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For English speakers, the idea of grammatical gender may seem odd. Why is der Tisch masculine, die Tür feminine and das Fenster neuter? These are grammatical categories; they do not mean that objects have a biological sex.
Though it might feel random and an arduous task to remember, there are some consistencies and rules to help you identify what is what.
We will look at each one in detail, so you can start using grammatical gender with confidence.
The Grammatical Gender of German Nouns in Brief
German nouns have a gender, including objects and abstract concepts, not just people or living creatures. This can take a bit of time to get used to, but quickly it will feel completely natural.
Let us start from the beginning and review what a noun is.
What is a noun?
A noun is an identifier; it identifies what something or someone is. This can be tangible, such as table, book, house, person or abstract, such as anger, idea or happiness. Names are also nouns.
In standard written German, nouns are capitalized. Capitalization alone does not identify every noun, since sentence beginnings and formal Sie are also capitalized.
Nouns can be preceded by a definite (the) or indefinite (a)article. Right now I would like to concentrate on the definite article, we will focus here on the definite article in its nominative singular form.
Now we need to look at German nouns in order to understand why gender matters.
Grammatical gender
The German language has three genders. This means, that nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter.
Learn each new noun with its nominative singular article: der, die or das. In a sentence, an article also changes with case and number: der can, for example, mark feminine genitive or dative, and plural nouns use die in nominative. You cannot identify gender from an isolated article without its context.
der (masculine), die (feminine), das (neuter)
der Mond, die Katze, das Kind
Whether a word is masculine, feminine or neuter is unfortunately fairly arbitrary, and sometimes seems to defy all logic. But there are a few clues that can help you learn and remember the correct gender of many words even without the article. The first clue is the word-ending.
1. Word-endings indicating grammatical gender
Masculine
| -er (mostly) | der Spieler | the player |
| -en (a tendency, not a rule) | der Besen | the broom |
| -ig | der Käfig | the cage |
| -ismus | der Kapitalismus | the capitalism |
| -ist | der Polizist | the policeman |
| -ling | der Frühling | the spring |
| -or | der Motor | the motor |
| -mann | der Fachmann | the specialist (male) |
Feminine
| -e (often, with exceptions such as der Junge) | die Blume | the flower |
| -in | die Freundin | the friend (female) |
| -ei | die Bäckerei | the bakery |
| -frau | die Fachfrau | the specialist (female) |
| -keit | die Tätigkeit | the occupation |
| -heit | die Freiheit | the freedom |
| -schaft | die Freundschaft | the friendship |
| -ung | die Überraschung | the surprise |
| -ät | die Universität | the university |
| -ik | die Kritik | the criticism |
| -ion | die Union | the union |
| -ie | die Melodie | the melody |
| -ur | die Kultur | the culture |
| -enz | die Konkurrenz | the competition |
Neuter
| -chen | das Häuschen | the little house |
| -lein | das Mäuslein | the little mouse |
| -ment | das Dokument | the document |
| -nis (can also be feminine) | das Geheimnis | the secret |
| -tum (usually; exceptions include der Irrtum, der Reichtum) | das Eigentum | the property |
| -um | das Zentrum | the center |
Some endings are reliable suffixes; others are only spelling clues. A noun ending in the same letters need not contain that suffix: der Sprung is not formed with feminine -ung. Compare das Geheimnis with die Kenntnis, and remember that -er alone is not reliable (die Mauer, das Fenster). Here are more words to learn with their articles:
| die Mauer | the wall |
| die Trauer | the sorrow |
| der Brei | the mush |
2. Grammatical gender matches the person´s gender
It also helps to know, whether you are talking about a man or woman. If the noun identifies a person, the grammatical gender usually matches the gender of the person.
Male/masculine
| der Mann | the man |
| der Vater | the father |
| der Bruder | the brother |
| der Sohn | the son |
| der Junge | the boy |
Female/feminine
| die Frau | the woman |
| die Mutter | the mother |
| die Schwester | the sister |
| die Tochter | the daughter |
exception: das Mädchenthe girl
One would assume that the girl would be feminine, but it is neuter. But note that the word-ending is -chen.
Nouns with this ending are always neuter. The diminutive suffixes -chen and -lein make a noun neuter and commonly express smallness or affection. This rule concerns the actual suffix, not any word that merely ends in those letters. Das Mädchen is grammatically neuter even though it refers to a girl.
3. But sometimes the grammatical gender does not relate to the personal gender. It is not an indication, whether the person is male or female
| der Mensch | the human |
| der Gast | the guest |
| die Person | the person |
4. Some words can be masculine and feminine, depending on which article you use
These examples are nominalized participles. In nominative singular, the masculine and feminine forms below have the same ending; the article shows which is intended. Their endings can change with case or article: der Reisende, but ein Reisender.
| der Reisende/die Reisende | the male/female traveler |
| der Schlafende/die Schlafende | the male/female sleeper |
| der Lesende/ die Lesende | the male/female reader |
5. Certain subjects or groups of words tend to be a specific gender
Days of the week, month names and seasons are masculine. Many weather nouns are also masculine, but weather is only a tendency: compare die Sonne and das Gewitter.
| der Montag | the Monday |
| der Januar | the January |
| der Frühling | the spring |
| der Regen | the rain |
| der Schnee | the snow |
| der Nebel | the fog |
Many common names of trees and flowers are feminine.
| die Eiche | the oak |
| die Linde | the lime-tree |
| die Rose | the rose |
| die Kirsche | the cherry |
Nominalized infinitives are neuter: das Lesen, das Essen. Nominalized adjectives referring to abstract things often use das, as in das Gute. However, nominalized adjectives referring to people can be masculine or feminine: der Alte, die Alte. Not all nouns derived from verbs or adjectives are neuter: die Freiheit is feminine.
| das Lesen | the reading |
| das Essen | the eating |
| das Rauchen | the smoking |
| das Gute | the good |
| das Schlechte | the bad |
German also forms many compounds. Let us look at their
compound words.
6. Compound words
In regular noun compounds, the final noun is the head and determines gender. For example, die Tischdecke follows die Decke, regardless of masculine der Tisch.
| die Tischdecke | der Tisch + die Decke | the tablecloth |
| der Türrahmen | die Tür + der Rahmen | the door frame |
| die Kirchturmuhr | die Kirche + der Turm + die Uhr | the clock of the church tower |
To summarize
There are three grammatical genders in the German language, recognizable through the article in front of the noun: masculine, feminine or neuter.
If you familiarize yourself with word-endings and pay attention to actual genders, you are halfway there. Some suffixes give firm rules, while other endings and meaning groups give only tendencies. Learn each noun with its nominative singular article and, ideally, its plural form.
If you do mix up your der, die, das, context will often make your meaning clear. Correct gender still helps listeners interpret articles, adjectives and pronouns. And it will also be relevant and useful to know the gender of your nouns when using adjectives and pronouns.
Practice
Choose the article: ___ Mädchen / ___ Tischdecke / ___ Freiheit / ___ Lesen. Explain which suffix or final noun gives you a clue.
Check the answers
das Mädchen (-chen), die Tischdecke (die Decke), die Freiheit (-heit), das Lesen (nominalized infinitive).
