Identifying a German Word’s Gender

German grammar has some striking differences to English grammar. One difference that

newcomers to German notice right away has to do with word gender.

Basically, you have three genders in German — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and although

English has the same three genders, they play a very different role in German grammar. Gender in

English is what’s called natural gender; for instance, boy and girl are examples of masculine and

feminine gender words, while computer is an example of a neuter gender word.

In German, most gender is unnatural. So instead of referring to a word’s meaning, gender refers to

the word itself. To point out the gender of nouns, you use different gender markers. The three

gender markers that mean the (singular) in German are der (masculine), die (feminine), and das

(neuter). The plural form of the definite article is die. English has only one gender marker for the

definite article of all nouns, namely the.

Look at the words for eating utensils, where you have all three bases covered: der Löffel (the

spoon), die Gabel (the fork), and das Messer (the knife). Why should a spoon be masculine, a fork

feminine, and a knife neuter? Don’t worry if you don’t see any logical pattern here because there

isn’t one.

So how do you know how to form/use genders correctly in German? First, remember that gender is

an integral part of each noun; it’s like a piece of the noun’s identity. So when you add new German

nouns to your vocab, be sure to learn the article of each noun at the same time. You won’t be able

to use a noun correctly if you don’t know its article. The following table breaks down the three

definite articles — der, die, and das — by gender, and shows an example for each.

German Definite Articles by Gender (Nominative Case)

German Definite Article (English

meaning)

Gender (Abbreviation Seen in

Dictionaries)

German Example (English

meaning)

der (the) masculine (m) der Löffel (the spoon)

die (the) feminine (f) die Gabel (the fork)

das (the) neuter (n or nt) das Messer (the knife)

die (the) plural (pl) die Menschen (the people)

Some categories of nouns are consistently masculine, feminine, or neuter. For instance, noun

gender usually follows the gender of people: der Onkel (the uncle) and die Schwester (the sister).

In many other cases, the noun categories have to do with the ending of the noun. The following

two tables provide some fairly reliable categories of nouns and their genders.

Common Genders by Noun Ending (Or Beginning)

Usually Masculine (der) Usually Feminine (die) Usually Neuter (das)

-er (especially when

referring to male

people/jobs)

-ade, -age, -anz, -enz, -ette, -ine, -ion,

-tur (if foreign/borrowed from another

language)

-chen

-ich -e -ium

-ismus -ei -lein

-ist -heit -ment (if foreign/borrowed

from another language)

-ner -ie -o

-ik -tum or -um

-in (when referring to female

people/occupations)

Ge-

-keit

-schaft

-tät

-ung

Common Genders by Noun Subject

Usually Masculine (der) Usually Feminine (die) Usually Neuter (das)

Days, months, and seasons: der

Freitag (Friday)

Many flowers: die Rose

(the rose)

Colors (adjectives) used as nouns:

grün (green)

das Grün (the green)

Map locations: der Süd(en)

(the south)

Many trees: die Buche

(the beech)

Geographic place names: das

Europa (Europe)

Names of cars and trains: der

Audi (the Audi) and der ICE

(the Intercity Express)

Names of aircraft and

ships: die Boeing 767 (the

Boeing 767), die Titanic

(the Titanic)

Infinitives used as nouns

(gerunds): schwimmen (to

swim)

das Schwimmen (swimming)

Nationalities and words showing Cardinal numbers: eine Young people and animals: das

citizenship: der Amerikaner

(the American)

Drei (a three) Baby (the baby)

Occupations: der Arzt (the

doctor)

Almost all the chemical elements

and most metals: das

Aluminium (aluminum) and das

Blei (lead)

Names of most mountains and

lakes: der Großglockner (the

highest mountain in Austria)

Most rivers outside of Europe:

der Amazonas (the Amazon)

This very simple trick helps my students to learn German articles really easily

It really can become a piece of cake, although Mark Twain was unfortunately right as he wrote:

Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book.

Mark Twain: The Awful German Language

Now, apparently he has managed to achieve it in some way, finally he did speak and write an

excellentGerman.

But let’s for one more time be alert of what Mark Twain exactly says:

1. The attribution of the articles doesn’t make any sense – neither is there a system!

Unfortunately this is true.

2.To learn the German articles, you need a super-memory („like a memorandom-book“). This is

true as well! And here you learn that you already have this super-memory; you only lack the right

technique!

Many of you will now probably say: „Wait a moment, this isn’t right! There is definitely a system!“

Of course, you’re right, at least there is a „little system“, namely the so called gender specific

endings. For not complicating it too much, we call them simply the „special endings“, which

indicate the right article.

