Which noun endings are masculine in French?

The main ones are -age, -ment, -eau, -isme, -oir, -ier, -in, -on, -et, -al, -ail, -ard and -o, plus -eur when it names a person or a machine. So le voyage, le moment, le bureau, le tourisme and le moteur are all masculine.

How do you say the in French for a masculine noun?

Le in the singular, l' before a vowel or a mute h, and les in the plural, which is shared with feminine nouns. Le livre, l'ordinateur, les livres. The indefinite article is un, and it becomes des in the plural.

Why are borrowed words like le week-end masculine?

Masculine is the default gender in French, so a word that arrives without a grammatical history is assigned to it. That covers le parking, le smartphone, le selfie, un SMS and acronyms generally, unless a French noun underneath pulls them the other way, as in la SNCF.

What are the exceptions to the masculine endings?

They cluster in a few endings. Against -age: la page, la plage, la cage, l'image, la nage, la rage. Against -eau: l'eau, la peau. Against -ment: la jument. Against -in: la main, la fin. Against -on: la maison, la raison, la saison, la leçon, la façon.

Is there a difference between -é and -ée at the end of a noun?

Yes, and it is a good rule of thumb. A bare -é is masculine — le café, le marché, le canapé, le blé — while -ée is usually feminine: la journée, la soirée, la pensée. The exceptions on the -ée side are the Greek borrowings le musée, le lycée and le trophée.

French grammar · Beginner

Masculine Noun Endings in French: When a Noun Takes Le and Un

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

A noun that ends in -age, -ment, -eau, -isme, -oir, -ier, -in, -on, -et, -al or -ard is almost always masculine, which means it takes le, un and l' rather than la or une. Masculine is also the gender French falls back on when it has no reason to choose: borrowed words, acronyms and words made out of verbs all arrive masculine.

Le changement de gouvernement a surpris tout le monde.

The change of government surprised everyone.

What it is

French has no neuter, so every noun has to be masculine or feminine, and masculine is the side the language leans on when nothing decides the question. On top of that default, roughly a dozen endings mark a noun masculine so consistently that you can read the gender straight off the page.

le fromage, le moment, le bureau, le tourisme — the cheese, the moment, the office, tourism.

How to spot it

The masculine article is le in the singular, un with a number or a first mention, and l' before a vowel. When l' hides the gender, an adjective or a following noun gives it away.

le paysage — the landscape (-age)
le classement — the ranking (-ment)
le capitalisme — capitalism (-isme)
un couloir étroit — a narrow corridor (-oir)

Un before a vowel sounds like the noun is glued to it — un ami runs together as un-nami — but it is still the ordinary masculine article.

Masculine Noun Endings Quick Reference

Endings that make a noun masculine

Ending	Example	Watch out for
-age	le fromage, le voyage	la page, la plage, la cage, la nage, la rage, l'image
-ment	le moment, le bâtiment	la jument
-eau	le bureau, le château	l'eau, la peau
-isme	le tourisme, le réalisme	no exceptions
-oir	le couloir, le miroir	-oire is often feminine: la mémoire, l'histoire
-eur (agent or machine)	le vendeur, le moteur	abstract -eur is feminine: la peur, la couleur
-in, -on, -et, -ier	le jardin, le poisson, le billet, le cahier	la fin, la main, la maison, la raison, la saison
-al, -ail, -ard, -o	le journal, le travail, le retard, le vélo	no everyday exceptions

Common Masculine Noun Endings Examples in French

The masculine endings in the words you actually use:

-age and -ment: Actions Turned into Things

le nettoyage: the cleaning
le stationnement: parking
un déménagement: a house move
le passage: the passage, the way through
le développement: the development

Both endings turn a verb into a noun: nettoyer gives le nettoyage, stationner gives le stationnement. Anything built this way is masculine.

-eau, -ier, -et: Everyday Objects

le manteau: the coat
le couteau: the knife
un cahier: an exercise book
le paquet: the parcel
un billet: a ticket

The -eau group is large and almost airtight. Only eau and peau go the other way, and both are very short, very old words.

-eur and -teur: People and Machines

le vendeur: the salesman
un ordinateur: a computer
le moteur: the engine
un aspirateur: a vacuum cleaner
le facteur: the postman

This is the half of -eur that is masculine. When the same ending names a feeling — la peur, la douleur, la chaleur — it is feminine instead.

-isme, -al, -oir: Systems, Categories, Places

le socialisme: socialism
le journal: the newspaper
un hôpital: a hospital
le couloir: the corridor
le trottoir: the pavement

-isme has no exceptions at all, which makes it the most dependable masculine ending in the language.

How Masculine Gender Is Assigned

Part of it is the ending, part of it is the fact that masculine is what French does when it has no better idea.

