Posted by One major challenge a lot of people face while learning the German language is in guessing what category a noun belongs to. This confusion can be resolved when one follows the logic and patterns behind the masculine, feminine and neuter categorization of German nouns. Find out below!
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| 1. How to identify masculine nouns in German 2. How to identify feminine nouns in German 3. How to identify neuter nouns in German |
Although so many German teachers advise beginners to learn the nouns together with their definite articles (der, die, das) which distinguish them from one another, I strongly discourage it because der, die and das are not the only articles in German. What happens when people learn the nouns with der, die, das is that they become too used to just these three, which makes it difficult to learn the other articles. Instead, I encourage beginners to learn the nouns being conscious of the Genus and Numerus which makes it easier for them to switch from one Kasus to the other with respect to their articles.
Alternatively, certain guidelines can be followed in order to second guess the gender of the noun according to their prefixes and suffixes as described below. Note that for the usage of these guidelines, there are always exemptions and exceptions. Also, there are more masculine nouns in German. Hence, if you do not know the correct gender, just assume it as a masculine noun.
How To Identify Masculine Nouns in German
This refers to nouns that are “male” in nature but doesn’t truly mean they are but rather just a way of classification. These nouns are identifiable from having one or more of the following attributes below;
- All weathers e.g der Regen, der Schnee, der Nebel and seasons e.g der Winter etc.
- The days of the week e.g der Montag and months of the year e.g der Januar etc.
- The period of the day e.g der Abend, der Morgen etc (except die Nacht).
- Names of all cars e.g der Volks Wagen, der Toyota, der Tesla etc.
- All males of both humans e.g der Mann, der Vater and animals e.g der Löwe, der Elefant etc.
- The cardinal points on a map e.g der West, der Nord etc.
- Names of mountains and rocks e.g der Mount Everest etc.
- Most professions e.g der Arzt, der Ingenieur etc (with few exemptions e.g die Krankenschwester, die Hebamme etc.)
- Names of non-German rivers with exception of those that end with “-a“ or “-e” e.g der Nil, der Mississippi, der Jordan etc
- All stems of verb-forms in the present tense, i.e without “-en” and usually with a change of stem vowel e.g der Gebrauch from gebrauchen, der Steig from steigen, der Kampf from kämpfen, der Schloss from schließen etc
- Most nouns that end with –er e.g der Müller; –el e.g der Vogel; –us e.g der Orgasmus; –en e.g der Garten; –or e.g der Sponsor; –anz (monosyllabic) e.g der Glanz; –ant e.g der Gigant; –ast e.g der Palast; – ich e.g der Teppich; –ig e.g der Honig; –eich e.g der Deich; –ling e.g der Schmetterling; and –ismus e.g der Tourismus.
How To Identify Feminine Nouns in German
This connotes all nouns that are “female” in nature. Of course in English this may not be true but just like masculine nouns, it is another means of classification. Although to some extent, most feminine nouns are those that are usually perceived to be loved by the female species 😜🤷♀️. They can be identified as follows;
- All adult females of Humans e.g die Frau, die Tante, die Nichte, die Mutter, die Tochter etc.
- Nouns that end with -nis that are obtainable from adjectives and verbs which show a state of being/emotion e.g die Besorgnis, die Bitternis, die Erlaubnis etc.
- All nouns with “-thek” e.g die Bibliothek, die Diskothek, die Apotheke etc.
- Polysyllabic nouns that end with –anz e.g die Toleranz, die Eleganz; enz e.g die Eloquenz
- All cardinal numbers e.g die Eins, die Fünfzig, die Tausend etc.
- All profession and work related names with “-in” e.g die Ärztin, die Ingenieurin, die Malerin, die Präsidentin, die Chefin, die Kollegin, die Kundin etc.
- Most nouns that end with -e e.g die Münze; -a e.g die Pizza, die Firma; –ik e.g die Fabrik etc.
- All nouns that end with -ei e.g die Bäckerei; -ie e.g die Batterie, die Magie; -tät e.g die Qualität; -ur; Struktur; -sion e.g die Illusion; -tion e.g die Situation; -ung e.g die Wohnung; -keit e.g die Traurigkeit; -heit e.g die Wahrheit; -schaft e.g die Nachbarschaft etc.
How To Identify Neuter Nouns In German
Neuter nouns are neither “male” nor “female”. They are simply neutral. This category of nouns are identified as follows;
- Nouns that end with -ar e.g das Formular; -al e.g das Genital; -an e.g das Organ; -on e.g das Hormon; -iv e.g das Archiv; -il e.g das Profil; -um e.g das Eigentum, das Studium, das Zentrum; -ett e.g das Bett, das Tablett; -ier e.g das Tier, das Papier; -nis (when it’s not a state of being) e.g das Ergebnis; -chen e.g das Mädchen; -lein e.g das Fräulein; -(m)ent e.g das Engagement, das Talent etc.
- Most nouns that begin with Ge- e.g das Gemüse, das Gefahr, das Gebäude etc.
- All letters of the alphabet e.g das A, das G, das Z, das ß etc.
- All continents e.g Afrika; cities e.g Hamburg; provinces e.g Altona and countries that end with -a e.g Nigeria, Uganda, Somalia etc
- All colours e.g das Rot
- All languages e.g das Deutsch
- All nouns of Latin origin that end with -o e.g das Büro; -y e.g das Hobby; -i e.g das Taxi; -ma e.g Thema, Schema etc.
- All young ones of humans e.g das Kind and of animals e.g das Lamm etc.
- Most nouns from the Partizip II of verbs e.g das Angebot
- All substantive nouns of German infinitive verb e.g das Machen, das Essen (means the eating/the food here) etc.
- All English present continuous verbs used as German nouns e.g das Meeting, das Training
- Most uncountable nouns e.g das Wasser, das Öl, das Obst, das Fleisch
- All chemical elements e.g das Gold, das Kohle and compounds that end with -in e.g das Protein, das Benzin etc.