Le or la? Masculine and feminine nouns in French

Le or la? Masculine and feminine nouns in French: what children learn

Every French noun is either masculine or feminine. Masculine nouns take le (the) and un (a); feminine nouns take la (the) and une (a). This is one of the biggest differences from English, which uses “the” and “a” for everything. The National Curriculum asks Key Stage 2 pupils to understand masculine and feminine forms and how they differ from English.

In this game, children see a common noun with its English meaning, such as maison (house), and decide whether it is masculine (le) or feminine (la). Every noun in the game has a fixed gender, and none starts with a vowel, where both le and la shorten to l’. Learning each new word with its le or la is the habit that makes French grammar easier later.

This topic covers a Key Stage 2 statutory requirement in the National Curriculum in England (Subject content): pupils should be taught to “understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English”. The programme of study sets this for the whole of Key Stage 2, so schools choose when to teach it; we have placed this game in Year 6 (ages 10–11). This game covers masculine and feminine forms.

There is no direct equivalent in the US Common Core State Standards.

How to play

Sort the cards into the right groups. Tap a card, then its group. You can also drag a card, or press 1, 2 or 3. Each game has 3 rounds with no timer. Every card is checked as soon as you place it: a card in the wrong group comes back with a hint, and you get a point for each card you place right first time. For a quicker go, choose Quick quiz: 10 multiple-choice questions in 120 seconds (choose Relaxed for more time).

Step by step

1. Learn le and la with every word. Say la maison, le livre, never just maison or livre.
2. Use people as a clue. Le garçon, le père, le frère are masculine; la fille, la mère, la sœur are feminine.
3. Notice endings. Many nouns ending in -e are feminine (la table, la pomme), but not all (le frère, le père). Endings are clues, not rules.
4. Sort and colour-code. Write masculine words in one colour and feminine in another to help memory.
5. Check in a dictionary. Dictionaries show (m) or (f) after each noun. This is part of the curriculum too.

Worked examples

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Thinking every word ending in -e is feminine. Le frère, le père and le livre all end in -e and are masculine.
• Thinking gender is about whether something is “boyish” or “girlish”. For objects it is just part of the word. A table is not female; la table is simply a feminine noun.
• Forgetting l’ before vowels. With words like école or arbre, le and la become l’: l’école, l’arbre. The game avoids these.

Activities to try at home

• Label objects at home with sticky notes: la porte, la fenêtre, le livre.
• Play “le or la?” at dinner with words you know.
• Look up three new words in a French dictionary and find (m) or (f).
• Print the game sheet and play it together.

Ideas for the classroom

• Stand on one side of the room for le, the other for la.
• Colour-code vocabulary walls by gender.
• Teach pupils to check gender in a bilingual dictionary.
• Use the quiz as a starter before writing sentences.

Free printable game and worksheet

The free printable starts with a game sheet, such as a colour-by-answer picture, an answer maze or a secret-code joke, followed by a worksheet. Both use the same checked questions as the online game, and the answers are on the last page. Print it, or save it as a PDF from your browser’s print menu.

Open the free printable game and worksheet

Frequently asked questions

Related topics

• French animals: match un chien, un chat and more (Year 4 French) – Match un chien, une souris and un cheval to their English meanings. A free KS2 French matching game about animals and pets.
• Être and avoir: to be and to have in French (Year 6 French) – Je suis or j’ai? Nous sommes or nous avons? A free KS2 French grammar game about être (to be) and avoir (to have), with a printable game sheet.

Back to Year 6 French