A1
Every noun has a gender
Why French nouns are masculine or feminine, what the endings can and cannot tell you, and why the gender has to be learnt with the word.
Every French noun is masculine or feminine. This is not about the thing the word refers to — it is about the word — and everything that attaches to it has to agree.
le livre
the (m.) book
the book
la table
the (f.) table
the table
A table is not feminine in any meaningful sense. La is simply part of what table is, and learning the noun without it means learning it twice.
Learn the article with the noun
Never memorise livre. Memorise le livre. The gender governs the article, the adjective and, in the past tense, sometimes the verb — so a noun whose gender you do not know is a noun you cannot yet use in a sentence.
The endings are hints, not rules
Some endings lean strongly one way.
| -tion, -sion | feminine — la nation, la décision |
| -té | feminine — la liberté |
| -ette | feminine — la baguette |
| -age | masculine — le fromage |
| -ment | masculine — le gouvernement |
| -eau | masculine — le bureau |
Each has exceptions. La page and la plage end in -age; le musée ends in -ée. The endings are worth knowing as a tiebreaker and not as a system.
Some words change meaning with gender
le livre / la livre
the (m.) book / the (f.) pound
the book / the pound
Others in this family: le tour (a turn) against la tour (a tower), le manche (a handle) against la manche (a sleeve).
la livre que je lis
le livre que je lis
La livre is a pound in weight. The gender is the only thing distinguishing the two words, so getting it wrong does not sound like an accent — it changes what you said.