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For example, words ending by "-ette" are very likey to be feminine.

So, are there other rules that can help to assess the gender?

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Not beyond a few very specific cases that often have exceptions. See also Comment fait-on pour reconnaître et mémoriser le genre des noms? – Gilles♦ May 24 '12 at 19:41

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up vote 7 down vote accepted

I think the most useful rule of thumbs is that words ending with -e or -tion are usually feminine, others are usually masculine. I don't know if someone can come with precise figures, but I would say this holds for roughly 80% of all words.

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You could also add -ssion, -ante, -ente, -inte and -ée to the "usually feminine". And -t to the "usually masculine". – Alexis Pigeon May 24 '12 at 10:01
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Here is a more refined version: languageguide.org/french/grammar/gender/rule.html – Stéphane Gimenez May 24 '12 at 10:11
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@Alexis: Notice that -ante, -ente, -inte, -ée and -t are already included in the short and approximative rule :-) – Stéphane Gimenez May 24 '12 at 10:13
I disagree with -e: un téléphone, un bocage, un verre... juste quelques exemples (un autre) trouvés en quelques secondes. – mouviciel May 24 '12 at 13:17
@mouviciel: It's a useful rule when you speak and you don't know the gender of a word, it's a good guess. As I said, it's just a rule of thumbs. But maybe you disagree with the 90% proportion? If you know a better estimation, please share it. – Stéphane Gimenez May 24 '12 at 13:29
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up vote 3 down vote

The words ending with the sound "o" ("-eau") are generally masculine. Exemple: un château.

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The well known french poor man's rule for spanish is -o for masculine, -a for feminine. Ain't it working for french ? – Nikana Reklawyks Oct 17 '12 at 7:31
up vote 1 down vote

Même pour un francophone, le genre d'un mot n'est pas toujours évident, et de nombreux jeux de société ont des questions sur le genre des mots, surtout s'ils sont faiblement usités…

Pour mémoriser, j'accole systématiquement un adjectif (dont on peut reconnaître le genre à l'oreille) qui complète la signification, quitte à faire un pléonasme pour en confirmer le sens :

  • une grande apogée
  • un interstice tout petit
  • ...

edit remplacement de minuscule par tout petit

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