"der (male), die (female) und das (neuter)" "der" is used for male words. "die" for female. But not always. der Mann = the man der Stuhl = the chair (Why would a chair be male?) die Frau = the woman die Tür = the door (Why is a door female?) das Mädchen = the girl (Why not female?) das Auto = the car (Boys like cars. Why not male?) English is so simple. You have to take the gender into consideration only if you are talking about men or women. In other languages each noun has a gender. I see you want to learn French. French has only "le" (male) and "la" (female). No neuter. They don't always match the German rules, because the origin of the words is different. the moon = la lune = der Mond the sun = le soleil = die Sonne So I'm afraid you have to learn the gender with each word. I would make remarks at the margin of your vocabulary or your text book. Every time you learn a new word, be sure to learn the gender with it.

I noticed you put "des" as a definite article. Its not a definite article. "des" is a form of "das" and "der" in the genitive case for German, which is the possessive case. "des" would be used in a sentence, for example: Das Auto des Mannes - The man's car. In general, learning to use the definite articles correctly is one of the most difficult/frustrating things about the german language to be able to use really well, because there are so many variations that the words have to be changed to depending on the case. I would suggest that for this, you look to learning how to use them properly in an actual class with a teacher, rather than having someone try to briefly explain it to you here.