German has 3 ‘genders’ when it comes to articles for nouns.
Masculine – der (dare)
Feminine – die (dee)
Neuter – das (dahss)
This grammar rule can be confusing for English speakers as we don’t have that in our language. But why does the German language have them and what use are they?
Why does the German language have noun genders?
“The monks in the basement.” My German professor in college always shared this joke when a grammar rule didn’t make sense compared to the English language.
The real reason is German is a Latin based language.
Latin does have gendered nouns as well, thus German having it. Not the best answer but that’s the reason.
The genders of nouns are useful though! Even when the article isn’t stated, adjective endings require them and when talking about people in 3rd person it helps keep those long German sentences straight.
Der, die, and das are articles and along with their adjective endings function the same way we use his, hers, him, and her in English.
How do you know if a noun is masculine or feminine in German?
Remember, all nouns are capitalized in German. That always helped my students recognize them compared to verbs or adjectives.
Step 1: determine if a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter
To determine if a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter is does the word pertain to a female or male human in some form? Man or woman, mother or father, or their job? Typically that determines if masculine or feminine quickly.
For example:
‘der Mann’ (the man) and ‘die Frau’ (the woman)
‘die Mutter’ (the mother) and ‘der Vater’ (the father)
‘der Lehrer’ (the male teacher) or ‘die Lehrerin’ (the female teacher)
Step 2: Is it in the always Masculine list?
There are some words that because of their category are always masculine (der). There are a few exceptions but the list below covers a lot of words, especially the ones often used by beginners of any age.
- Days and months
- Time of year and time of day (except: die Nacht – the night)
- Directions (der Norden, der Suden)
- Rain and wind (der Regen + der Wind)
- Minerals (der Diamant, der Stein)
- Alcohol (ausser: das Bier)
- Automakers (der Audi, der Volkswagen)
Step 3: look at the word ending.
Once you’ve recognized that the noun doesn’t fit step one or two, look at the suffix of the word. The ending often tells you the gender.
Most of the nouns encountered will likely be masculine (der) but not all.
The table below lists many of the endings to look for.
| Masculine (der) | Feminine (die) | Neuter (das) |
| -ling | -e (most common!) | – chen |
| -ant | -ei | -lein |
| -ent | -ie | -o |
| -ist | -heit | -ment |
| -eur | -keit | -nis |
| -et | -schaft | -um |
| -oge | -ung | -tum |
| -ismus | -tät | -at |
| -or | -ik | |
| -us | -ur | |
| -er | -ion | |
| -nz |
While this table is a guide, not every noun will fit the rules.
Two quick examples are ‘das Mädchen’ (the girl) and ‘der Junge’ (the boy).
Why is the girl not feminine in German?
‘The girl’ in German is ‘das Mädchen’ (pronounced: maid-chee-en). While a girl is feminine, ‘das’ is neuter. The determination comes not from the noun it self, but the spelling. The ending of the word ‘Mädchen’ is a neuter ending.
This is only one of the examples of the rule exceptions which can make any new language confusing. (Don’t forget English has the i before e except after c and in the word weird rule).
Are there any shortcuts to learning genders?
I wish there was a better shortcut, but if you know it’s not feminine (talking about a woman or her job title) then try ‘der’.
If the noun doesn’t fit in step one above (a masculine or feminine noun naturally – man or woman) then it’s practice.
Eventually with time, you just hear that it sounds right.
My native speaker husband knows when it’s supposed to be der, die, or das but didn’t know these rules before me! I was able to ‘hear’ the correct sound after 2 years of college German (and an extended background in French for years before). Some of my classmates picked it up like I did, and others once they were immersed in the language and culture in Germany.
Can’t I just ignore German noun gender?
If you’re speaking German, sometimes you can. A surprising amount of native speakers will ‘slur’ the articles or endings if they can’t remember. You are also able to adjust your words in real time and context is more readily available.
If you’re writing German, you can’t ignore it. It’s necessary to maintain context and proper grammar structure.
At the end of the day, while it is important to know the grammar rules for gendered nouns in German, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.
There’s ways to talk around the article, especially for beginners who get more grace and are learning not just nouns but verb conjugations and adjectives and more.
Building that vocabulary and comfort using that vocabulary will lead to remembering (or ‘hearing’) the gender of nouns for proper sentence structure. I’m still checking the articles of words myself!
