Der Mann (man), die Frau (woman), das Fenster (window). Sounds logical, but there is also “das Mädchen”.
What happens with nouns, that don’t denote a man or a woman?
Why is it der Löffel (spoon), die Gabel (fork), and das Messer (knife)?
Der Teller (plate), die Tasse (cup), and das Salz (salt)?
How can you remember all of that?
Are there rules for it or is is just random?
Today I will explain everything.
Before we get started into the rules, tips and tricks for figuring out the genders of German nouns,
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Men are masculine. Women are feminine:
der Mann (man), die Frau (woman), der Vater (father), die Mutter (mother), der Bruder (brother), die Schwester (sister), der Onkel (uncle), die Tante (aunt)
Nouns that describe people, who are biologically masculine or feminine receive the masculine or feminine grammatical gender.
That’s why it is “die Mutter”, even though words that end with -er are normally masculine.
Job titles are standardly masculine,
but you can change them with the ending -in into feminine:
der Arzt, die Ärztin (doctor), der Bäcker, die Bäckerin (baker), der Fahrer, die Fahrerin (driver),
der Freund, die Freundin (friend), der Jäger, die Jägerin (hunter), der Lehrer, die Lehrerin (teacher)
der Mann (man), die Frau (woman), der Junge (boy)... das Mädchen (girl)?
If a noun ends with -chen or -lein, the noun is neuter.
This rule is valid without exception.
Therefore it is “das Mädchen” (girl) instead of “die Mädchen”.
das Bäumchen (sapling), das Bettchen (little bed), das Brötchen (roll), das Entchen (duckling), das Hähnchen (chicken), das Händlein (little hand),
das Kaninchen (rabbit), das Kindlein (little child), das Küsschen (little kiss), das Läppchen (small cloth), das Mütterlein (mother), das Päckchen (parcel), and so on.
I find it especially helpful that these words are also written the same in the plural forms.
If one has more than one girl in the sentence, that is “die Mädchen” (girls).
More than one “Bäumchen” (sapling)? Die Bäumchen (saplings).
There are also other suffixes without exception.
Words with -ismus are masculine.
der Journalismus (journalism), der Kapitalismus (capitalism), der Kommunismus (communism)
-heit, -ie -ik, -keit, -tät, -ung and -schaft are feminine:
die Albernheit (absurdity), die Beliebtheit (popularity), die Gesundheit (health)
die Drogerie (drug store), die Geographie (geography), die Industrie (industry)
die Grammatik (grammar), die Musik music), die Physik (physics)
die Ähnlichkeit (similarity), die Brüderlichkeit (brotherliness), die Höflichkeit (politeness)
die Popularität (popularity), die Qualität (quality), die Universität (university)
die Bildung (education), die Erklärung (explanation), die Handlung (plot)
die Mannschaft (team), die Gesellschaft (community), die Wirtschaft (economy)
If you want to see a longer list of suffixes that require a specific gender,
smarterGerman has a video that is highly recommended.
Link in the description.
Days, Months, Seasons, Types of Precipitation, and Cardinal Directions
They are all masculine.
der Montag (Monday), der Dienstag (Tuesday), der Mittwoch (Wednesday), der Donnerstag (Thursday), der Freitag (Friday), der Samstag (Saturday), der Sonntag (Sunday)
der Januar (January), der Februar (February), der März (March), der April (April), der Mai (May), der Juni (June),
der Juli (July), der August (August), der September (September), der Oktober (October), der November (November), der Dezember (December)
der Winter (winter), der Frühling (spring), der Sommer (summer), der Herbst (fall)
der Regen (rain), der Schnee (snow), der Nebel (fog), der Hagel (hail)
(There are a few exceptions in this category.)
der Norden (north), der Süden (south), der Osten (east), der Westen (west)
What to do when you have to guess…
Many words are not in these categories that I have listed.
Luckily there are a few helpful endings, which normally require the masculine, feminine or neuter grammatical gender.
For example:
If a noun ends with -er, it is likely masculine.
That is normally that way, because a word that ends with -er is probably a man.
There are, however, many exceptions:
die Butter (butter), das Fenster (window), das Gewitter (storm), die Mutter (mother), das Poster (poster), die Schwester (sister), for example.
If a noun ends with -e, it is probably feminine.
die Ecke (corner), die Ente (duck), die Jacke (jacket), die Kreide (chalk), die Rose (rose)
However, it is Friede (peace), der Käse (cheese) und der Buchstabe (letter).
If a noun ends with -o, it is probably neuter.
das Auto (car), das Foto (photo), das Kino (theater), das Radio (radio), das Tempo (tempo), das Video (video)
but… der Euro (Euro), der Flamingo (flamingo), der Popo (but), der Voodoo (voodoo), der Zoo (zoo)
As I said, there are a few rules, but there are also exceptions to the rules.
There are helpful endings and not so helpful endings.
In my opinion, one must simply practice a lot until one no longer has to think about these rules.
It is best if one learns every noun together with the article.
Personally, I don’t think about these rules very often anymore.
It comes easily to me to recognize which gender a word requires.
Of course, I still make mistakes, but one never stops learning.
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