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French Gender and Number
Gender and number have important roles to play in French grammar, as many adjectives, articles, nouns, pronouns, and verbs have different forms based on gender and/or number.
What is gender?
Learn about grammatical French gender: masculine and feminine.
What is number?
Learn about grammatical French number: singular and plural.
Agreement
There are numerous ways in which plurals affect French grammar.
Compound Nouns - Gender
How to determine the gender of French compound nouns.
Compound Nouns - Plurals
Lesson on making compound nouns plural.
French Gender Patterns
French gender is a constant headache for many students of French. There's no simple way to know the gender of every noun other than just learning the gender with each word. But there are some patterns in suffixes and word endings that can help you to figure out the gender of many French nouns.
Nouns with Two Genders
French nouns with identical pronunciation (and possibly spelling as well) may have different meanings depending on whether they are masculine or feminine.
Plural French Nouns
In both French and English, many nouns can be singular or plural: un homme (one man), deux hommes (two men), la chaise (the chair), les chaises (the chairs). But there are quite a few French nouns that can only be plural, including some related to religion and material possessions.
Singular French Nouns
There are also quite a few French nouns that can only be singular, including abstractions, matter, and sciences.
Singulars and Plurals
Nouns are not always singular in both French and English. Page one of this lesson is a list of words that are singular or uncountable in English but plural in French. Page two has nouns that are singular, uncountable, or invariable in French but plural or countable in English.
Gender Tests
Test yourself on the gender of French words.