French Grammar - Nouns - Grammaire française

Le site pour apprendre à parler français
The website to learn French
El sitio para aprender francés

Your language: English
Tu idioma: Español

Grammaire française - French Grammar

LES NOMS

GENDER OF NOUNS

MASCULINE	FEMININE
un livre (a book) le journal (the newspaper)	une maison (a house) la fleur (the flower)

In French we differentiate masculine and feminine nouns. We also use different articles and different adjectives for them. See Articles and Adjective forms for more details.

Country names take always article.
If they end in -e they are feminine (except for le Mexique).

le Portugal
le Brésil
le Mexique

la France
l'Espagne
l'Argentine

The femenine is formed in general by adding -e to the masculine form, and in some cases other letters or accents are also added.
There are some nouns with totally different forms for the masculine and the femenine.
Some professions are used only in the masculine form.

un ami (a friend)	une amie (a female friend)
un rival (a rival)	une rivale (a female rival)
un acteur (an actor)	une actrice (an actress)
un musicien (a musician)	une musicienne (a female musician)
un boulanger (a baker)	une boulangère (a female baker)
le détective (the detective)	la détective (the female detective)
le professeur (the teacher)	la professeur (the female teacher)

PLURAL OF NOUNS

SINGULAR	PLURAL
un livre (a book)	des livres (books)

The plural is formed in general by adding -s to the singular form.
Some nouns have special plural forms, according to their ending:
-eau becomes -eaux
-al becomes -aux
-s stays the same -s
-z stays the same -z
Some nouns do not have singular form.

le château (the castle)	les châteaux (the castles)
le cheval (the horse)	les chevaux (the horses)
le bus (the bus)	les bus (the buses)
le nez (the nose)	les nez (the noses)
	les gens (the people)

<<<< Grammar Index

Recommended books (Ad)

This is a great French grammar book with clear, short and easy-to-follow explanations in English. It covers all basic grammar topics, and it also offers more than 300 exercises and audio for pronunciation and listening practice, that will allow you to efficiently learn and use all rules.

Click on the image to look inside the book.

This is a complete French grammar guide with easy, down-to-earth explanations and more than 350 exercises with answers. It includes vocabulary lists, glossaries and verb tables. This new edition comes with audio recordings, flashcards and an app for your mobile.

This book will help you improve your French in a flexible and successful way.

Click on the image to look inside the book.

This is a series of books that present every grammar topic with plenty of exercises related to that topic. This way, you can gradually learn, acquire and use the grammar rules to improve your written and oral French.

The series includes books for beginners, intermediate and advanced students, with the corresponding answer key.

Click on the image to look inside the book.

Other recommended pages

Themed
vocabulary

Games to practise vocabulary

Reading comprehension exercises

Songs