The gender of nouns is a feature of German that is not found in English. Nouns are either masculine, neuter, or feminine, and there are some basic rules for determining their gender. While you are at it, check out this blog article.
Masculine Nouns
Masculine nouns include those that refer to male individuals, nationalities, professions, directions (e.g. der Westen), times of day (e.g. evening), days, months, and seasons. In addition, most (singular) nouns that end with -en, -el, -er, and -ling, nouns ending with -är, -ar, -or, -ich, -ant, -ent, -eur, -ismus, -ist, and -ier are masculine, Furthermore, brand names of cars are masculine (e.g. der Porsche, der Volkswagen).
Examples: der Lehrling - the apprentice
der Rasen - the lawn
Feminine Nouns
Female individuals, professions and nationalities, nouns ending with an unstressed -e or in -heit, -kei, -ung, -tät, -ion, -age, -ur, -schaft, -ei, -ie, -anz, -enz, and -ik are feminine. Numbers, brands of motorcycles, and ships are also feminine (e.g. die Zwei, die Zehn, die Honda, die Titanic).
Examples: die Landschaft - the landscape
die Universität - the university
Neuter Nouns
Nouns referring to young humans and animals, using diminutive suffixes -sel, -lein and -chen (e.g. das Baby, das Mädchen), letters (e.g. das A, das Z), infinitival nouns/gerunds (e.g. das Essen, das Schwimmen), nominalizations of adjectives (e.g. das Gute, das Beste) and the majority of metals. Nouns ending with -um, -tum, and -ment, but also names of most cities, countries, and continents are neuter.
Examples: das Wachstum - the growth
das Universum - the universe
