What words are masculine in French and what words are feminine in French?

Answer 1

In French, nouns are masculine or feminine as there is no "neutral" gender. The related adjectives take the gender of the noun. The first difficulty is to learn what gender is each noun. French children master all this in their early years, simply by listening and speaking. When they go through primary school they learn some grammar rules but they don't have to learn lists of words.

When you came across a word for the first time, look at the article. "Un" and "le" are masculine articles, hence the noun is a masculine one. "Une" or "la" are feminine articles, so the following noun is feminine. Ex: "Une hirondelle" (a swallow) is feminine, even though you could speak of a male bird.

Another hint may lie in the adjective. The feminine form of the adjective often has an additional (unvoiced) "e" at the end. Ex: une couleur féminine > the additional "e" tells you that the adjective is feminine, so "couleur" is also a feminine word. Un comportement féminin (a feminine behaviour): there is no additional "e", so féminin is a... masculine adjective (funny if yo think of it, but true).

These are general rules, and every rule will have its exception. For instance some nouns will be the same in either gender (a teacher will be un /or/ une professeur)

This can be unsettling for people learning French, but French speakers will undertand you all the same, and appreciate the effort.

Answer 2

In French, the gender of a word is determined by its ending. Generally, words ending in -e are feminine (e.g. une table), while words ending in a consonant are masculine (e.g. un livre). There are exceptions to this rule, so it's best to learn the gender of each word individually.