French: Vocabulary
The core idea in plain words
Every French noun has a gender — masculine or feminine — and you have to learn it together with the word. Not maison, but la maison. Not livre, but le livre. The gender changes the article, the adjectives and sometimes the pronoun, so a word learned without its article is only half learned.
This page has two parts: a themed starter list for the home and daily life, and the words I collected while reading (my old Vocab List 1 cards), each with its gender, meaning and an example sentence. The article is attached to every noun. Learn them in the little phrase, out loud.
An analogy: name tags at a party
Think of every noun arriving at the party wearing a coloured name tag: blue for masculine (le / un), red for feminine (la / une). The tag doesn’t mean anything about the thing itself — a table isn’t feminine in any real sense — it just tells everyone else (articles, adjectives) how to talk to it. Learn the face and the tag at the same time, or you’ll be guessing all evening.
The article cheat sheet
| Masculine | Feminine | Before a vowel or mute h | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the | le | la | l’ | les |
| a / an | un | une | (un / une) | des |
| some | du | de la | de l’ | des |
For nouns starting with a vowel I give the indefinite article (un / une) too, because l’ hides the gender.
The list
La maison — the house
| French | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|
| la maison | f | house |
| l’appartement (un) | m | flat, apartment |
| la cuisine | f | kitchen; cooking |
| la chambre | f | bedroom |
| la salle de bains | f | bathroom |
| le salon | m | living room |
| le jardin | m | garden |
| la porte | f | door |
| la fenêtre | f | window |
| le mur | m | wall |
| l’escalier (un) | m | stairs |
| le toit | m | roof |
Les meubles — furniture
| French | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|
| la table | f | table |
| la chaise | f | chair |
| le lit | m | bed |
| le canapé | m | sofa |
| l’armoire (une) | f | wardrobe |
| le bureau | m | desk; office |
| la lampe | f | lamp |
| le miroir | m | mirror |
À la cuisine — in the kitchen
| French | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|
| le frigo / le réfrigérateur | m | fridge |
| le four | m | oven |
| l’assiette (une) | f | plate |
| le verre | m | glass |
| la tasse | f | cup |
| la fourchette | f | fork |
| le couteau (les couteaux) | m | knife |
| la cuillère | f | spoon |
| la casserole | f | saucepan |
| le pain | m | bread |
| l’eau (une) | f | water |
| le lait | m | milk |
| le fromage | m | cheese |
| la pomme | f | apple |
La journée — the day
| French | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|
| le matin | m | morning |
| l’après-midi (un) | m (or f) | afternoon |
| le soir | m | evening |
| la nuit | f | night |
| le petit-déjeuner | m | breakfast |
| le déjeuner | m | lunch |
| le dîner | m | dinner |
| le travail | m | work |
| la clé | f | key |
| le téléphone | m | phone |
| l’ordinateur (un) | m | computer |
Useful verbs (no gender, but you need them)
habiter (to live), manger (to eat), boire (to drink), dormir (to sleep), ouvrir (to open), fermer (to close), cuisiner (to cook), ranger (to tidy up), se lever (to get up), se coucher (to go to bed).
Gender clues (rules of thumb, not laws)
- Usually feminine: endings -tion, -sion (la nation), -té (la liberté), -ette (la fourchette), -ure (la voiture), -ence / -ance (la chance).
- Usually masculine: endings -ment (le bâtiment), -age (le fromage — but la page, la plage, **l’**image f), -eau (le couteau — but **l’**eau f, la peau), -isme, and most words ending in a consonant.
- Days, months, seasons, languages and metric units are masculine: le lundi, le français, le mètre.
A worked example: one noun, four changes
Take la fenêtre (window), feminine:
- La fenêtre est ouverte. — The window is open. (adjective takes -e)
- Ferme-la, s’il te plaît. — Close it, please. (pronoun la)
- Une grande fenêtre. — A big window. (grand → grande)
- Elle est cassée. — It’s broken. (elle, even though it’s a thing)
Now swap to le mur (wall), masculine: Le mur est blanc. Repeins-le. Un grand mur. Il est sale. Every word that touches the noun changes. That’s why the article must come attached.
