Knowing when a French word is masculine or feminine can be confusing to non native speakers, and in some cases, even to French people. I've created a list of 99 country names in French and English and their corresponding nationalities along with tips on how to determine if they are masculine or feminine. I've also included continent names, and languages.
Country names and languages in French: Masculine, feminine, or capitalized?
*How do you know if the gender of a country name in French is masculine or feminine?
*And when do you capitalize languages, nationalities, and country names in French?
It's actually pretty easy!
If you memorize some simple rules and know a few exceptions to the rules, you'll never forget a country's gender in French again.
Let's go through them now!
Using Definite and indefinite Articles with nouns:
DEFINITE ARTICLES (m) = Masculin, (f) = Feminine, Plural = (pl)
THE: "LE" or "L'" (m), "LA" or "L'" (f), "LES" (pl),
INDEFINITE ARTICLES: A or AN = "UN" (m), UNE (f), SOME = DES (pl)
Before we dive into whether or not a country name is masculine or feminine, you should understand how to use indefinite an definite articles with them.
In English, there is only one definite article "THE" to identify a Noun (person place or thing) whether it's singular or plural. And there are two 2 indefinite articles "A," and "An."
Example: The Country, the countries.
However in French, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. And the definite article in French has to match not only the gender of the noun, it also has to match if it's singular or plural.
Since countries are nouns, you must use one of four definite article for "THE."
- LE ( Masculine )
- La (Feminine)
- L' (Masculine or Feminine). Use in front of a word that starts with a vowel or the letter "H," when it is silent.
- LES (Plural): Use with nouns that are plural.
Example: la France (f), le Canada (m), Les Bahamas (pl), La Hongrie (f) (H is not silent), L'Honduras (H is silent.)
EXCEPTION TO THE RULE: Some countries don't take an indefinite article.
Example: Israël and NOT L'Israël.
MOST Country names are Feminine In French
RULE: In French, most country names that end in "e" or "ie" are feminine. These feminine country names take the definite article "LA" or "L' ". There are exceptions though.
- l'Angleterre (f)
- l'Italie (f)
- la France (f)
- la Tunisie (f)
- la Thaïlande (f)
EXCEPTION TO THE "E" RULE: There are 6 countries that end with "E," that are not feminine. (see next section about masculine country names)
The only 6 country names in French that end with "E," that are not feminine are:
- le Belize
- le Cambodge
- le Mexique
- le Mozambique
- le Suriname
- le Zimbabwe
Masculine Country Names In French
RULE: In general, country names that end with a consonant are masculine and take the definite article "Le" or "L' "
- Le Guatemala
- Le Japon
- Le Maroc
- Le Portugal
Plural Country Names In French
Some countries, like the United States, are always plural and take the article "Les."
- Les États-Unis
- Les Bahamas
- Les Bermudes
- Les Comores
- Les Émirats arabes unis
- Les Fidji or Les Îles Fidji
- Les Îles Féroé
- Les Pays-Bas
- Les Philippines
- Les Seychelle
Rules to remember about Nationalities and languages In French: Genders (masculine or feminine,) capitalized or not?
"Les Nationalité"
French words are not capitalized as often as they are in English. Many words that are always capitalized in English cannot be capitalized in French or are only sometimes capitalized, such as nationalities.
Without knowing the rules, you might be wondering why some nationalities in French are capitalized, while others are not. Or how a nationality in French can be masculine and feminine in the same phrase?
Below is a silly nonsensical phrase I made up to highlight capitalization and gender for nationalities and languages in French.
Notice how the word for French "FRANÇAIS" is both capitalized and not capitalized in the same sentence, and how there is an extra "es" added to the last one.
- The French speak French with their French mothers in France.
- Les Français parlent français avec leurs maman françaises en France.
Their are a few things going on here, so let's go over the rules now!
Never Capitalize Languages
#1 Language Capitalization Rule: Languages are never capitalized in French.
When dealing with countries and nationalities, language is bound to come up. Fortunately, they're easy to deal with.
While country names in French are always capitalized because they are proper nouns. the names of languages are never capitalized.
Here are some example phrases using languages. Notice that they are not capitalized like they are in English.
Nationalities must agree with the gender
#2 Gender RULE: The gender of a nationality must agree with the gender of the subject:
While a country genders doesn't change, nationalities can change to match the gender of the subject.
Example:
- Jean Louis is French, and Isabelle is French
- Jean Louis est français et Isabelle est française
In the above example, Jean Louis is a male, so you must use the masculine "français" to describe his nationality. And Isabelle is a female, so you must use the feminine "française" with an "e" at the end to matcher her gender.
