jonathanl._.

[storm stirrup]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

Pro tip: you can rename the thread title with `.tr <thread name>`

Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

[mossy obsidian]

There are patterns that make a noun more likely to be one or the other, such as ending in -e for feminine nouns. Context will be the biggest indicator, though, such as adjective endings.

[last mulch]

You can predict 90% of words based on their ending. Also, words referring to a person based on their gender will have the corresponding gender (e.g. une femme, une tante, un père)

Some words are arbitrary and you have to learn them as you go. I recommend learning them with the article so you pair them together (e.g. not chaise -> chair, but LA chaise -> chair), or an adjective if the article isn't helpful (e.g. l'eau douce -> freshwater, "douce" being feminine)

[unique kiln]

Can you really though? This page has some stats on the probabilities: https://www.reddit.com/r/French/comments/m8kxb2/survey_of_determining_the_gender_of_words_by/

Looking it over, some endings are highly predictable, but "-e" for instance is only 25/75

[hushed relic]

Usually, This how i can explain it, the words that end with "e" are most of the time Feminine and if it does not end it with it, its probably masculine,also if you see words start with "un" or "Le" then its masculine but if they start with "une" or "La" its Feminine...

[mossy obsidian]

To add to this, you can also tell if 'Il/Ils' or 'Elle/Elles' are used to refer to a noun, with the former being masculine.