I don't know about the others but I always find it rather embarrassing that our friends across the water are able to speak and write such wonderful English while we can barely string two words together in pidgin Francais.
One of the complications I never understood, even during the brief time I took French at school was the difference between le and la and how 'things' can be masculine or feminine. I think the animation below tries to explain it to us. I'm none the wiser but in the interests of fostering better communications I pass it on for your enjoyment:
http://www.linguascope.com/go2/lale/laleweb.swf