All nouns, in french are or Male or Female. This is not a declension, a noun is EITHER male or female. For example : Le puit (the well), la fenêtre (the window). The plural is like in english, it occurs when you talk about many items. For example : Les puits, Les fenêtres. But they can be irregular (as in english man-men, child-children). Some of them take an "X" as Un drapeau/Des drapeaux. And the "al" become "aux". Un cheval/Des chevaux. I don't know if I was clear. Tell me if you have other questions

Le,La,Les are definite articles, to cover situations where we would say "the". Le( +masculine singular noun) ex:The cat=Le chat la( feminine singular noun) ex:The apple= La pomme and les(+plural for both) ex:the birds=les oiseaux supplement: Un, une and des are indefinite articles to cover situations where we would say "a" or "an".... des=some exemples: A cat = un chat An apple = une pomme some birds=des oiseaux websites that can help u: http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/articles.htm http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/articles_2.htm