Here are a few examples

The ending -ung is always feminine, thus „die„.

The ending -or is alway masculine, thus „der„.

The ending -chen is always neuter, thus „das„.

There are a few of these endings, although many of them have exceptions as well, and so there is

an ongoing argument between linguists, which ones are special endings and which ones are not.

We don’t want to get involved in this argument, we concentrate on a few endings, which really

(almost) always indicate the correct article.

Many students of German have already come across „learning tips“ for German articles such as this

one, in their textbook:

But honestly: Who is actually able to memorize these endings?

What are Quasi-Words?

„Quasi“ is Latin, and means in English „how“. And that here is the Trick:

We arrange the syllables in a way, that we can pronounce them as a word. And for this we invent a

short story together with a nice image.

And here is how it works:

Der Ig-ling-or-(i)smus

This bacillus is responsible for the use of articles in the German language! Repeat this word slowly

with me, until you know it by heart.

Do you notice, that the „Bazillus“ has a few prickles, like a

hedgehog (German „der Igel“)? Remember this for later. It

will help you to remember the first syllable: Ig-ling … This

way it’s easier to distinguish this Quasi-word from the other

ones.

This woman is a scientist at the institution of

Heit-ung-keit-ei-schaft-tion-(i)tät-ik.

There she does research for a vaccine against „den Iglingorismus“.

The word is fairly long, but don’t give up immediately! Pronounce it

slowly, together with me, and keep repeating it, until you know it.

Imagine how cheerful (heiter) the woman is while working. That reminds you of the first

syllable: Heit-ung-keit … Finally, I want to introduce you to

das Tum-chen-ma-ment-um-lein

It will always be on your side in the future, and whisper the correct articles in your ear.

As you can see, this Quasi-word is again a lot shorter and therefore even more easy to learn.

And there we go again …

This little being frolics (tummelt) always in your vicinity, to help

you. This way you remember easily the first syllable: Tum-chen …

But what if there are no „special“ endings?

And let’s be honest – most of the time there are none …

That’s too bad! With these nouns it’s impossible to detect the correct article by their ending. And

let’s remember Mark Twain: „So one must learn the gender together with the noun, there is no

other way.“

But:

WHY is this actually so difficult?

HOW can you learn these articles IN A MUCH EASIER WAY?

In my eBook-package you´ll find the answers to these questions and a bunch of more really smart

tricks which help you significantly with your learning German.

More help to learn German articles from Akkiz

Akkiz Coskun, teacher of German from Ediene Koleji in Turkey, has provided an outstanding method for the learning of the articles through the theme of body parts.

She uses for each article a symbol, and visualizes hereby the corresponding body parts:

The monkey (der Affe) is a symbol for the article der.

The baby (das Baby) is a symbol for the article das.

The singer Beyonce is a symbol for the article die.

And here is how Akkiz‘ students learn the body parts:

masculine

der Mund

der Zahn

der Finger

der Kopf

der Hals

der Arm

der Rücken

der Bauch

der Fuß

For the theme of clothing, Akkiz has developed a wonderful action-based method. The children put

on the clothes, and wear the mask (of the baby or the monkey) which corresponds to the article!

neuter

das Haar, das Gesicht,

das Auge,das Bein,

das Knie

feminine

die Nase, die Schulter, die Brust, die Hand

With this lively method, the students find it obviously a lot easier to memorize the articles! Have a

look for yourself:

das Kleid

der Mantel

http://www.learn-german-smarter.com/learning-german-articles/

German Articles – Part 1

We use nouns for people, objects, things or ideas. Nouns are normally (not always) preceded by an article. Nouns are always written with a capital letter in German.

In German we have three main articles:

der (masculine), die (feminine) and das (neuter).

For example:

– der Mann (the man)

– die Frau (the woman)

– das Tier (the animal)

The articles change depending on

– the gender (masculine, feminine, neuter)

– the number (singular or plural)

– and the case (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative)

The different forms can be: der, die, das, des, dem and den depending on gender, number and case. We are going to show how to handle the articles step by step – so don’t worry. This site is only part 1.

The Gender

The best method to get familiar to the articles is by listening a lot to the German language. We don’t recommend learning words by heart but if you like to memorize words you should never learn just the nouns! Always try to remember also the main articles der, die and das.

The grammatical gender does not follow a logical set of rules but there are some noun endings which give us a hint. But be careful, it does not always work!

