French Nouns
When dealing with French nouns, you need to keep in mind that they have gender, much like a number of other foreign languages such as Spanish. In French, an “e” is usually added to a word to denote the feminine. While some words will still be understood if you pronounce the wrong gender, others will mean a totally different thing. The following is a list of different French nouns that will illustrate the importance of noun gender:
Masculine Nouns Meaning - Feminine Nouns Meaning
le bal dance la balle ball
le bar bar/pub, la barre bar (rod)
le barbe barb la barbe beard
le bugle bugle la bugle bugleweed
le cache card/mask la cache cache, hiding place
le capital capital, la capitale capital city,
money capital letter
le cave idiot, sucker la cave basement, cellar
le cours class la cour court, yard
le geste gesture la geste gest, epic poem
le greffe court clerk’s la greffe transplant, graft
office
le lieu place la lieue league
le livre book la livre pound (as in money or
weight)
le manoeuvre laborer la manoeuvre maneuver, operation
le merci thanks la merci mercy
un ombre grayling fish une ombre shadow, shade
le page page boy la page page in a book
le pair peer la paire pair
le pendule pendulum la pendule clock
personne no one la personne person
le poêle stove la poêle frying pan
le ponte (informal) big shot la ponte laying eggs, clutch of
eggs
le somme snooze, nap la somme sum, amount
le souris smile la souris mouse
Other French nouns show the actual sex of the person that they are referring to. Here are a few examples of this:
un aide male assistant une aide help, assistance
female assistant
le critique male critic la critique criticism, review,
female critic
le martyr male martyr la martyre female martyr
le pupille male ward la pupille female ward
le secrétaire male secretary , la secrétaire female secretary
writing desk,
secretary
Proper French nouns are usually presented in the feminine form, while the masculine form of the same word represents objects that may share the same name as a place. A few examples of these include:
Masculine Meaning - Feminine Meaning
le champagne champagne La Champagne the Champagne region of France
le chine china, rice paper La Chine China (the country)
le manche handle La Manche the English
Channel
Le visa visa (to enter La Visa Visa credit card
a country)
Other masculine and feminine French nouns have meanings that are some what related to each other. The following are some examples of these:
Masculine Meaning - Feminine Meaning
le chèvre goat cheese la chèvre goat
le chose thingie, contraption la chose thing
le crème coffee with cream la crème cream
le diesel diesel fuel la diesel diesel automobile
le faune faun la faune fauna
le garde guard, la garde guard duty,
warden, custody,
keeper private nurse
le guide guide (book or la guide girl scout/guide
person)
le mort dead body la mort death
un oeuvre body of work une oeuvre piece of work, task
orange orange color une orange orange (fruit)
These have been just a few of the many examples of masculine and feminine of French nouns. If you have trouble remembering the gender for the word that you trying to use, you do not need to worry about it too much. As we have shown, many of these words have meanings that have nothing to do with each other. In regular French conversation, the other party should be able to figure out the word that you are trying to say as many times the other gender will make no sense.