Le sexe (the gender)

Nouns are naming words, which refers to persons, animals, things, places or abstract ideas.

All French nouns are either masculine or feminine; there is no neuter as in English. Though no absolute rule can be stated, the gender can often be determined either by the meaning or the ending of the noun.

Masculine

by meaning

• names of the people and animals:

-un homme (a man)
-le boucher (the butcher)
-le tigre (the tiger)

• names of the common trees and shrubs:

-le chêne (the oak)
-le sapin (the fir tree)
-le laurier (the laurel)

But:
-une aubépine (a hawthorn)
-la bruyère (the heather)

• days, months, season:

-lundi (Monday)
-mars (march)
-le printemps (the spring)

• rivers and countries not ending in silent e:

-le Nil (the Nile)
-le Portugal (Portugal)
-le Danemark (Denmark)

But: 
-le Danube (the Danube)
-le Rhône (the Rhone)
-le Mexique (Mexico)

by ending

Note: Noun ending with a consonant are usually masculine

Exceptions are:

• most noun ending with tion, sion, ation, aison, ison
• most abstract noun ending with eur
• the following nouns ending in consonant are not masculine

  la clef(key)                  la nef(nave/part of the church)
  la soif(thirst)               la faim(hunger)
  la fin(end)                   la façon(manner/way)
  la leçon(lesson)              la boisson(drink)
  la moisson(harvest)           la rançon(ransom)
  la mer(sea)                   la cuiller(spoon)
  la chair(flesh)               la basse-cour(farmyard/barnyard)
  la cour(courtyard)            la tour(tower)
  la brebis(sheep)              une fois(once)
  la vis(screw)                 la souris(mouse)
  la part(share)                la plupart(majority/ most)
  la dent(tooth)                la dot(dowery)
  la forêt(forest)              la jument(mare/female horse)
  la mort(death)                la nuit(night)
  la croix(cross)               la noix(nut)
  la paix(peace)                la perdix(partridge)
  la toux(cough)                la voix(voice)
  

Feminine

by meaning

• names of females(people and animals):

-la mère(the mother)
-la bonne(the maid)
-la génisse(the heifer/ cow that has not yet a calf)

• names of river and countries ending in a silent e:

-la Seine(the seine)
-la Russie(Russia)
-la Belgique(Belgium)

• saint day and festivals:

-la Toussaint(all Saints' day)
-la Pentecôte(whitsun)

    But: Noël(christmas) is a masculine except with the definite article: à la Noël(at Christmas)

by ending

• most noun ending with silent e following 2 consonants:

-la botte(boot)
-la couronne(crown)
-la terre(earth)
-la masse(mass)
-la lutte(struggle)

But:
-le verre(glass)
-le parterre(compartments of flowers on the ground/garden)
-le tonnerre(thunder)
-un intervalle(interval)
-le carosse(carriage)

Difficulties

• some nouns may have either gender depending on sex of the person to whom they refer:

-un artiste(a male artist)
-une artiste(a female artist)
-le Russe(the Russian man)
-la Russe(the Russian woman)
similarly
    -un aide/ une aide(an assitant)
    -un camarade/une camarade(a friend)
    -un domestique/une domestique(a servant)
    -un enfant/ une enfant(a child)
    -un malade/ une malade(a patient)
    -un propriétaire/ une propriétaire(woman)  

• others have only one gender for both sexes:

un ange(an angel)                   un amateur(an amateur)          un auteur(an author/ess)
une connaissance(an acquaintance)   la dupe(tricked)                un écrivain(a writer)
Sa Majesté(his/her Majesty)         le médecin(the doctor)          le peintre(the painter)
une personne(a person)              le poète(the port/poetess)      le professeur(the teacher)
la recrue(the recruit)              le sculpteur(thesculptor/ress)  la sentinelle(the sentry)
le témoin(the witness)              la victime(the victim)          la vedette(the film star)

• the following nouns change meaning according to the gender:

• gens is regarded as feminine when it follows an adjective, and masculin when it precedes it:

de bonne gens(good people) - fem
des gens ennuyeux(boring people) -  masc