Is « adieu » masculine or feminine?
« adieu » is masculine. You say l'adieu.
Article forms
| With the definite article | l'adieu |
| With the indefinite article | un adieu |
| With the partitive article | de l'adieu |
Plural
The plural is adieux (les adieux). A noun keeps its gender in the plural; only the article stops showing it.
Why the gender
adieu ends in
-eu. Nouns ending in
-eu are usually masculine,
so adieu follows the pattern.
The full rules by ending cover every common
suffix.
In a sentence
-
Les adieux sont toujours tristes.
Goodbyes are always sad. -
Il est allé à l'aéroport pour lui faire ses adieux.
He went to the airport to see her off. -
Elle se rendit à la gare pour lui faire ses adieux.
She went to the station to see him off.
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. Each links to its source sentence.
Related words
Other common nouns that end the same way:
Common questions
Is « adieu » masculine or feminine?
« adieu » is masculine. You say l'adieu.
« l'adieu » hides the gender. Is « adieu » masculine or feminine?
It is masculine. The article shortens to « l'adieu » for both genders, but you say un adieu, not une adieu, and adjectives take the masculine form.
Check another word, or read the complete guide to French noun gender.