B1 · The nouns
Jobs in the feminine
Four patterns, and a group that does not move.
At a glance
- Remember
- A job after être takes no article.
- Form
- un vendeur / une vendeusesalesman / saleswoman
- Signal words
- -euse
- -trice
- -ière
- une avocate
- une journaliste
- Trap
- Wrong:Elle est une avocate.Right:Elle est avocate.
Your turn
6 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself5 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
The form
The forms side by side
All the forms in one overview: first what each one stands for, then the form in French, so you can compare them directly.
| salesman / saleswoman | un vendeur / une vendeuse |
| director (m) / director (f) | un directeur / une directrice |
| nurse (m) / nurse (f) | un infirmier / une infirmière |
| lawyer (m) / lawyer (f) | un avocat / une avocate |
| journalist, either way | un/une journaliste |
| Madam Minister | Madame la ministre |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-eur becomes -euse.
Elle est vendeuse dans une librairie.She is a saleswoman in a bookshop.
-teur often becomes -trice.
La directrice arrive à neuf heures.The director arrives at nine.
-ier becomes -ière.
Ma sœur est infirmière à l’hôpital.My sister is a nurse at the hospital.
Words ending in -e do not change.
Elle est journaliste depuis dix ans.She has been a journalist for ten years.
Example sentences
La nouvelle directrice commence lundi.The new director starts on Monday.
Elle travaille comme avocate à Bordeaux.She works as a lawyer in Bordeaux.
Notre dentiste est en vacances cette semaine.Our dentist is on holiday this week.
Il est boulanger, sa femme est boulangère.He is a baker, his wife is a baker too.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
After être a job takes no article: elle est avocate, not elle est une avocate. English insists on «a» in «she is a lawyer», so the article is exactly what an English speaker will put in. It comes back only once an adjective joins in — c'est une avocate connue — and then the sentence also switches from elle est to c'est.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Most job titles build their feminine the way an adjective does. -eur becomes -euse (un vendeur, une vendeuse), -teur often becomes -trice (un directeur, une directrice), -ier becomes -ière (un infirmier, une infirmière), and otherwise an -e is added: un avocat, une avocate.
A large group does not change and is recognised only by the article: un or une journaliste, architecte, secrétaire, dentiste, peintre. Words already ending in -e have the feminine form built in.
English has spent the last few decades going the other way, retiring «actress», «authoress» and «manageress» in favour of one form for everybody. French has been doing the opposite, reviving and coining feminines, so the two languages are moving apart here. Some words have two forms in use — une professeure beside une prof, une autrice beside une auteure — and which one a person uses for themselves is their own decision.
For public office the feminine address has been standard in France for a long time: Madame la ministre, Madame la présidente, Madame la maire. The name of the office does not change; the article does.
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