There is no systematic rule that governs the gender of nouns in French. One has to therefore learn the articles that apply to nouns. There are, nevertheless, certain trends that are noteworthy. However, there may exist numerous exceptions in certain cases.
Masculine Nouns
The following categories of nouns are masculine nouns:
– Names of males
– Days, months (le dimanche = Sundays)
– Seasons (le printemps = spring)
The following are masculine nouns when not ending in -e:
-Trees, flowers not ending in -e
-Colours
-Languages
-Most countries
Masculine noun endings are listed below, there are however many exceptions.
| Ending | Examples | Exceptions |
| – acle | Un miracle | |
| -age | Le courage | Une image, une page, une cage, une plage |
| -al | Un animal | |
| -ail | Le rail | |
| -amme | Le programme | La gamme |
| -eau* | Un oiseau | |
| -ème | Un problème | |
| -er | Le fer | La mer |
| -et | Un billet | |
| -isme | Le réalisme | |
| -ment | Un élément | Une jument (mare/female horse) |
| -oir | Un miroir |
*valid for words of two or more syllables
Feminine Nouns
The following categories of nouns are feminine nouns when ending in -e:
-Names of females
-Continents
The following are masculine nouns when ending in -e:
-Most countries and rivers (la Jamaïque = Jamaica)
-Fruits and shrubs (une pomme = apple)
Feminine noun endings are listed below, there are however many exceptions:
| Ending | Examples | Exceptions |
| -ance | la confiance | |
| -anse | la danse | |
| -ée | la matinée | le lycée, le musée |
| -ence | la patience | le silence |
| -ense | La défense | |
| -esse | une maladresse | |
| -eur | la profondeur | le bonheur, le malheur, l’honneur |
| -ie | une théorie | |
| -ière | une maniére | le génie |
| -ise | la maitrise | un cimetiére |
| -sion | la pension | |
| -tié | la pitié | |
| -té | la santé | |
| -tion | une fonction | |
| -ure | une mesure | un coté, le pâté, un traité, un comité, un bastion |