Is « rail » masculine or feminine?
« rail » is masculine. You say le rail.
Article forms
| With the definite article | le rail |
| With the indefinite article | un rail |
| With the partitive article | du rail |
Plural
The plural is rails (les rails). A noun keeps its gender in the plural; only the article stops showing it.
Why the gender
rail ends in
-ail. Nouns ending in
-ail are usually masculine,
so rail follows the pattern.
The full rules by ending cover every common
suffix.
In a sentence
-
Les rails courent parallèlement à la rue.
The tracks run parallel to the road. -
New York est accessible par le rail depuis Washington.
New York is accessible by train from Washington. -
Vous pouvez vous rendre de Washington à New York par le rail.
You can get from Washington to New York by train.
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 « rail » masculine or feminine?
« rail » is masculine. You say le rail.
Is it « la rail » or « le rail »?
It is « le rail ». « la rail » is incorrect.
Check another word, or read the complete guide to French noun gender.