Gender in the German language plays a more impactful role on German grammar than gender does in English. Every noun in German and in German dialects is assigned a grammatical gender—even things you wouldn’t imagine would have a gender, like tables and different types of trees. While this might be a new concept to you as an English speaker, there are plenty of patterns you can learn to make determining a noun’s gender feel less random. Find out what these patterns are and how gender impacts German grammar.
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What’s the importance of gender in the German language?
Other than for use with German pronouns, what’s the importance of gender in the German language? German gender rules affect many parts of speech, from articles to adjective endings and more. Grammatical gender is also used in the Romance languages like Spanish and Italian.
Just like German conjugation changes verbs based on the subject, gender influences how adjectives and articles behave depending on the noun they describe. This means that, while getting used to the concept of grammatical gender can be a hurdle for English speakers, it’s critical for achieving full fluency in the German language.
The 3 grammatical genders in the German language
Every noun in German is delegated to one of three grammatical genders:
- maskulin (masculine)
- feminin (feminine)
- neutral (neuter)
Which gender a given noun is assigned to might not always be intuitive. While it could make sense that der Mann (the man) is maskulin, die Frau (the woman) is feminin, and das Gebäude (the building) are neutral, you might be surprised at other nouns. For example, der Tisch (the table) and der Stein (the rock) are maskulin despite being inanimate objects.
You might have noticed that each grammatical gender has its own unique article. Maskulin nouns in German are paired with der (the, masculine), feminin nouns use die (the, feminine), and neutral German nouns are used with das (the, neuter). Of the nouns in the German language with a unique gender, 46% are feminine, 34% masculine, and 20% neuter, according to the University of Michigan. So, if you find yourself at a total loss for a noun’s gender, die is your safest guess.
The tricks to determining a German noun’s gender
Did you know you can take some of the guesswork out of determining gender in the German language by looking at the spelling of a word? The ending of a noun in German is often closely tied to whether it’s considered grammatically masculine, feminine, or neuter. Keeping the patterns shown below in mind will be an excellent way to accelerate your learning pace and help you avoid tedious rote memorization.
- Masculine endings include:
- -ig
- -ling
- -ant
- -us
- -er
- -ismus
- -ich
- Examples: der Honig (the honey), der Feigling (the coward), der Elefant (the elephant)
- The feminine endings are:
- -ei
- -schaft
- -heit
- -keit
- -ung
- –tät
- -ion
- –ik
- -ie
- -enz
- -anz
- -ur
- Examples: die Bücherei (the library), die Wissenschaft (the science), die Freiheit (the freedom)
- Neuter nouns end with:
- -chen
- -lein
- -tum
- -ment
- -ma
- -ium
- Examples: das Hähnchen (the chicken), das Wachstum (the growth), das Experiment (the experiment)
Grammatically neuter nouns in German can also start with a Ge- spelling, as in das Gebäude (building) and das Gespräch (conversation). Keep in mind that a neuter Ge- start to a word will often “overpower” a feminine -e ending, which strong-arms the word into being considered neuter.
How noun groups can help you learn gender in German faster
Besides spelling clues, grouping German nouns by theme helps you remember their gender more easily. While this isn’t a fool proof method, it’s a great way to expand your vocabulary without too much time spent memorizing every single German noun’s gender. Reduce your study time by reviewing some noun groups for neuter, feminine, and masculine in German in the charts below.
Masculine noun groups
We’ve put together groups of German nouns to help you more easily remember some common masculine nouns.
| Masculine Noun Groups | Examples |
| days and months | der Montag (Monday), der Oktober (October) |
| tools and utensils | der Schraubendreher (the screw driver), der Kugelschreiber (the pen) |
| makes of cars | der Ford (the Ford), der Ferrari (the Ferrari) |
| male people, male animals | der Mann (the man), der Stier (the bull) |
| most weather terms | der Regen (the rain), der Schnee (the snow) |
| points on a compass | der Westen (west), der Norden (north) |
| seasons | der Frühling (spring), der Sommer (summer) |
| rocks and minerals | der Granit (the granite), der Diamant (the diamond) |
These example sentences are filled with masculine nouns so you can see them in action. You’ll notice that the articles have different endings when they are used in one of the other German cases.
- Der Diamant, gefunden in dem Granit, brachte dem Mann, der in dem Norden lebte, unerwarteten Reichtum. = The diamond found in the granite brought unexpected wealth to the man who lived in the north.
- Der Mann klemmte sich an dem Montagmorgen bei strömendem Regen mit dem Schraubendreher den Finger. = The man pinched his finger with the screwdriver on Monday morning in the pouring rain.
You might wonder about the words dem and den in those examples when we were talking about masculine der articles/nouns. They are the changed forms of the masculine article for each case or use of the noun they refer to. Read a beginner overview of the cases in the next section.
Groups of feminine nouns
Though feminine nouns are more easily identified by their spelling, there are still some common themes by which you can group them. Notice that many German-speaking countries share similar ideas about grammatical gender, as evident in their approach to rivers.
| Feminine Noun Groups | Examples |
| female people, female animals | die Frau (the woman), die Zuchtstute (the brood mare) |
| most fruits and flowers | die Pflaume (the plum), die Sonnenblume (the sunflower) |
| makes and names of airplanes, ships, and motorcycles | die Bismarck (the Bismarck), die Boeing (Boeing) |
| most rivers within Germany, Austria, and Switzerland | die Donau (the Danube), die Mosel (the Moselle) |
| numerals used as nouns | die Eins (one), die Million (million) |
Check out these sentences that only use feminine nouns.
- Die Frau betrachtete die Sonnenblume, während die Zuchtstute gemächlich an der Donau entlangtrottete. = The woman gazed at the sunflower while the brood mare trotted leisurely along the Danube.
