Is « engin » masculine or feminine?
« engin » is masculine. You say l'engin.
Article forms
| With the definite article | l'engin |
| With the indefinite article | un engin |
| With the partitive article | de l'engin |
Plural
The plural is engins (les engins). A noun keeps its gender in the plural; only the article stops showing it.
Why the gender
engin ends in
-in. Nouns ending in
-in are usually masculine,
so engin follows the pattern.
The full rules by ending cover every common
suffix.
In a sentence
-
Pour les engins de guerre, les pays ont toujours de l'argent.
For war machines, countries always have money. -
Les chariots sont munis de quatre roues. Les engins à deux roues sont nommés des diables.
Dollies have four wheels. The two-wheeled jobs are called hand trucks. -
Cet engin est hors service.
This machine is out of order.
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 « engin » masculine or feminine?
« engin » is masculine. You say l'engin.
« l'engin » hides the gender. Is « engin » masculine or feminine?
It is masculine. The article shortens to « l'engin » for both genders, but you say un engin, not une engin, and adjectives take the masculine form.
Check another word, or read the complete guide to French noun gender.