masculine and feminine, some rules

In French nouns have a gender and are either masculine or feminine.

Nouns that refer to males (people or animals) are masculine.

Nouns that refer to females (people or animals) are feminine.

Masculine (Le or L’)		Feminine (La or L’)
le garcon	boy/girl	la fille
le frère	brother/sister	la soeur
le pere	father/mother	la mere
le chien	dog/bitch	la chienne
le chat	cat	la chatte
le salon	living room/bedroom	la chamber
l’ami	friend	l’amie
le copain	mate or pal	la copine
l’homme	man/woman	la femme

le heros	hero	these are exceptions
le haricot	bean
le hors d’oeuvre	hors d’oeuver (starter)

There are some spelling patterns that help identify whether a word is masculine or feminine, by their endings

Feminine words		ending
la version	translation	-sion
la nation	nation	-tion
la terminaison	ending	-aison
la connaissance	knowledge	-ance
la patience	patience	-ence
la beaute	beauty	-te
la certitude	certainty	-ude
la plenitude	plenty	-ude
la cathedrale	cathedral	-ale
la parole	word	-ole
la culture	culture	-ure
la facture	bill	-ure

Masculine words		ending
l’enthousiasme	enthusiasm	-asme
le sarcasme	sarcasm
le classicisme	classicisme	-isme
le couteau	knife	-eau
l’enseignement	teaching	-ment
le gouvernement	government
le spectacle	show or performance	-acle