Is « otage » masculine or feminine?
« otage » is masculine. You say l'otage.
Article forms
| With the definite article | l'otage |
| With the indefinite article | un otage |
| With the partitive article | de l'otage |
Plural
The plural is otages (les otages). A noun keeps its gender in the plural; only the article stops showing it.
Why the gender
otage ends in
-age. Nouns ending in
-age are usually masculine,
so otage follows the pattern.
The full rules by ending cover every common
suffix.
In a sentence
-
Ils ont des otages.
They have hostages. -
Les otages seront libérés.
The hostages will be released. -
Les otages seront libérés demain.
The hostages will be released tomorrow.
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 « otage » masculine or feminine?
« otage » is masculine. You say l'otage.
« l'otage » hides the gender. Is « otage » masculine or feminine?
It is masculine. The article shortens to « l'otage » for both genders, but you say un otage, not une otage, and adjectives take the masculine form.
Check another word, or read the complete guide to French noun gender.