Here is another example.
- A French film, and a French show.
- Un film français et une émission française. (m)
The French word "Film" is masculine so the nationality "français" must also be masculine. The French word "émission" is feminine so the you must add an "e" to the end "française" to turn this nationality into its feminine form.
When to capitalize nationalities in French
#3 Capitalization rule: Only capitalize nationalities in French when they are used as a proper noun and when they refer to an inhabitant of a country.
Now take a look at the example below where the nationality "Les Français" is capitalized. That's because it's used as a proper noun that refers to the French people as inhabitants of a country and not as adjectives.
- Les Français mangent de la très bonne cuisine française en France.
- The French eat really good French food in France
Here is another example where nationality is capitalized in French because it's being used as a proper noun of inhabitants of a country.
- I like the French
- J’aime les Français.
exception to capitalizing Someone's nationality in French.
- I am French, he is French, she is French
- "Je suis français, il est français, elle est française."
The word "français" In the French phrase "je suis français" (I am French) refers to an inhabitant of a country, so shouldn't it be capitalized?
Non! L’Académie française has a special rule when stating a nationality like this and treats it the same as an adjective. So in this case, nationality should not be capitalized.. (Even native French speakers mess this one up from time to time.)
In contrast, the following phrase uses the nationality "Français," as a proper noun so it is capitalized.
- I am a Frenchman, he is a Frenchman, she is a Frenchwoman.
- Je suis un Français, il est un Français, elle est une Française.
when not to capitalize nationalities in French
#4 Capitalizing rule: Do not capitalize nationalities in French when they are used as an adjective.
In the example below, notice that the French nationality of Jean Louis and Isabelle are not capitalized because they are not used as a proper noun. They are used as an adjective so they are not capitalized.
- Jean Louis is French, and Isabelle is French
- Jean Louis est français et Isabelle est française
Here's one more example where the French nationality is used as an adjective.
- I like French ladies
- J'aime les femmes françaises.
Recap of capitalisation and agreement rules for nationalities and languages
So back to our original example as to why certain nationalities not always capitalized.
The French speak French with their French mothers in France.
Les Français (#3) parlent français (#1) avec leurs maman françaises (#2,#4) en France.
- Rule #1: When talking about languages. ⇒ LOWERCASE
- Rule #2: Nationalities must agree with the gender of the subject.
- Rule #3: The adjective is used as a noun to refer to a person. We refer to the inhabitants of a country. ⇒ UPPERCASE
- Rule #4: When nationality is used as an adjective. ⇒ LOWERCASE
The French speak French with their French mothers in France.
List of nationalities, countries, continents and territories with genders
On to the list.
I have listed about 99 country names and nationalities in French. I've also listed the names of French territories and continents in French and English.
nationalities in masculin and feminine form (cheat Sheat)
Making a nationality feminine is really simple.
- If a country name ends in (-ais, -ois, or -ain): Add an (e) to the end.
- If a country name ends in (-en): Add (ne) to end.
Masculine (m) | Feminine (f) | NATIONALITIES |
---|---|---|
-ais | -aise | (français, française), (anglais, anglaise), (japonais, japonaise), etc. |
-ois |
-oise |
(chinois, chinoise), (suédois, suédoise), (danois, danoise, (québécois, québécoise), etc. |
-ain |
-aine |
(américain, américaine), (mexicain, mexicaine), (cubain, cubaine), etc. |
-en |
-enne |
(canadien, canadienne), (australien, australienne), etc. |
List of Countries And Nationalities In French with Genders
***Starts Here****
EUROPE, EU, EEU, And EFTA Countries
Remember, a countries gender never changes, it's either masculine or feminine. However, nationality has to match the gender of the thing it's describing, so they can be masculine or feminine, singularor plural and must use the correct definite article. Le, La, L', or Les
But some nationalities don't use an article such as Israel.
Example: I like Israel and Canada. would be written as "J'aime Israël et le Canada." Did you notice that there is no definite article in front of the country Israel but there is for Canada.
