Nouns in French

Gender of French nouns

In French, nouns are either masculine (masculins) or feminine (feminins). This is called gender. We can sometimes recognise a noun’s gender from its ending, but the only way to be sure is to always learn nouns together with their article (le/un or la/une).

Examples:

l’hommethe man, le chienthe dog, le tableauthe board, le travailthe work, le chênethe oak tree (masculine)

la femmethe woman, la danseusethe dancer, la librairiethe book shop, la cuisinethe kitchen, la FranceFrance (feminine)

Go to our dedicated page on noun gender in French to learn more.

Singular and plural

In French, nouns can be singular (singulier) or plural (pluriel) depending on whether they refer to one thing or more. The plural is generally formed by adding -s to the masculine singular form of the noun, but there are many exceptions to this rule.

Examples:

J’ai acheté des pommes et des oranges au marché. (regular plural)I bought some apples and oranges at the market.

Marion crée des bijoux très originaux. (irregular plural: bijou → bijoux)Marion creates very original jewellery.

Go to our page on singular and plural nouns in French to learn more about this topic and practise in the free exercises.

Nominal groups

A nominal group (groupe nominal) or noun phrase is the group of words built around a noun. It’s made up of the noun itself (the core of the phrase), an article or determiner, and any adjectives that accompany it.

noun phrase = article/determiner + noun + adjective(s)

Examples:

Le voyageur curieux a visité le musée.The curious traveller visited the museum.

the noun voyageur is the core of the noun phrase

Ces belles îles grecques me font rêver.These beautiful Greek islands make me dream.

the adjectives belles and grecques describe the noun îles

Types of French nouns

In French, we distinguish between common nouns and proper nouns.

A common noun (nom commun) refers to a person, an animal, a place, an object, an idea or a group of things. It always comes with an article or a determiner (le, la, un, etc.).

Example:

Je bois du vin avec mon amie.I drink wine with my friend.

A proper noun (nom propre) refers to a specific and unique person, animal or place. Proper nouns don’t have a plural form and always begin with a capital letter. They include first names, surnames, names of countries, cities, etc.

Example:

Romain habite à Lyon.Romain lives in Lyon.

In addition, nouns can be classified into the following categories:

• countable (comptable) or uncountable (non comptable) – simply, whether they can be counted. Uncountable nouns have no plural form, and some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on how they’re used.
  

  Examples:

  le crayonthe pencil, la pommethe apple, la fillethe girl → countable nouns

  le beurrethe butter, le laitthe milk, l’eauthe water → uncountable nouns

• animate (animé) or inanimate (inanimé) – animate nouns refer to living things (people and animals), while inanimate nouns refer to everything else.
  

  Examples:

  un enfanta child, une enseignantea teacher, Marie → animate nouns
  un traina train, une orangean orange, Bordeaux → inanimate nouns

• abstract (abstrait) or concrete (concret) – this is about whether the noun refers to an abstract idea or something physical and tangible.
  

  Examples:

  la beautéthe beauty, le bonheurthe happiness, la logiquethe logic → abstract nouns

  la robethe dress, le cahierthe notebook, l’hôpitalthe hospital → concrete nouns

Learn more about nouns in French grammar

Click on the different topics below to learn more. Read the detailed explanations then test your knowledge with the free exercises.

• Noun gender
• Plural
• Articles