How can I know that "Bordeaux" is feminine?

Question

From the spelling I imagine it should be masculine.

Maarten Kamp · Accepted Answer

Are you sure that it is ?
See the link for previous comments on this topic by Cécile
https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/do-city-names-have-gender
Also, for more discussion, see this external link. 
 
https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-grammar/paris-est-beau-belle/
Personally, I wouldn't sweat it too much, it is not a major issue in most situations.

Judy Bonnier · Answer

hi team - in the lesson there are two examples that I am not sure I understand1.  Michael vient de Quebec2.  Mon petit amie vient du Quebec are both correct - I am confused

Judy Bonnier · Answer

hi team - in the lesson there are two examples that I am not sure I understand1.  Michael vient de Quebec2.  Mon petit amie vient du Quebec are both correct - I am confused

Maarten Kamp · Answer

The lesson explains that ‘Québec’ is the name of a province in Canada, and it is also also the name of a city in the province.

1. the province is masculine grammatically, takes an article, so that it is actually ‘le Québec’ (and it behaves grammatically as a country) - hence ‘venir de le Québec’ contracts to ‘ venir du Québec’, and ‘la petite amie’ comes from the province of Québec (city or town etc left unspecified)

2 The city of Québec, like most cities and towns takes no article, and therefore ‘venir de’ doesn’t change - Michael comes specifically from the city of Québec .

This is difficult to ‘absorb’ because the definite article in this context only comes into consideration for the minority of countries that are masculine or plural grammatically - it is all there in the lesson though.