By the way, have a look at the English endings too. A lot of English and German words are similar.

The article: „der“ (masculine)

-ling der Häftling (the prisoner) der Frühling (the spring) der Flüchtling (the refugee) der Säugling (the infant) der Lehrling (the apprentice) der Zwilling (the twin)

-or der Humor (the humor) der Doktor (the doctor) der Tresor (the safe) der Professor (the professor) der Motor (the motor)

-ist der Optimist (the optimist) der Pianist (the pianist) der Polizist (the policeman) der Spezialist (the specialist)

-ismus der Egoismus (the egoism) der Tourismus (the tourism) der Pazifismus (the pacifism)

The article: „die“ (feminine)

-keit die Müdigkeit (the tiredness) die Süßigkeit (the sweetness, the candy) die Fähigkeit (the ability) die Häufigkeit (the frequency) die Flüssigkeit (the liquid, the fluid) die Geschwindigkeit (the speed, the velocity) die Fröhlichkeit (the joyfulness)

-enz die Intelligenz (the intelligence) die Konsequenz (the consequence) die Frequenz (the frequency) die Existenz (the existence) die Differenz (the difference) die Tendenz (the tendency)

-er der Hörer (the receiver) der Jäger (the hunter) der Käfer (the bug, the beetle) der Körper (the body) der Tiger (the tiger) der Bäcker (the baker) der Donner (the thunder)

-ion die Portion (the portion) die Region (the region) die Station (the station) die Reaktion (the reaction) die Situation (the situation) die Nation (the nation) die Tradition (the tradition)

-schaft die Erbschaft (the inheritance , the heritage) die Landschaft (the landscape, the countryside) die Kundschaft (the customers, the clientele) die Wissenschaft (the science) die Eigenschaft (the characteristic) die Freundschaft (the friendship) die Gesellschaft (the society)

-heit die Feigheit (the cowardice) die Schönheit (the beauty) die Klugheit (the cleverness) die Blödheit (the stupidity) die Dummheit (the foolishness)

-tät die Normalität (the normality) die Spezialität (the speciality) die Elektrizität (the electricity) die Flexibilität (the flexibility) die Kontinuität (the continuity)

-ung die Änderung (the change) die Abteilung (the department) die Einladung (the invitation) die Anleitung (the instruction) die Forschung (the research)

The article: „das“ (neuter)

nis das Schulzeugnis (the school certificate) das Gedächtnis (the memory) das Erlebnis (the experience) das Geheimnis (the secret) das Hindernis (the obstacle)

Sometimes these endings are used to belittle a noun.

lein / chen der Vogel (the bird) => das Vögelchen (the little bird, the birdie) das Buch (the book) => das Büchlein (the booklet)

Compound Words

If you have a compound word, the gender of the compound word matches the gender of the last word.

Examples:

der Wind + die Mühle = die Windmühle (the windmill)

das Spiel + der Platz = der Spielplatz (the playground)

die Frage + das Zeichen = das Fragezeichen (the question mark)

More examples of compound words:

das Wohnzimmer + die Lampe = die Wohnzimmerlampe (the living room lamp)

die Haustür + der Schlüssel = der Haustürschlüssel (the front door key)

das Klo + die Bürste = die Klobürste (the toilet brush)

die Bank + das Konto = das Bankkonto (the bank account)

der Kredit + der Rahmen = der Kreditrahmen (credit line)

der Wein + die Flasche = die Weinflasche (the wine bottle)

ment das Dokument (the document) das Sortiment (the assortment) das Zement (the cement) das Komplement (the complement) das Medikament (the medication, the medicine) das Instrument (the instrument)

Masculine

Male people, male animals der Mann, der Professor, der Lehrer, der Stier

Many instruments/things that

do things (when these words

end in -er or -or)

der Computer, der Toaster, der

Kugelschreiber, der Motor

Days, months, seasons, most

weather

elements

der Tag, der Freitag, der September, der

Winter

der Schnee, der Regen, der Nebel [=fog]

Points on the compass: der Norden, der Süden, der Osten, der

Westen

Makes (names) of cars: der Volkswagen/der VW, der Porsche, der

Toyota

BUT NOTE: das Auto

Most non-German rivers der Mississippi, der Mekong, der Nil, der

Amazonas

Most nouns ending in -en der Garten, der Hafen [=harbour], der Ofen

[=oven]

Nouns ending in

-ig der Honig [=honey], der Käfig [=cage]

-ling der Schwächling [=weakling]

