Is « héritier » masculine or feminine?
« héritier » is masculine. You say l'héritier.
Article forms
| With the definite article | l'héritier |
| With the indefinite article | un héritier |
| With the partitive article | de l'héritier |
Plural
The plural is héritiers (les héritiers). A noun keeps its gender in the plural; only the article stops showing it.
Why the gender
héritier ends in
-ier. Nouns ending in
-ier are usually masculine,
so héritier follows the pattern.
The full rules by ending cover every common
suffix.
In a sentence
-
Le fils aîné du roi est l'héritier du trône.
The king's eldest son is the heir to the throne. -
Les Anglais sont les héritiers de la liberté.
The English are the heirs of freedom. -
Son gendre sera l'héritier de cette immense fortune.
His son-in-law will be the heir to the enormous fortune.
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 « héritier » masculine or feminine?
« héritier » is masculine. You say l'héritier.
« l'héritier » hides the gender. Is « héritier » masculine or feminine?
It is masculine. The article shortens to « l'héritier » for both genders, but you say un héritier, not une héritier, and adjectives take the masculine form.
Check another word, or read the complete guide to French noun gender.