COUNTRY (EN) | Country gender | COUNTRY (FR) | NATIONALITY (FR) |
---|---|---|---|
Albania |
(f) |
l'Albanie |
Albanais(e) |
Andorra (microstate) |
(f) |
l'Andorre |
Andorran(e) |
Austria (EU) |
(f) |
l'Autriche |
Autrichien(ne) |
Belgium (EU) |
(f) |
la Belgique |
*Belge |
Bulgaria (EU) |
(f) |
la Bulgarie |
*Bulgare |
Croatia (EU) |
(f) |
la Croatie |
*Croate |
Cyprus (EU) W Asia Continent |
(f) no article |
Chypre |
*Chypriote |
Czechoslovakia (EU) |
(f) |
la Tchécoslovaquie |
*Tchèque |
Denmark (EU) |
(m) |
le Danemark |
Danois(e) |
England (brexit) | (f) | l'Angleterre | Je suis Anglais(e) |
Finland (EU) |
(f) |
la Finlande |
Finlandais(e) |
France (EU) | (f) | France | Française(e) |
Germany (EU) | (f) | l'Allemagne | Allemagne(e) |
Greece (EU) |
(f) |
la Grèce |
Grec(que) |
Hungary (EU) |
(f) |
Hongrie |
hongrois(e) |
Iceland (EEA) (EFTA) |
(f) |
Islande |
Islandais(e) |
Ireland (EU) |
(f) |
l'Irlande |
Irlandais(e) |
Italy (EU) |
(f) |
l'Italie |
Italien(ne) |
Latvia (EU) | (f) | la Lettonie | Letton(ne) |
Liechtenstein (EEA) (EFTA) |
(m) |
le Liechtenstein |
Liechtensteinois(e) |
Lithuania (EU) |
(f) |
la Lituanie |
Lituanien(ne) |
Luxembourg (EU) |
(m) |
le Luxemburg |
Luxembourgeois(e) |
Malta (EU) |
(f) no article |
Malte |
Maltais(e) |
Monaco (microstate) |
(m) no article |
Monaco |
*Monégasque |
Netherlands (EU) aka (Holland) |
(m) |
les Pays-Bas |
Néerlandais(e) |
Norway (EEA) (EFTA) |
(f) |
la Norvège |
Norvégien(ne) |
Poland (EU) |
(f) |
le Pologne |
Polonais(e) |
Portugal (EU) |
(m) |
le Portugal |
Portugais(e) |
Romania (EU) |
(f) |
la Roumanie |
Roumain(e) |
Slovakia (EU) |
(f) |
la Slovaquie |
*Slovaque
|
Slovenia (EU) |
(f) |
la Slovénie |
*Slovène |
Spain (EU) |
(f) |
l'Espagne | Espagnol(e) |
Sweden (EU) |
(f) |
la Suède |
Suédois(e) |
Switzerland (EFTA) |
(f) |
la Suisse |
*Suisse |
Ukrane |
(f) |
l'Ukraine |
Ukrainien(ne) |
Vatican |
(m) |
le Vatican |
Vatican(e) |
NORTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES
COUNTRY (EN) | Country gender | COUNTRY (FR) | NATIONALITY (FR) |
---|---|---|---|
Canada | (m) le | Canada | Canadien(ne) |
United States Of America | (m) les | États-Unis d'Amérique | Américain(e) |
Mexico | (m) le | Mexique | Mexicain(e) |
ASIA (South Eastern & Eastern)
Nationalities with * take no article but have gender
COUNTRY (EN) | Country gender | COUNTRY (FR) | NATIONALITY (FR) |
---|---|---|---|
India |
(f) |
l'Inde |
Indien(ne) |
Indonesia |
(f) |
l'Indonésie |
Indonésien(ne) |
China | (f) | la Chine | Chinois(e) |
Malaysia |
(f) |
la Malaise |
Malais(e) |
Mongolia |
(f) |
la Mongolie |
*Mongole |
Myanmar |
(f) |
la Myanmar (or) Birmanie |
Myanmarais(e) |
Thailande | (f) | la Thaïlande | Thaïlandais(e) |
Philippines |
(f)
|
les Philippines |
*Philippine |
Brunei |
(m) |
le Brunéi |
Brunéien(ne) |
Cambodia |
(m) |
le Cambodge |
Cambodgien(ne) |
Japan | (m) | le Japon | Japonais(e) |
Korea |
(m) |
le Corée |
Coréen(ne) |
Laos |
(m) |
le Laos |
Laotien(ne) |
Nepal |
(m) |
le Népal |
Népalais(e) |
Taiwan |
(m) |
le Taiwan |
Taïwanais(e) |
Vietnam |
(m) |
le Vietnam |
Vietnamien(ne) |
Singapore |
(m) No article |
Singapour |
Singapourien(ne) |
ASIA (Western)
COUNTRY (EN) | Country gender | COUNTRY (FR) | NATIONALITY (FR) |
---|---|---|---|
Armenia |
(f) l' |
Arménie |
Arménien(ne) |
Saudi Arabia |
(f) l' |
Arabie saoudite |
Saoudien(ne) |
Georgia |
(f) la |
