professeure
female, secondary and higher education
A female teacher in French is a professeure or an enseignante. Professeure is the form for a woman teaching at a school or university, and enseignante covers any level. It is also called institutrice.
Meaning: woman who teaches (noun)
Ways to say it
| French | Note |
|---|---|
| professeure | female, secondary and higher education |
| enseignante | female, general |
| institutrice | female, primary school, older |
Pupils address a teacher as Madame, not by the word for teacher. The short everyday word is prof, which is used for both men and women.
Which one should you use?
Institutrice is the older word for a primary school teacher. The official title today is professeure des écoles. Le professeur is also still used for a woman.
How does it change in a sentence?
Enseignante is the feminine of enseignant. Professeure is the feminine of professeur and follows the pattern of docteure in newer usage.
Did you know?
- Feminine job titles such as professeure have been recommended by the Académie française since 2019, after a long debate about whether to use la professeur instead.
Examples in context
- Ma mère est professeure de maths.My mother is a math teacher.
- Madame Dupont est notre professeure de français.Madame Dupont is our French teacher.
- Elle est enseignante dans une école primaire.She is a teacher in a primary school.
Example conversation
Léa tells her friend Sophie about her new French teacher.
- LéaTu as une nouvelle professeure de français ?Do you have a new French teacher?
- SophieOui, elle est très gentille.Yes, she is very nice.
- LéaComment s'appelle cette enseignante ?What is this teacher called?
