Der, die or das: German noun gender and plurals¶
Every German noun has a gender: Maskulinum (masculine, der), Femininum (feminine, die) or Neutrum (neuter, das). You need the gender almost everywhere. It decides the article, the adjective endings, and the possessive and personal pronouns. You can't always guess the gender. But for many nouns, the suffix shows the gender, so start with the suffixes.
Suffixes that reliably give away the gender¶
Look at how the word ends, not at what it means. These suffixes have almost no exceptions in everyday vocabulary.
| Suffix | Gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ung | die | die Zeitung, die Wohnung, die Prüfung |
| -heit | die | die Wahrheit, die Krankheit, die Kindheit |
| -keit | die | die Möglichkeit, die Schwierigkeit |
| -schaft | die | die Freundschaft, die Mannschaft |
| -ion | die | die Situation, die Diskussion |
| -tät | die | die Universität, die Qualität |
| -ik | die | die Musik, die Klinik |
| -chen, -lein | das | das Mädchen, das Brötchen, das Büchlein |
| -um (Latin-origin words) | das | das Museum, das Zentrum, das Stipendium |
| -ling | der | der Frühling, der Schmetterling |
| -ismus | der | der Tourismus, der Optimismus |
There are other rules, for example "nouns ending in -e are usually Femininum". But they have many exceptions: der Junge, das Auge. If there is no reliable suffix, learn each noun together with its article: not Tisch, but der Tisch.
Plurals¶
In the plural, the article is always die, whatever the gender. The hard part is the plural form itself. There are several endings, and sometimes an umlaut is added. But nouns with the same suffixes that decide the gender also form the plural by a rule.
| Nouns | Plural | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ion, -tät, -ik | -en | die Zeitung → die Zeitungen, die Klinik → die Kliniken |
| -chen, -lein | no ending | das Mädchen → die Mädchen |
| -um | -um → -en | das Museum → die Museen, das Zentrum → die Zentren |
| -ling | -e | der Schmetterling → die Schmetterlinge |
Other nouns form the plural in different ways:
-e:der Tag → die Tage-eand an umlaut:die Stadt → die Städte-er, often with an umlaut:das Buch → die Bücher-s, usually for loanwords:das Auto → die Autos- no ending, for many nouns in -er and -el:
der Lehrer → die Lehrer
No rule covers these nouns. So learn the plural together with the article: der Tag, die Tage.
Common mistakes¶
Gender by meaning instead of form. das Mädchen (girl) and das Fräulein (young lady) are Neutrum, because they end in -chen and -lein. Pronouns also follow the grammatical gender, not whether it's a person or a thing: der Schlüssel → ihn, die Brille → sie.
Compound nouns. The last part of a compound noun decides its gender: das Haus + die Tür = die Haustür, die Geburt + der Tag = der Geburtstag.
One word, two genders. Some nouns change their meaning with their gender: der See (lake) and die See (sea), der Teil (part) and das Teil (piece, component). No suffix rule helps here, so learn these nouns as pairs.
Exercises¶
You can find more exercises on this topic in the Telegram bot @ImmerWiederholenBot. The bot saves your progress and reminds you when it's time to review.
See also¶
- German cases: what each case does and how the article declines.
- Personal and reflexive pronouns: why der Tisch becomes ihn, not es.
- Possessive determiners: mein, dein, sein, ihr and how they decline.