Gender and agreement slips that cost points
High-frequency noun genders worth memorizing, le/la traps, and the agreement failures examiners catch first.
Gender errors rarely block meaning, but they are extremely visible and recur many times in a single text, so they add up fast. Because a wrong gender drags the article, the adjective, and sometimes the participle out of agreement with it, one memorized gender protects several words at once. That makes gender the highest-leverage thing to fix.
High-frequency genders worth memorizing
Common exam nouns whose gender is often guessed wrong
| Noun | Gender | In context |
|---|---|---|
| un problème | masculin | un problème majeur |
| un emploi | masculin | un nouvel emploi |
| une entreprise | féminin | une grande entreprise |
| un choix | masculin | un choix difficile |
| une personne | féminin (toujours) | une personne compétente |
| un avantage | masculin | un avantage certain |
Endings give useful clues: nouns in -tion, -sion, -té, -ette, -ance, -ence are usually feminine (la solution, la liberté, la distance); nouns in -age, -ment, -eau, -isme, -oir are usually masculine (le voyage, le gouvernement, le bureau). They are tendencies, not laws — « une page », « une plage » and « une image » are famous feminine -age exceptions.
Cette décision importante a créé une nouvelle situation.le/la traps and homographs
Words whose gender changes the meaning
- le livre (book) vs la livre (pound)
- le poste (job/position) vs la poste (post office)
- le tour (a turn/trip) vs la tour (a tower)
- le critique (critic) vs la critique (criticism)
Les mesures que le gouvernement a prises sont efficaces.Practice idea: write five sentences using nouns from the tables above and underline every article, adjective and participle that had to agree — then check each one is right.
Original ScoreRoute lesson — written for TEF Canada / TCF Canada preparation.