FranzA1Vocabulary5 min read
Le or la? Why you should never learn a French noun alone
Every French noun is masculine or feminine, and nothing in English warns you. There is no rule you can trust, but there is a habit that saves you hundreds of mistakes: learn every word with its article.
By Stan Lee MBINI and Darcya Hamilton BOULINGUI BOULINGUI
la valise, le soleil
the suitcase (feminine), the sun (masculine)In French, a table is feminine and a book is masculine. A chair is feminine, a sofa is masculine. None of this has anything to do with the object itself, and English speakers find it frustrating, which is fair. But after years of teaching, we have seen that the learners who stop worrying about the rules and start collecting articles are the ones who end up speaking correctly.
Three words to start
Le goes with masculine nouns, la with feminine nouns. Throughout this article, and in our books, masculine words are marked in blue and feminine words in pink, so your eyes start to remember too.
Why it matters so much
The gender of a noun does not stay inside the noun. It travels through the whole sentence: the article, the possessive, the adjective, sometimes the past participle. Get the gender wrong once, and three words around it go wrong with it.
un grand café → une grande valise
a big coffee → a big suitcasemon café → ma valise
my coffee → my suitcaseLe café est prêt. → La valise est prête.
The coffee is ready. → The suitcase is ready.Learn the article once, with the word, and the rest of the sentence follows on its own.
The habit: le or la, every time
Here is the routine we give our own students, and the one built into 30 Days to Read French. It takes no extra time, only a new reflex.
- Write the articleIn your notebook, never write valise. Write la valise, or une valise.
- Say it with the articleWhen you read the word out loud, say the article with it, three times: la valise, la valise, la valise.
- Use colourBlue for masculine, pink for feminine. Your memory keeps colours better than labels.
- Check every new nounIn the dictionary or in the book's word list, look for m or f. It takes two seconds.
Endings that help, most of the time
There is no rule you can trust completely, but some endings are reliable enough to help you guess when you are speaking and cannot check. Treat them as clues, never as laws.
| Usually feminine | Examples | Usually masculine | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| -tion, -sion | la nation, la télévision | -ment | le moment, le gouvernement |
| -té | la liberté, la santé | -age | le voyage, le fromage |
| -ure | la voiture, la culture | -eau | le bureau, le gâteau |
| -ette | la baguette, la fourchette | -isme | le tourisme |
| -ence, -ance | la science, la chance | -oir | le miroir, le soir |
Test yourself
Your turn
___ maison (house)
La maison is feminine. Write it with its article in your list.
Your turn
___ livre (book)
Le livre is masculine. (La livre is a pound!)
Your turn
___ télévision
-sion is usually feminine: la télévision.
Your turn
___ hôtel
Silent h: l'hôtel. Learn it as un hôtel to remember it is masculine.
Words to remember
le, un: masculinela, une: feminineTap ☆ to save a word to My words
- le cafécoffee · masculineUn café, s'il vous plaît.
- la valisesuitcase · feminineMa valise est bleue.
- le soleilsun · masculineLe soleil brille.
- la maisonhouse · feminineLa maison est grande.
- le livrebook · masculineJe lis un livre.
- la plagebeach · feminineOn va à la plage.
- l'eauwater · feminineL'eau est froide.
- l'hôtelhotel · masculineUn hôtel près de la gare.
Expressions to remember
- s'il vous plaîtplease (polite)Un café, s'il vous plaît.
- être prêt / prêteto be readyLa valise est prête.
- aller à la plageto go to the beachOn va à la plage ?
- c'est un… / c'est une…it's a…C'est une bonne idée.
