Jeu · Le ou la ?
Le or la?
Fifteen nouns per round, drawn from hundreds of common words. Choose le or la, and see the ending rule behind each one. Switch to Tricky words only for the exceptions that catch most learners.
…
The endings that give the gender away
No rule is perfect, but these endings are reliable enough to guess correctly most of the time. Learn the exceptions as you meet them.
| Ending | Gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -tion, -sion | la | la nation, la télévision |
| -té | la | la liberté (but l'été, le côté) |
| -ure | la | la voiture, la culture |
| -ance, -ence | la | la chance, la science (but le silence) |
| -ée | la | la journée (but le musée, le lycée) |
| -esse, -erie | la | la vitesse, la boulangerie |
| -age | le | le fromage (but la page, la plage, l'image) |
| -ment | le | le moment, le gouvernement |
| -eau | le | le bureau (but la peau, l'eau) |
| -isme | le | le tourisme |
| -ème (from Greek) | le | le problème, le système |
| -aire | le (usually) | le salaire, le dictionnaire |
Before a vowel or a silent h, le and la both become l', which hides the gender. That is why the game only uses nouns that start with a consonant: learn un or une with every new word.
For the full method, read Masculine or Feminine?.