genre
/ʒɑ̃ʁ/masculine
The French word genre means kind, type or sort.
genre is a masculine noun. It is commonly used in various contexts to specify a category, such as le genre littéraire for literary genres, le genre musical for musical genres, le genre cinématographique for film genres and le genre artistique for art genres.
Meaning: kind, type, sort (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The plural form of genre is genres.
How do you pronounce it?
/ʒɑ̃ʁ/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use the English pronunciation /'ʒɑːnrə/ instead of the French pronunciation /ʒɑ̃ʁ/.
Did you know?
- If you are talking about the 'kind' of thing someone is doing in a very informal way, you might hear the slang expression genre used as a filler word, much like 'like' in English.
- In a biological context, genre translates to 'genus', meaning it connects the world of artistic categories with scientific taxonomy.
- While English speakers use 'gender' to talk about biological sex or identity, in French, genre is the standard word used to describe a person's gender in official and social contexts.
Examples in context
- Cette histoire ne relève clairement d'aucun genre.This story belongs clearly to no genre.This sentence shows how to use genre when stating that a story does not belong to any specific type.Tatoeba #2061725 by sacredceltic, translation #2017429 by halfb1t
- Le roman historique est un genre littéraire populaire.The historical novel is a popular literary genre.This sentence illustrates the use of genre when describing a popular literary type.Tatoeba #11843722 by calypsow, translation #8946727 by sundown
- Les romans historiques sont un genre littéraire populaire.Historical novels are a popular literary genre.This sentence demonstrates the use of genre in a plural context regarding historical novels.Tatoeba #12943777 by lbdx, translation #8946725 by sundown
- Quel est le genre de ce livre?What is the genre of this book?
- Ce film appartient à quelle catégorie?Which genre does this movie belong to?
- Quel est le style de cette musique?What is the genre of this music?
- 4 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Manon and Lucas are talking about music.
- ManonQuel genre de musique préfères-tu ?What kind of music do you prefer?
- LucasJ'aime beaucoup le genre jazz.I really like the jazz type.
- ManonC'est un genre très relaxant.It is a very relaxing sort.
- LucasOui, c'est vrai, Manon.Yes, that's true, Manon.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “genre” translations and entries genre, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
