1. Nouns and articles
In German, nouns have three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.
Nouns that refer to people are usually either masculine or feminine, depending on their natural gender:
der Mann
man
die Frau
woman
NB! Exception: das Mädchen
girl
However, it is often difficult to tell whether a noun is masculine, feminine or neuter simply by looking at it, especially when it comes to non-living things and abstract concepts. It is therefore advisable to learn a noun together with its article, as the article indicates the gender.
There are, however, some rules in the table below that will help you get started:
| Noun endings | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | -er, -e (living things), -ling, -ich, -ig, -ant, -ent, -ist, -ismus ja -or | der Computer, der Junge, der Student |
| Feminine | -e (non-living things), -ei, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung, -ek, -ik, -ie, -(t)ion, -tät, -ur ja-nz | die Sonne, die Möglichkeit, die Natur |
| Neuter | -chen, -lein, -nis, -(i)um ja -ment | das Häuschen, das Ergebnis, das Zentrum |
Some nouns can also be identified as masculine, feminine or neuter based on their meaning. Apart from a few exceptions, nouns denoting time of day, weekdays, months, seasons and cardinal points are masculine. Names of trees, flowers and fruits are typically feminine, whereas names of elements and metals, collective nouns beginning with “Ge-” (e.g. das Gebirge mountain range) and nouns derived from infinitive verb forms (e.g. das Essen food) are neuter.
German articles (in their basic form) are presented in the following table:
| Definite | Indefinite | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | der | ein |
| Feminine | die | eine |
| Neuter | das | ein |
| Plural | die | – |
The indefinite article is used when referring to something unknown or when something is mentioned for the first time. The definite article, on the other hand, is used to indicate something commonly known or when discussing something that has previously been mentioned:
Ich lese ein Buch. Das Buch ist spannend.
I am reading a book. The book is exciting.
There is no singular plural ending in German. The plural endings, which are determined by the ending of the noun in its basic form, are the following: -e (+ umlaut (e.g. ü)), -er (+ umlaut), -(e)n, -s, or no ending (+ umlaut):
der Wald ⇒ die Wälder
woods
die Tür ⇒ die Türen
doors
das Jahr ⇒ die Jahre
years