Occupation in French

In French, many professions have both a masculine and a feminine form, reflecting the gender of the person holding the job. This is somewhat different from English, where the same word is typically used regardless of the person’s gender. Let’s look at some examples to understand how this works.

Examples : 

• la traducteur, la traductrice
• le vendeur, la vendeuse
• le policier, la policière
• le boulanger, la boulangère
• le professeur, la professeur
• l’avocat, l’avocate

For instance, the word for a male teacher in French is “professeur” and for a female teacher, it’s “professeure”. Similarly, a male cook is called a “cuisinier” while a female cook is referred to as “cuisinière”. These examples show how the endings of the words change to indicate the gender of the individual.

However, there are also many professions in French where the same word is used for both males and females. For example, the word “médecin” means a doctor for both genders. Another example is “journaliste”, which means a journalist whether the person is male or female.

Examples : 

• le journaliste, la journaliste
• le médecin, la médecin,
• le pianiste, la pianiste
• le militaire, la militaire

List of professional activity names in French that vary in gender between masculine and feminine forms.

List of occupation in French that are the same in both masculine and feminine forms.

List of professions in French whose spelling differs between masculine and feminine forms, but whose pronunciation is the same.

Keywords :  Occupation in French