Easy Tricks for Mastering the French “Le” and “La”

If a noun or adjective ends in ‘e’, it is very likely to be feminine. For example, la table, la poste, la pomme, la France.

With adjectives, the final ‘e’ signals it is feminine. For example, petite.

If it doesn’t end in ‘e’, the word is more likely to be masculine. For example, le croissant, le mec (the guy), le poulet (the chicken).

Exceptions to this rule

Unfortunately, as with most things, there are exceptions to the rule. (Martin, ignore this bit for now!)

For example,

Le fromage – cheese

La voix – the voice

As with all exceptions and English itself is one of the most complex languages to learn; for this precise reason, you must learn the exceptions. (Do you remember i before e, except after c!)

If you see words ending in:

 –age, -ument, – iroir, -eau these are usually masculine giveaways.

On the other hand:

Words ending in -tion, te and -euse are generally feminine indicators.

The gender of a word in French can impact on the spelling and pronunciation of other words in that sentence, particular adjectives. For example, la voiture bleue. Le cahier bleu.

How to help yourself

Using what you have read here, make a best guess! My advice would be to learn the feminine indicators and then assume everything else is masculine if you just need a ‘functional’ level of basic French.

If you are serious about becoming fluent, then if a job is worth doing, do it correctly. Learn your genders – it will be less work in the future.

It is worth noting that some words that begin with vowels, when you first come across them, might not be so easy to ‘see’ and to define their gender. So, you need to find out whether the word is un or une and just learn it I am afraid.

For example, l’elephant. It is un elephant.

Le/la is ‘the’

Un/une is ‘a’

Language is forever evolving and the most important thing for beginners is to practice without fear. Just speak French. Listen to French radio. Watch French television. Speak to your neighbours daily.

Easier said than done, I know. When I was younger, I was frozen by fear. Terrified of making a mistake. My French exchange family must have thought they were hosting a mute; such was my fear of speaking French back then!

Fast forward thirty years, and that luxury has gone. I have to make myself understood as my family are relying on me. Gone are the days I worry about minuscule errors unless I am in super high-pressure situations like a training conference or a new job. I try my best, and that is all I can do. And you know what, everyone is really lovely and encouraging! The important thing is to try and to keep on trying.

Bonne continuation et bon courage !