8.1.3

Masculine

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Singular Nouns

Here are some common masculine noun endings that will help you to know that the noun needs 'le' or 'un' before it. There are a few exceptions to every ending.

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Masculine

  • Nouns ending in b, c, cle, d, k, l, m, oir and p are usually masculine, but there are not that many of them in French.
    • Le miel - the honey.
    • Le dab - the dab.
  • Nouns that also come from English, ending in 'ing' and 'isme', are masculine.
    • Le jogging - jogging.
    • Le sexisme - sexism.
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Nouns ending in 'age'

  • Nouns that end in 'age' are usually masculine.
    • Le village - the village.
    • Le fromage 🧀 - the cheese.
    • Le garage - the garage.
  • But there are lots of exceptions to this rule:
    • La plage - the beach.
    • La nage - swimming.
    • La cage - cage.
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Nouns ending in 'ment'

  • Le gouvernement - the government.
  • Un appartement -a flat.
  • Le commencement - the beginning.
  • There is one exception to this rule:
    • La jument - the mare.
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Nouns that end in 'é'

  • 'é':
    • Le café ☕ - the coffee.
    • Le marché - the market.
    • Le supermarché - the supermarket.
  • The exceptions are:
    • La clé 🔑 - the key
    • La psyché - psyche
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Nouns that end in 'eau'

  • Le bateau 🛥️ - the boat.
  • Le manteau - the coat.
  • Le chapeau 🎩 - the hat
    • There are two important exceptions:
  • La peau - skin
  • L'eau - water.
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Nouns ending in 'in'

  • Le vin 🍷 - the wine.
  • Le magasin - the shop.
  • Le jardin - the garden.
  • Le chemin - the road, way.
    • An exception is:
  • La fin - the end.

Singular Nouns

Here are some common masculine noun endings that will help you to know that the noun needs 'le' or 'un' before it. There are a few exceptions to every ending.

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Nouns ending in 'on'

  • Le salon - the living room.
  • Le poisson 🐟 - the fish.
  • Le garçon - the boy.
    • But there are two very common exceptions:
  • La maison 🏠 - the house.
  • La boisson🥤 - the drink.
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Nouns ending in 'ier' and 'er'

  • 'ier':
    • le fermier - the farmer.
    • l’épicier - a grocer.
    • Le cahier - the notebook.
  • 'Er':
    • Le boucher - the butcher.
    • Le boulanger - the baker
  • A lot of professions, when talking about men, end in 'ier' or 'er'.
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Nouns that end in 'eur'

  • L'aspirateur - the vaccum cleaner.
  • L'ascenseur - the lift.
  • Le chauffeur - the chauffeur.
    • The exceptions are:
  • La douleur - the pain.
  • La chaleur - the heat.
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Nouns that end in 'oir'

  • Le miroir - the mirror.
  • Le devoir - the duty, homework.
  • Le pouvoir - the power.

Jump to other topics

1Phonics/Alphabet/Spellings

1.1Alphabet & Accents

2Family & Home

3Lifestyle

4Education & Future Plans

5Leisure, Free Time & Media

6Wider World

7Grammar

7.1Present Tense

7.2Perfect Tense

7.3Imperfect Tense

7.4Future Tense

7.5Conditional Tense

7.6Passive

7.7Imperative

8Other Grammar

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