Gender and number in French

In French there are two genders:  masculine  and  feminine . Neutral does not exist.
The best thing is that you learn each word with your article , since the gender of each word, especially if it is about objects, does not follow a true logic for the Spanish. However, there are some rules to know:

They are generally  male  names: Gender and number in French

Trees :  le peuplier, le pin, le sapin …
Metals :  le fer, l’or, l’argent, le cuivre …
Languages :  l’espagnol, le français, l’italian, l’anglais, le polonais, le russe …
Days, months and seasons :  le lundi, le mardi…., Le printemps, l’été, l’hiver
The cardinal points :  le nord, le sud, l’est, l’ouest
The colors :  le rouge, le vert, le bleu, le jaune, le blanc …
The letters of the alphabet :  le a, le be, le ce, le de …
The  names of  sciences are generally  feminine  (except for  le droit , law ):  l’algèbre, la medicine, les mathématiques, la technologie, l’informatique …

Highway is called “route”. Male or female?

Also, endings  can help us know the gender of a name (with a few exceptions that confirm the rule, of course). In this way:
Almost all nouns ending in  “e” mute (not pronounced) are of the feminine gender   except those that end in  -isme ,  -age  (although  image, nage, rage  are feminine) and  -iste  (the latter often have both genders) : le feminisme, le fascisme, le modernisme, le rivage, le marriage, le fachiste …
Other endings that indicate feminine are:
– tié  – l’amitié – friendship; la pitié – la piedad
– tion  – l’attention – attention; la nation – la nation
– erie  – la boulangerie – the bakery; la blanchisserie – laundromat
– tea  – la nationalité – nationality; l’égalité – equality (but  été, pâté  are masculine).
– ence  – l’essence – gasoline; la patience – la patience
– esse – la sagesse – wisdom; the forteresse – the fortress
– tie  – the partie – the party; the sortie – the exit
– ise  – the sottise – the nonsense; la franchise – frankness
– ée  – l’année – the year ; la journée – the journey
Almost all nouns ending in a consonant or a vowel other than  “e”  are  masculine , except for nouns ending with  –ion.
The following endings also indicate masculine.
– on  – le garçon – the boy
– age  – le voyage – the voyage
– eau  – le bateau – the ship
– ail  – le travail – the work
– ment  – le monument – the monument
As for the formation of the plural , in most cases, and as in Spanish, it is formed by adding an “s” to the end of the singular (and remember that it is not pronounced). Examples:
singular – un livre – the book → plural – des livres – the books
singular – un lit – the bed → plural – des lit – the beds
Finally, the definite articles are the following: le, la, l ‘ (before a silent vowel oh) and les . The indefinite articles are: un, unite, des .
There are other types of articles called contract articles , which are the result of joining the definite articles with the prepositions à or de , as in Spanish al, del .
À + le: au – Je vais au cinéma . I go to the cinema.
À + la: à la – Je vais à la fête de Paul . I’m going to Paul’s party.
À + les: aux – Je parle aux professeurs . I speak to the teachers.
De + le: du – Je viens du collège . I come from the institute.
De + la: de la – Je rentre de la fête . I’m coming back from the party.
De + les: des – Elle vient des Etats-Unis . It comes from the United States.