Those whose first language doesn't categorize nouns as feminine or masculine might find learning languages that do somewhat challenging. For example, an American learning French might not appreciate the le or la (meaning the in English) or the un or une (meaning a or an in English) in front of a noun.
Thankfully, there is some logic to it; for instance, fille, meaning girl, is feminine, and garçon, meaning boy, is masculine. There are also some rules that help distinguish the gender of some nouns; for instance, nouns ending in tion, like nation, are generally feminine (la nation) and nouns ending in age, like message are generally masculine (le message). However, for the most part, the learner must simply learn the gender of each noun with the noun itself.
It's easier than one may think, though, and gender can be learned with practice. Speaking or writing la table (the table) and le sucre (the sugar) a few times is enough to remember each of these nouns' gender. The nouns that start with a vowel might need more attention, though, because in French the article for nouns that start with a vowel is l', instead of le or la, so practicing these nouns in speaking or writing with l' doesn't guarantee learning their articles. These nouns require a specific kind of practice: using the nouns with un or une, instead of l'. For instance, instead of practicing l'oasis, which won't do you much good in terms of learning its gender, practice saying une oasis.
