Is « nain » masculine or feminine?
« nain » is masculine. You say le nain.
Article forms
| With the definite article | le nain |
| With the indefinite article | un nain |
| With the partitive article | du nain |
Plural
The plural is nains (les nains). A noun keeps its gender in the plural; only the article stops showing it.
Why the gender
nain ends in
-in. Nouns ending in
-in are usually masculine,
so nain follows the pattern.
The full rules by ending cover every common
suffix.
In a sentence
-
Tom est un nain.
Tom is a dwarf. -
Je ne suis pas un nain. Je suis de courte stature.
I am not a dwarf. I am of short stature. -
Il était une fois un nain, qui vivait dans la forêt.
Once upon a time there was a dwarf who lived in the woods.
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 « nain » masculine or feminine?
« nain » is masculine. You say le nain.
Is it « la nain » or « le nain »?
It is « le nain ». « la nain » is incorrect.
Check another word, or read the complete guide to French noun gender.