Animals in French – Masculine and Feminine Forms

Description	Masculine / Male	Feminine / Female
In French, the gender of animal names is determined by the sex of the animal (male / female).	le chien l’âne le chat le cheval	la chienne l’ânesse la chatte la jument
For some animal names, the gender remains fixed. They can refer to both the male or the female - they are epicenes. To specify the sex of the animal, we add the adjective: mâle or femelle.	le crocodile mâle	la femelle du crocodile
To obtain the feminine form of certain animal names, we add a final « -e » to the masculine form, by doubling or not the last consonant.	le lapin le chien le chat le lion	la lapine la chienne la chatte la lionne
For some French male animal names, we modify the last consonant of the name and add a final « -e » to form the female name.	le loup	la louve
For male animal names ending with « -e », we add « -sse » to form the female name.	un âne le tigre	une ânesse la tigresse
In the majority of cases, the male and the female animal names are completely different.	le coq le porc le taureau le cerf	la poule la truie la vache la biche

Up to you to play! Can you find the feminine forms of the male animal names: faucon, souris, hirondelle, chèvre, taureau, bélier, coq, girafe.