-ant der Elefant, der Lieferant [=supplier], der

Kontrast

-us der Idealismus, der Kommunismus, der Zirkus

Feminine

Female people, female animals die Frau, die Professorin, die Kuh, die Gans

Most German rivers die Donau, die Mosel, die Elbe, die Weser, die

Oder

BUT NOTE: der Rhein, der Main

Most nouns ending in -e BUT NOTE: der Käse, der Name, das Ende,

das Auge, der Affe [and other animals], der

Biologe [and other male job designations], der

Kunde [=customer]

Nouns ending in

-ei die Bücherei (library), die Datei (file [on a computer])

-schaft die Wissenschaft [=science], die Freundschaft

[=friendship]; die Wirtschaft [=economy; also means

"pub"!]

-heit/ -keit die Dummheit [=stupidity], die Schwierigkeit [=difficulty]

-ung die Landung [=landing], die Bedeutung [=meaning]

-tät die Universität, die Elektrizität

-ion die Situation, die Religion, die Funktion

-ik die Logik, die Ethik, die Symbolik, die Mechanik

-ie die Philosophie, die Biologie, die Monotonie, die Magie

-enz/ -anz die Frequenz, die Toleranz, die Diskrepanz

-ur die Kultur, die Prozedur, die Natur

Neuter

Human babies and animal

babies

das Baby, das Kind, das Kalb, das Lamm

Most metals das Gold, das Kupfer, das Silber, das Nickel,

das Kadmium

Verb infinitives turned into

nouns

das Leben [=life], das Schwimmen (as in:

Swimming is fun)

Collectives with Ge- das Gebäude [=building], das Gebirge

[=mountain range], das Geschrei

[=screaming], das Gebüsch [=bushes]

Nouns w. diminutive suffixes: -

chen, -lein (and their dialect

forms: -le, -erl, -el, -li)

das Kindlein, das Mädchen, das Hartmutchen

Hänsel & Gretel

Nouns ending in -ment or -

(i)um

das Experiment, das Museum, das Datum,

das Opium

Fun Facts (Which gender is most common? Does gender affect the way we think?)

Click here for an article by Duden (in German) that includes the following fun facts:

98.7% of German nouns have a single gender. Just under 1.3% can be used with two genders, and .02% can be used with all three genders. Less than 0.1% of nouns have no gender at all (e.g. AIDS, Allerheiligen (a holiday)).

Of the nouns with a unique gender, 46% are feminine, 34% masculine, and 20% neuter. So, if in doubt about the gender of a noun, guess "die" :)

Click here for a generally fascinating article on the results of actual empirical research on how language affects the way we think. Here are some things this article says about gender:

Does treating chairs as masculine and beds as feminine in the grammar make Russian speakers think of chairs as being more like men and beds as more like women in some way? It turns out that it does. In one study, we asked German and Spanish speakers to describe objects having opposite gender assignment in those two languages. The descriptions they gave differed in a way predicted by grammatical gender. For example, when asked to describe a "key" — a word that is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish — the German speakers were more likely to use words like "hard," "heavy," "jagged," "metal," "serrated," and "useful," whereas Spanish speakers were more likely to say "golden," "intricate," "little," "lovely," "shiny," and "tiny." To describe a "bridge," which is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish, the German speakers said

"beautiful," "elegant," "fragile," "peaceful," "pretty," and "slender," and the Spanish speakers said "big," "dangerous," "long," "strong," "sturdy," and "towering." This was true even though all testing was done in English, a language without grammatical gender. The same pattern of results also emerged in entirely nonlinguistic tasks (e.g., rating similarity between pictures). And we can also show that it is aspects of language per se that shape how people think: teaching English speakers new grammatical gender systems influences mental representations of objects in the same way it does with German and Spanish speakers. Apparently even small flukes of grammar, like the seemingly arbitrary assignment of gender to a noun, can have an effect on people's ideas of concrete objects in the world.

In fact, you don't even need to go into the lab to see these effects of language; you can see them with your own eyes in an art gallery. Look at some famous examples of personification in art — the ways in which abstract entities such as death, sin, victory, or time are given human form. How does an artist decide whether death, say, or time should be painted as a man or a woman? It turns out that in 85 percent of such personifications, whether a male or female figure is chosen is predicted by the grammatical gender of the word in the artist's native language. So, for example, German painters are more likely to paint death as a man, whereas Russian painters are more likely to paint death as a woman.

http://www.deutsched.com/Grammar/Lessons/0202nominative.php