How French works
A noun is a word which names an entity such as a person, thing, place, substance or state. Nouns can be separated into different classes:
| Class | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| animate nouns | referring to living beings | le professeur, un chien |
| inanimate nouns | lacking the characteristics of living beings | la chaise, une table |
| proper nouns | names of specific people, places etc. | Pierre, Londres |
| common nouns | referring to a noun within a whole class of nouns | le roi, la rue |
| simple nouns | made up of one word | un arbre, la voiture |
| compound nouns | made up of more than one word | un tire-bouchon |
| abstract noun | a quality, state, action or concept | la difficulté, la poésie |
| concrete noun | a thing rather than a quality, state, action or concept | un poème, un livre |
| countable noun | a noun which can be counted in discrete units | (six) pommes |
| uncountable noun | a noun that cannot normally be used in the plural | la farine, du sucre |
Most animate nouns have masculine and feminine forms. The feminine form is usually formed by adding -e to the end of the masculine noun. If the masculine noun already ends in an -e, no -e is added and gender is usually indicated by the determiner :
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un / une artiste | artist |
| un / une collègue | colleague |
| un / une locataire | tenant |
| un / une partenaire | partner |
| un / une pianiste | pianist |
| un / une propriétaire | owner, landlord / landlady |
| un / une touriste | tourist |
An exception to this is enfant, which has masculine and feminine forms without ending in -e:
un / une enfant
Some nouns do not have a feminine form:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| un auteur | author |
| un amateur | enthusiast |
| un compositeur | composer |
| un écrivain | writer |
| un juge | judge |
| un médecin | doctor |
| un peintre | painter |
| un professeur | teacher |
| un mannequin | model |
Whilst others do not have a masculine form:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| une personne | person |
| une recrue | recruit |
| une souris | mouse |
| une vedette | star |
| une victime | victim |
It is often possible to tell the gender of a word from its ending. Words with the following endings are usually masculine :
Note the exceptions:
la plage - beach
une image - picture
la peau - skin
de l’eau chaude - hot water
Words with the following endings are usually feminine :
| Word ending | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| –ade | la bousculade | jostling; crush |
| –aison | la maison | house |
| –ance | une instance | authority |
| –ée | la journée | day |
| –ence | une expérience | experience |
| –ense | la défense | defence |
| –eur | la couleur | colour |
| –ière | la frontière | border |
| –sion | une expansion | expansion |
| –tion | la caution | deposit |
| –ude | une attitude | attitude |
| –ure | la fermeture | closing |
| –xion | une réflexion | reflection |
Note the exceptions:
un musée - museum
le silence - silence
le bonheur - happiness
un cimetière - cemetary
Note the following masculine words that can be mistaken for feminine words:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le choix | choice |
| le commerce | business |
| le crime | crime |
| le divorce | divorce |
| le domaine | field, domain |
| le doute | doubt |
| un échange | exchange |
| le groupe | group |
| le manque | lack |
| le mélange | mix |
| un office | job, office |
| un parapluie | umbrella |
| un phénomène | phenomenon |
| un principe | principle |
| le rêve | dream |
| le risque | risk |
| un rôle | role |
| un salaire | salary |
| un signe | sign |
| le traité | treaty |
| le vote | vote |
Note the following feminine words that can be mistaken for masculine words:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| le choix | choice |
| le commerce | business |
| le crime | crime |
| le divorce | divorce |
| le domaine | field, domain |
| le doute | doubt |
| un échange | exchange |
| le groupe | group |
| le manque | lack |
| le mélange | mix |
| un office | job, office |
| un parapluie | umbrella |
| un phénomène | phenomenon |
| un principe | principle |
| le rêve | dream |
| le risque | risk |
| un rôle | role |
| un salaire | salary |
| un signe | sign |
| le traité | treaty |
| le vote | vote |
Note the following nouns which change their meaning according to their gender f :
| French masc | English | French fem | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| un livre | a book | une livre | a pound (lb + ) |
| le mode | way, mode | la mode | fashion |
| un tour | tour | une tour | tower |
| un poste | job, post | la poste | the post office |
| le manche d’un couteau | the handle of a knife | une manche, La Manche | a sleeve, The Channel |
As in English, plural words are generally formed by adding an -s to the end of the word. The following exceptions apply:
Nouns ending in -s, -x, or -z remain the same:
les fils, les voix, les gaz
Nouns ending in -au and -eu take -x in the plural:
les châteaux, les tuyaux, les cheveux
but des pneus
Certain nouns ending in -ou take -x in the plural:
les bijoux, les cailloux, les choux, les genoux, les hiboux, les joujoux, les poux
but les clous, les trous
Certain nouns ending in -ail and -al end in -aux in the plural
un travail → des travaux
un vitrail → des vitraux
un animal → des animaux but des carnavals, des festivals
un journal → des journaux
Certain words change fundamentally in the plural:
un oeil → des yeux
Monsieur → Messieurs
Madame → Mesdames
Mademoiselle → Mesdemoiselles
Words that are proper nouns and acronyms remain invariable in the plural , unlike in English:
On est allé voir les Dupont hier soir
We went to see the Duponts yesterday evening
Ils possèdent deux Peugeot
They own two Peugeots
En ce qui concerne les ordinateurs, je préfère les Mac aux PC
As far as computers are concerned, I prefer Macs to PCs
Elle dépense tout son argent en CD
She spends all her money on CDs
Brand names / foreign words tend to take the gender of their equivalent noun category / French word:
une Renault (because une voiture)
une star (because une vedette)
Some words that are singular / uncountable in English are plural / countable in French, and vice versa:
| English plural | French singular |
|---|---|
| pyjamas | un pyjama |
| stairs | un escalier |
| pants / tights | un slip / un collant |
| trousers / shorts | un pantalon / un short |
| economics / physics | l’économie / la physique |
Note also that some words that are uncountable in English are used as singular countable nouns in French:
un fruit - a
piece of fruit
un pain - a
loaf of bread
une nouvelle - a
piece of news
The main differences between English and French are as follows:
Elle est arrivée lundi, le 2 mars
She arrived on Monday, 2nd March
Il habite 14, rue de la Gare
He lives at 14 Station Road
La reine Elisabeth, le président Chirac, le docteur Pomier
Queen Elizabeth, President Chirac, Doctor Pomier
Elle parle couramment le français
She speaks fluent French
Note also the following:
Les Français,
La France - The French,
France
but La
grammaire française - French grammar