Féminin ou masculin? Voilà la question… There is no simple way to know the gender of a French noun, but there are some general guidelines that help. (You'll notice that I often use the word "most"—you'll still have to make many exceptions to these general rules.)

1. Most words ending with e are feminine (but there are many exceptions).
2. Most words with the following endings are masculine:
   • -oire (le territoire, le laboratoire)
   • -age (le bagage, le fromage)
   • -é (le bébé, le café)
   • -aire (le vocabulaire, l'anniversaire)
   • -sme (l'athlétisme, le réalisme)
   • -ble (le trouble)
   • -cle (le muscle)
   • -fle (le rifle)
   • -gle (le triangle)
   • -ple (l'exemple)
   • -ice (le service)

3. Most words that end in -eur are masculine (le téléviseur, le cœur). These are mainly concrete, mechanical words (le tracteur, le moteur), but a few are abstract concepts (le bonheur, l'honneur).
4. There are masculine and feminine forms for many people and animal names (un père, une mère; un chanteur, une chanteuse; un chat, une chatte, un chaton; un boulanger, une boulangère). Some nouns may be either masculine or feminine (le prof, la prof, un élève, une élève).
5. Certain feminine words may refer to men.

Examples:
M. DuPont était la victime du crime.	Mr. Dupont was the crime victim.
Brad Pitt est une vedette d'Hollywood.	Brad Pitt is a Hollywood star.
C'est sa majesté le roi.	It's His Majesty, the King.

6. All words ending in -tion (la nation, la composition, la position) are feminine. You can count on this!
7. Compound nouns and nouns from foreign languages are almost always masculine (le rendez-vous, le lave-vaisselle). The French love the -ing words from English, and they are all masculine (le parking, le shopping, le footing).
8. If the major noun of a compound noun is feminine, the word will also be feminine (une demi-heure, la boucle d'oreille).
9. Nouns from infinitives are masculine (le rire, le coucher).

Examples:
Le rire est bon pour la santé.	Laughter is good for the health.

10. Colors are masculine (le jaune, le rouge). Almost all nouns made from adjectives are masculine (le russe, le français, l'intérieur). Exceptions are la gauche et la droite.
11. Feminine words that are abbreviated remain feminine (la moto, l'auto, la stéréo).
12. Certain entire categories are masculine: months, days, seasons, colors, cheeses, wines.

There's more! However, for now, this is plenty for you to deal with. When you have absorbed this much, the rest will be much easier! Bon courage!