GENDER of French Nouns
Predictability of genders is traditionally identified by students of French as one of the major difficulties of the language. Surprisingly, the tools available to students and teachers in this area are relatively unsatisfactory.
French Grammars usually abruptly announce that it is impossible to give strict rules due to the fact that gender and noun form are not consistently related (le Grevisse). At best, they develop lists of diverse categories of nouns marked with a specific gender such as names of languages (le russe, le français...) or trees (le chêne, le sapin...), derivatives (la baguette, le dentier...) but without giving much explanation about why or how. It is true though that gender predictability is barely an issue for native speakers.
In the field of French as a Foreign Language nevertheless, the needs are much more important. Many publications and websites are trying to assuage the thirst of students on that topic by offering lists of masculine/feminine endings. These list might be useful but do not provide a clear nor systematic overview of gender phenomena in French.
I don't pretend being able to answer all the questions you might have about genders, but the message I would like to convey loud and clear is: there are rules that govern gender of French nouns and they deserve to be better known.
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