A or an apogee? A or a petal?… The French language is often complex. To avoid making any mistakes about gender, here is a short list of words with the article that goes with them, so that you no longer make mistakes.
Should we say “un” or “une” petal? And what about the word “tentacule” or “haltère”? Sometimes, certain words have a consonance that suggests a feminine noun when they should be used in the masculine, with the article “un”. Conversely, certain words that we would have thought masculine are preceded by “une”. For example, we say “un haltère”, “un tentacule”, “un oxymore” or even “un alvéole”. And contrary to what one might believe, these words are indeed masculine. We must also be wary of masculine words ending in “ée”, like “un épine”. The French language is complex and it is easy to make mistakes. To avoid these mistakes, here is a short, non-exhaustive list of masculine and feminine nouns to consult without moderation:
| Masculine nouns | Feminine nouns |
| A climax | A tonsil |
| A schedule | An orca |
| An aircraft | A loop-hole |
| A reminder | An apostrophe |
| An intermission | An oasis |
| A citrus fruit | An orbit |
| An aside | An anagram |
| A lodge | An apostrophe |
| A petal, an ovule, an oxymoron | An interview |
However, some words can be used in both the feminine and masculine forms. For example, “afternoon” can refer to the length or time of day. Similarly, we can say “a hymn” or “a hymn”.
Other words, often used in the plural, make us hesitate as to their gender in the singular, because we are not used to using them in this way. For example, “les toilettes” is always feminine in the singular. For “spaghettis”, even if it is pasta, we will say “un spaghetti” in the singular.