Géorgie |
Géorgien(ne) |
Jordan |
(f) la |
Jordanie |
Jordanien(ne) |
State of Palestine |
(f) la |
Palestine |
Palestinien(ne) |
Syria |
(f) la |
Syrie |
Syrien(ne) |
Turkey |
(f) la |
Turquie |
Turc |
Azerbaijan |
(m) l' |
Azerbaïdjan |
Azerbaïdjanais(e) |
Iran |
(m) l' |
Iran |
Iranien(ne) |
Iraq |
(m) l' | Irak |
Irakien(ne) |
Kuwait |
(m) le |
Koweït |
Koweïtien(ne) |
Lebanon |
(m) le |
Liban |
Libanais(e) |
Qatar |
(m) le | Qatar |
Qatarien(ne) *sometimes Qatari |
Yemen |
(m) le |
Yémen |
*Yéménite |
United Arab Emirates |
(m) les
|
Émirats arabes unis |
Émirien(ne) *sometimes Émirati |
Bahrain |
(m) No article |
Bahreïn |
Bahreïnien(ne) |
Israël |
(m) No article |
Israël |
Israélien(ne) |
Oman |
(m) No article |
Oman |
Omanais(e) |
NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES
COUNTRY (EN) | Country gender | COUNTRY (FR) | NATIONALITY (FR) |
---|---|---|---|
Algeria | (f) l' | Algérie | Algérien(ne) |
Egypt |
(f) l' |
Égypte |
Égyptien(ne) |
Libya |
(f) la |
Libye |
Libanais(e) |
Mauritania |
(f) la |
Mauritanie |
Mauritanien(ne) |
Tunisia |
(f) la |
Tunisie |
Tunisien(ne) |
Morocco |
(m) le |
Maroc |
Marocain(e) |
Sudan |
(m) le |
Soudan |
Soudanais(e) |
FRENCH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES
France d'outre-mer (DROM-COM)
France has 13 distinct overseas territories. Only 11 have permanent populations.
It's one of the reasons why, France has the most time zones in the world.
COUNTRY (EN) | Country gender | COUNTRY (FR) | Note |
---|---|---|---|
Clipperton Island |
(m) le |
Clipperton |
Uninhabited 6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) ring-shaped coral reef in the eastern Pacific Ocean |
Guadeloupe |
(f) la |
Guadeloupe |
Island located in French Caribbean sea islands 577 km from Puerto Rico |
French Guiana | (f) la | Guyane | In northern Atlantic coast of South America |
Martinique |
(f) la |
Martinique |
Island located in the Caribbean Sea. 714 km from Puerto Rico. |
Mayotte |
(f) la | Mayotte |
Island that is part of the Comoros archipelago off the coast of Africa |
New Caledonia |
(f) la |
Nouvelle-Calédonie |
Located 900 miles (1,500 km) east of Australia |
French Polynesia |
(f) la |
Polynésie française |
Located in the South Pacific Ocean halfway between California & Australia |
Réunion |
(f) la | Réunion |
Island in the Indian Ocean about 900 km from Madagascar |
Saint Barthélemy |
(f) la |
Saint-Barthélemy |
Island in the Caribbean Sea about 400 from Puerto Rico |
Saint Martin |
(m) le |
Saint-Martin |
Island in the Caribbean Sea about 374 from Puerto Rico |
Saint Pierre And Miquelon |
(m) le |
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon |
Off the coast of Newfoundland Canada |
French Southern And Antarctic Lands |
les |
Terres australes et antarctiques françaises |
No permanent residents: mainly seasonal military personnel, scientific researchers and support staff. |
Wallis and Futuna |
(m) le |
Wallis-et-Futuna |
3 main islands a number of tiny islets located 280 km northeast of Fiji. Geographically part of western Polynesia |
CONTINENTS
ENGLISH | FRENCH |
---|---|
Africa | l'Afrique (f) |
Asia |
l'Asie (f)
|
America *North America **South America | l'Amerique (f) *l'Amérique du nord (f) **l'Amérique du sud (f) |
Antarctica |
l'Antartique (f) |
Europe | l'Europe (f) |
Oceania |
l'Océanie (f) |
That's all folks. Good luck.