Common misconceptions
- “Gender follows meaning.” La personne is feminine even for a man; le bébé is masculine even for a girl.
- “Words ending in -e are feminine.” Often, but le verre, le beurre, le musée, le lycée are masculine.
- “I’ll learn the genders later.” You won’t. Learn la clé, never clé.
- “Same spelling, same word.” Le livre = the book; la livre = the pound. Le tour = the tour; la tour = the tower.
Words from my reading (Vocab List 1)
These came from texts and stories I was reading; each one was a separate card copied from WordReference. They are now condensed to the meanings that matter, with one example each.
Animals and nature
| French | Gender | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| la harde | f | herd (of wild animals); pack | Une harde de sangliers traverse la route. A herd of wild boar is crossing the road. |
| le renne | m | reindeer | Les rennes femelles portent aussi des bois. Female reindeer also have antlers. |
| le sabot | m | hoof; clog; wheel clamp | Il est important d’entretenir les sabots des chevaux. It’s important to look after horses’ hooves. |
| le croc | m | fang; hook | Ce chien a des crocs très aiguisés. This dog has very sharp fangs. |
| la fourrure | f | fur; fur coat | La fourrure du vison sert à faire des manteaux. Mink fur is used to make coats. |
| la pierre | f | stone, rock | Le diamant est une pierre précieuse. A diamond is a precious stone. |
| le paresseux | m | sloth (the animal) | Le paresseux grimpe au palétuvier. The sloth climbs the mangrove tree. |
Describing people
Adjectives are given masculine / feminine.
| French | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| châtain / châtain(e) | chestnut-brown (hair) | Sa chevelure châtain est magnifique. Her chestnut hair is magnificent. (châtaine is also accepted) |
| paresseux / paresseuse | lazy | Cette élève paresseuse néglige ses devoirs. This lazy pupil neglects her homework. |
| capricieux / capricieuse | temperamental, capricious | C’est une enfant capricieuse. She is a temperamental child. |
| orgueilleux / orgueilleuse | proud, arrogant | Il est trop orgueilleux pour reconnaître ses erreurs. He is too proud to admit his mistakes. |
| épais / épaisse | thick | J’aime les tranches de jambon épaisses. I love thick slices of ham. |
Things and feelings
| French | Gender | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| l’abat-jour (un) | m | lampshade | L’abat-jour de cette lampe tamise trop la lumière. This lamp’s shade dims the light too much. (plural les abat-jour, or abat-jours since the 1990 spelling reform) |
| la récompense | f | reward | La police offre une récompense de 50 000 $. The police are offering a $50,000 reward. |
| le souci | m | worry; (also) marigold | Le souci du lendemain gâche le plaisir de l’instant présent. Worry about tomorrow spoils the pleasure of the present. |
| la boucle | f | curl; loop; buckle | des boucles d’oreilles, earrings; une boucle de ceinture, a belt buckle |
Verbs
| French | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| boucler | to curl; to buckle; to close off; to wrap up; (computing) to loop | Ses cheveux bouclent naturellement. Her hair is naturally curly. Ce programme boucle indéfiniment. This program loops forever. |
| brocher | to bind (a paperback); to brocade | Cette ouvrière broche les livres à la main. This worker binds the books by hand. |
| entremêler | to intermingle, mix | Les dates s’entremêlent dans ma tête. The dates are getting mixed up in my head. |
| foncer (fonçant) | to darken; to rush, charge | Sa peau a foncé avec le soleil. Her skin has darkened in the sun. Il fonce vers la sortie. He rushes towards the exit. |
| grimper | to climb | Mon chat grimpe souvent aux arbres. En primaire, j’ai appris à grimper à la corde. My cat often climbs trees. At primary school I learned to climb the rope. |
| servir (il sert) | to serve; to be used for | Puis-je vous servir un peu de vin ? May I pour you some wine? À quoi ça sert ? What is it for? |
| s’entraider | to help each other | Les voisins s’entraident. The neighbours help one another. |
Caxton Reference
Entries here follow the Caxton pocket-dictionary convention: short, with the article always given. For grammar and the learning path, see French: Start Here; for method, How to Learn Languages, The Memory Chalet and my English Vocab page.