What are the animals in French?

Ten essential animals in French are: le lion (lion), le tigre (tiger), l'éléphant (elephant), le singe (monkey), le chien (dog), le chat (cat), l'oiseau (bird), le poisson (fish), le cheval (horse) and l'ours (bear).

How do you say dog and cat in French?

Dog is 'le chien' (luh shyan) and cat is 'le chat' (luh sha). Both are masculine. The feminine forms are 'la chienne' (a female dog) and 'la chatte' (a female cat), and unlike the masculine forms you do pronounce the final consonant.

Are French animal words masculine or feminine?

All ten animals on this list are masculine — le lion, le tigre, l'éléphant, le singe, le chien, le chat, l'oiseau, le poisson, le cheval, l'ours. The default name of most animals in French is masculine, and a separate feminine form exists only when the female animal matters: la lionne, la chienne, la jument (mare).

What is the difference between 'poisson' and 'poison' in French?

'Le poisson' (with a double s, pronounced 'pwa-SON') means fish. 'Le poison' (with one s, pronounced 'pwa-ZON') means poison. In French a single s between two vowels is pronounced like a Z, and a double s is a hard S — so the difference is one letter and one sound, but a very big difference on a menu.

What is the plural of 'cheval' and 'animal' in French?

Both are irregular: 'un cheval' becomes 'des chevaux' (horses), and 'un animal' becomes 'des animaux' (animals). Nouns ending in -al usually change to -aux in the plural rather than simply adding an s.

Animals in French: 10 Essential Words with Pronunciation

Animals are the words children learn first in any language, and there's a good reason adults should too: they're short, they're concrete, and they turn up everywhere — in idioms, in insults, in children's songs, on menus. In my new video I say all ten out loud. This guide adds what a video can't: the pronunciation traps, the gender rule that makes this particular list unusually easy, and the one-letter mistake that turns your fish into poison.

🎬 Le vocabulaire des animaux — the 10 animals in French, said out loud. Repeat after me.

The 10 animals in French

le lion — lion (luh lyon)
le tigre — tiger (luh tee-gruh)
l'éléphant — elephant (lay-lay-fon)
le singe — monkey (luh sanzh)
le chien — dog (luh shyan)
le chat — cat (luh sha)
l'oiseau — bird (lwa-zoh)
le poisson — fish (luh pwa-son)
le cheval — horse (luh shuh-val)
l'ours — bear (loorss)

Good news: every single one is le

French learners spend their lives agonising over le vs la — so enjoy this list, because all ten animals are masculine. Not one laamong them. That's not a coincidence: in French the default name of an animal is masculine, and a feminine form only appears when the female specifically matters (on a farm, in a zoo, in a story):

le lion → la lionne (lioness)
le chien → la chienne — and notice: the masculine chien ends in a nasal "shyan", but in chienne you pronounce the N: "shyenn".
le chat → la chatte — same principle: the silent t of chat comes back to life in chatte.
le cheval → la jument (mare) — this one is completely irregular, a different word altogether, exactly like "horse / mare" in English.

The trap: poisson vs poison

This is the classic, and it's worth thirty seconds of your attention because it's the difference between ordering dinner and ordering something considerably worse:

le poisson — pwa-SON — fish. Double s = a hard, hissing S.
le poison — pwa-ZON — poison. Single s = a buzzing Z.

The rule behind it is one you'll use forever: a single S sitting between two vowels is pronounced Z (maison → may-ZON, choisir→ shwa-ZEER). To get the S sound, French doubles it. So when you say "fish", lean on that hiss.

Three more pronunciation notes

l'ours — the final S is pronounced: "loorss". French usually swallows final consonants, so this one surprises everyone. Say it wrong and it sounds like l'our, which means nothing.
l'oiseau — the oi is "wa" and the -eau is a simple "oh": lwa-zoh. In the plural it comes alive with a liaison: les oiseaux = "lay-zwa-zoh".
le tigre — resist the English "tie-ger". It's tee-gruh, with that little French R buried at the end.

The plural that breaks the rules: cheval → chevaux

You don't add an s to cheval. Words ending in -al flip to -aux in the plural:

un cheval → des chevaux (horses)
un animal → des animaux (animals) — including the word "animal" itself, which is why the video is called le vocabulaire des animaux.

The other nine pluralise normally: les lions, les chiens, les chats, les oiseaux, les poissons…

Animals live inside French idioms

This is where the vocabulary pays you back. French is stuffed with animals, and these expressions are used every day:

J'ai un chat dans la gorge. — literally "I have a cat in my throat" = I have a frog in my throat. (French puts a cat where English puts a frog)
Quand le chat n'est pas là, les souris dansent. — When the cat's away, the mice dance (= the mice will play).
Il fait un temps de chien. — "It's dog weather" = the weather is horrible.
Poser un lapin à quelqu'un. — "To put a rabbit on someone" = to stand someone up.
Avoir une faim de loup. — To have a wolf's hunger = to be ravenous.

Practise them out loud

Play the video again and repeat each animal after me — especially l'ours (say that S!) and le poisson (hiss it). Then keep building your word bank: the weather in Frenchis the natural next list, and every list I've published lives in my French vocabulary hub.

If you'd rather have someone catch your pronunciation mistakes as you make them, I teach one-to-one online — you can book a free 30-minute trial lesson, or see how I work as a French tutor in Bangkok & online.