Masculine Is the Fallback Gender

A word arriving in French with no grammatical history is made masculine. That covers English borrowings, brand names, acronyms and anything that was never a noun to begin with, such as an infinitive or an adjective used as a noun.

le week-end, un SMS, le pourquoi, le savoir-faire

the weekend, a text message, the reason why, know-how

No history → masculine.

A Suffix Fixes the Gender of Everything Built with It

-age, -ment and -isme are productive suffixes: French is still making new nouns with them, and every one of those nouns is masculine. That is why le covoiturage and le télétravail need no looking up.

le recyclage, le confinement

recycling, lockdown

New word, same suffix, same gender.

-é Is Masculine, -ée Is Feminine

A single silent e separates two large groups. Nouns ending in a bare -é are masculine: le café, le marché, le canapé, le blé. Add the e and you usually get a feminine noun: la journée, la soirée, la pensée.

le marché et la journée

the market and the day

-é masculine, -ée feminine.

The Same Split Runs Through -oir and -oire

Nouns in -oir are masculine: le miroir, le devoir, le tiroir. Nouns in -oire are usually feminine — la mémoire, la victoire, la baignoire — though a group of formal words holds out on the masculine side.

le tiroir, la victoire, le laboratoire

the drawer, the victory, the laboratory

-oir always masculine, -oire mostly feminine.

Masculine Wins Any Mixed Agreement

When an adjective has to cover two nouns of different genders, it goes masculine plural. The same happens with a group of people: one man among a hundred women is enough to make the whole group ils.

un père et une mère attentifs

an attentive father and mother

Mixed genders → masculine plural.

Common Mistakes with Masculine Noun Endings

Incorrect: la fromage — the cheese

Correct: le fromage — the cheese

-age is one of the most reliable masculine endings in French. The handful of feminine words that share the shape — page, plage, cage, image, nage, rage — are all short root words rather than suffixed ones.

Incorrect: le peau — the skin

Correct: la peau — the skin

The -eau ending is otherwise dependably masculine, which is why eau and peau catch people out. Both are old one-syllable nouns, not words built with a suffix.

Incorrect: la moteur — the engine

Correct: le moteur — the engine

-eur is masculine when it names a machine or someone doing a job, and feminine only when it names a sensation. Le moteur, le vendeur and l'ordinateur are on the masculine side.

Incorrect: le main — the hand

Correct: la main — the hand

Nouns in -in are masculine almost without exception — le jardin, le vin, le matin — but la main and la fin are feminine and both come up constantly.

Categories That Are Masculine Regardless of Ending

Some groups of nouns are masculine because of what they are, not how they are spelt. These override any guess based on the ending.

Time, languages and places on the calendar

Days, months, seasons, languages and points of the compass are all masculine, whatever letters they end in.

le lundi: Monday, Mondays
le printemps: spring
le français: French (the language)
le nord: the north

Note that languages are lower case in French and take an article: J'apprends le français.

Trees, metals, numbers and letters

These four categories are masculine as a block, which is useful because their endings are otherwise unhelpful.

le chêne: the oak
le fer: iron
un huit: an eight
le b de bateau: the b in bateau

The fruit often goes the other way: le pommier is the tree, la pomme is the apple.

Words that were never nouns

Take an infinitive, an adjective or even a whole phrase, put an article in front of it, and the result is masculine.

le devoir: duty (from the verb devoir)
le beau: beauty, the beautiful
un aller-retour: a return ticket
le boire et le manger: food and drink

Borrowings behave the same way: le shopping, le parking, le smartphone, le brunch.

Masculine Noun Endings FAQs

Which noun endings are masculine in French?: The main ones are -age, -ment, -eau, -isme, -oir, -ier, -in, -on, -et, -al, -ail, -ard and -o, plus -eur when it names a person or a machine. So le voyage, le moment, le bureau, le tourisme and le moteur are all masculine.
How do you say the in French for a masculine noun?: Le in the singular, l' before a vowel or a mute h, and les in the plural, which is shared with feminine nouns. Le livre, l'ordinateur, les livres. The indefinite article is un, and it becomes des in the plural.
Why are borrowed words like le week-end masculine?: Masculine is the default gender in French, so a word that arrives without a grammatical history is assigned to it. That covers le parking, le smartphone, le selfie, un SMS and acronyms generally, unless a French noun underneath pulls them the other way, as in la SNCF.
What are the exceptions to the masculine endings?: They cluster in a few endings. Against -age: la page, la plage, la cage, l'image, la nage, la rage. Against -eau: l'eau, la peau. Against -ment: la jument. Against -in: la main, la fin. Against -on: la maison, la raison, la saison, la leçon, la façon.
Is there a difference between -é and -ée at the end of a noun?: Yes, and it is a good rule of thumb. A bare -é is masculine — le café, le marché, le canapé, le blé — while -ée is usually feminine: la journée, la soirée, la pensée. The exceptions on the -ée side are the Greek borrowings le musée, le lycée and le trophée.