Genders

How can you tell the masculine from the feminine

a lot of it is about learning the noun with its correct article viz le or la. When I started, I always learnt my nouns with their article. Listening, as you do when you are working this course, will help you develop 'an ear for' it. It is not such a big deal when you speak, so do not be shy about making gendered mistakes. When you are looking for the best way to get it consistently right, the most effective method is to work with a Native Speaker, who will be your Language Parent. A Language Parent does not say "you are wrong, say it this way". A Language Parent mimics what your birth parent did as you were learning your natural language - the listen and interpret what you said and then, before answering, or rejoining with you, they repeat what you said in correct French. If you are lucky enough to have someone who will do this for you, work it for all you can and then some. You will get it all correct in no time at all!

Someone told me that if the word ends in e they tend to be feminine. Not a rule but maybe an observation? I found this page which seems to highlight a lot more patterns and their exceptions. http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/genderpatterns_2.htm