est un bon moyen de se divertir. L'eau est essentielle pour vivre, et il est bon de boire de l'eau régulièrement.

Compréhension

  1. 1.Qu'est-ce qu'il y a sur la table?

  2. 2.Comment est le canapé dans la salle?

  3. 3.Pourquoi la musique est-elle importante pour l'auteur?

  4. 4.Qu'est-ce qui est essentiel pour vivre?

Step 2 of 6
2The pattern

The pattern — masculine, feminine, and plural

Every French noun is masculine or feminine — there's no neutral 'it'. Learn the ending clues, but trust the article more than the ending.

Every French noun has a grammatical gender — masculine or feminine — even for objects with no natural gender (un livre is masculine, une table is feminine; there's no logic to it, it's just how the word is). Because of this, you must learn every new noun together with its article (un/une, le/la), never as a bare word. For plurals, most nouns simply add -s: un livre → des livres. That final -s is silent — you hear the plural on the article (des, les), not on the noun itself.

MasculineFeminine
Singularun / le livreune / la table
Pluraldes / les livresdes / les tables
Ending tendencyUsuallyExample
-age, -ment, -eau, -ismemasculinele voyage, le moment
-tion, -sion, -té, -ette, -éefemininela nation, la beauté

un livre → des livres

a book → books

The -s is silent — say them almost identically.

une table → des tables

a table → tables

l'eau, l'homme

the water, the man

le/la → l' before a vowel or mute h — you'll see this fully in articles.

un problème

a problem

Ends in -e but is masculine — the -e ending clue is unreliable, unlike -tion/-té.

Erreurs fréquentes

  • Guessing 'table' should be masculine because it's just an object.Learn: une table (feminine) — memorise gender with the noun, don't reason from meaning.

    Gender is grammatical, not logical. There is no 'neutral' in French — every noun picks a side.

  • Pronouncing the plural -s: livreS.livres — the -s stays silent.

    You signal plural with des/les, not by pronouncing the noun's ending.

  • le eaul'eau

    le/la elide to l' before a vowel or mute h — always, no exceptions.

Exceptions & à retenir

  • High-frequency exceptions to the ending clues

    le musée, le lycée, le silence (masculine despite -ée/-ence-like endings) and la page, la plage (feminine despite not ending in -tion/-té). The clue table is a tendency, not a law.

  • Same word, different gender, different meaning

    le livre (the book) vs la livre (the pound — weight/currency); le poste (job position) vs la poste (the post office). Gender can change meaning entirely.

  • Irregular plurals

    Nouns ending in -eau/-eu add -x, not -s: un bureau → des bureaux, un jeu → des jeux. Nouns already ending in -s, -x, -z don't change: une souris → des souris.

Astuces & mémo

  • Flashcard rule: never write just "table" — always write "une table" so the gender sticks.
  • The ending patterns (-tion/-té = feminine, -isme/-eau = masculine) are a decent first guess, but always double-check with a dictionary or your teacher.
  • When in doubt about gender in conversation, using le is a common fallback learners use — but the goal is to know it, not guess it.
Step 3 of 6
3Q&A drill

Masculine or feminine?

Match each noun to its gender.

Tap an answer below, then tap the question it belongs to — or tap a question first to pick its slot. Tap a filled slot to send the answer back.

  • Q1livre
  • Q2table
  • Q3nation
  • Q4voyage
  • Q5musée
  • Q6page
Step 4 of 6
4Fill the blanks

Guided practice — singular to plural

Write the plural form of each noun (remember: the -s is silent).

Example
un livre → des (1)
→ des livres
Exercice
Exercice
une table → des (1)
Exercice
Exercice
un ami → des (2)
Exercice
Exercice
un bureau → des (3)
Exercice
Exercice
une souris → des (4)
Answer pool — drag onto a blank (or tap to fill the next one)
Next empty blank: 1
Step 5 of 6
5Word order

Build the sentence

Put the words in the correct order.

Example
surunlivrelatable→Un livre sur la table.
  1. Sentence 1
    Tap the words below to build the sentence.
  2. Sentence 2
    Tap the words below to build the sentence.
  3. Sentence 3
    Tap the words below to build the sentence.
  4. Sentence 4
    Tap the words below to build the sentence.
Step 6 of 6
6Speak freely

Produce it

Name six things around you with the correct un/une, and give the plural for two of them.

Ex.Il y a un livre, une lampe et des clés sur la table. Des livres, des lampes...
  1. 1.Nommez six objets autour de vous avec un/une.
  2. 2.Donnez le pluriel de trois de ces objets.
  3. 3.Quel objet a un genre qui vous surprend ?