- In der Boeing über der Mosel kritzelte die Frau auf eine Serviette und von der Million träumte, die ihr ein neues Leben schenken würde. = In the Boeing above the Moselle, the woman scribbled on a napkin and dreamed of the million that would give her a new life.
Don’t be confused by the der instead of die here. The nouns like Mosel and Million are still feminine nouns, but their articles changed because of their position and role in the sentence. This is common in Romance languages, too!
Neuter noun groups
Many loanwords in German are assigned a neutral article to keep it simple. See the chart below to easily recall many common neuter German nouns and quickly build your fluency as you learn German:
| Neuter Noun Groups | Examples |
| adopted foreign words | das Internet (the internet), das Meeting (the meeting) |
| colors used as nouns | das Rot (the red), das Blau (the blue) |
| letters of the alphabet | das A (the A), das B (the B) |
| most metals | das Kopfer (the copper), das Magnesium (the magnesium) |
| musical notes | das Fis (the F-sharp), das Ges (the G-flat) |
| names of hospitality establishments | das Restaurant (the restaurant), das Hotel (the hotel) |
| verbs is used as a nouns | das Leben (the life), das Singen (the singing) |
| young people and animals | das Fohen (the foal), das Baby (the baby) |
These sentences might not make a ton of sense, but they only use neuter German nouns!
- Als das Fohlen über die Wiese galoppierte, hörte das Baby auf zu weinen, fasziniert von dem Leben und dem Klang von dem Fis in der Ferne. = When the foal galloped across the meadow, the baby stopped crying, fascinated by life and the sound of the F-sharp in the distance.
- Das Meeting zog sich hin, während das Internet ausfiel, das Singen vom Flur hereindrang und das Leben sich irgendwo weit weg anfühlte. = The meeting dragged on while the internet was down, singing drifted in from the hallway, and life felt far away.
Beginner gender rules for the 4 German cases
When first introduced to German gender rules in grammar, you learned the gendered German articles der (the, masculine), die (the, feminine), and das (the, neuter). While you’ll use these specific articles in the nominative case, which is used for the subject of the sentence, other German cases use a different form of those same articles.
There are four grammatical cases in the German language, including:
- Nominativ (nominative)
- used for the subject of the sentence
- Akkusativ (accusative)
- identifies the direct object of your expression
- Dativ (dative)
- shows which noun in your sentence is the indirect object
- Genitiv (genitive)
- utilized to show possession
Look at the table below to see how gendered articles change across different German cases depending on number and gender:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| nominative | der | die | das | die |
| accusative | den | die | das | die |
| dative | dem | der | dem | den |
| genitive | des | der | des | der |
The sentences below show how masculine gender articles, for example, change in different cases:
- Der Junge rennt. = The boy is running. (nominative)
- Wer hat den Hut? = Who has the hat? (accusative)
- Ich bin auf dem Bett. = I am on the bed. (dative)
- Sie schläft während des Films. = She is sleeping during the movie. (genitive)
Understanding gender within compound nouns
By now, you’ve likely come across one of the long German words for which the language is so well known. In long words that can potentially be made up of several nouns (each with a different grammatical gender) which gender do we assign to the overall word?
Luckily, the answer is simple: the entire compound word in German takes on the gender of the last noun in the word. Check out these examples of unusually long German words and try to decide the gender in the German language by the last noun in the word. (Refer back to the common rules for gender assignment in German above if needed.)
- die Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit = the food intolerance
The last word in the compound noun is die Unverträglichkeit (the incompatibility), which can be identified as a feminine noun because of the -keit ending. Therefore, the whole word is considered feminine.
- der Lebensabschnittspartner = the life partner
Der Partner (the partner) is the last word of the compound noun with an ending of -er. Since you know the -er ending is associated with masculine nouns, you can conclude that the entire word Lebensabschnittpartner is grammatically masculine.
What German gender means for your adjective endings
Gender in the German language also has a strong impact on adjectives in German, specifically their endings. The first thing to look for is an article that shows off what a noun’s gender, number, and case is. If such an article is already present in your sentence, then most of the work of changing the adjective ending is done for you! You’ll just add either an -e or an -en to the end of the adjective, which is called a soft declension.
Refer to the table below to see the how German gender rules need different endings (soft declensions) for German adjectives.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| nominative | -e | -e | -e | -en |
| accusative | -en | -e | -e | -en |
| dative | -en | -en | -en | -en |
| genitive | -en | -en | -en | -en |
Example sentences:
- Der große Mann trägt eine Krawatte. = The tall man is wearing a tie.
- Ich wähle die roten Schuhe aus. = I am choosing the red shoes.
However, when there is no article showing the case, gender, and number of a noun, the adjective has to pull a double shift and show this information with its ending. This is known as a hard declension. For instance, you might not have an article like der (the) if you use ein (a or an). See how hard declensions work for German adjectives in the chart below:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| nominative | -er | -e | -es | -e |
| accusative | -en | -e | -es | -e |
| dative | -e | -er | -em | -en |
| genitive | -en | -er | -en | -er |
Example sentences:
- Ich kaufe ein neues Auto. = I am buying a new car.
- Das ist ein sehr kleiner Ball. = That is a very small ball.
Key takeaways for gender in the German language
Grammatical gender is a new concept to English speakers learning German. Here are the four key takeaways to remember about gender in the German language:
- Every noun in the German language has a grammatical gender, which often has far more to do with the noun’s spelling and linguistic origin than its physical traits.
- There are three grammatical genders in the German language: maskulin (masculine, der), feminin (feminine, die), and neutral (neuter, das).
- Searching for patterns, like noun groups or endings to words having similar grammatical genders, can make it easier to memorize each noun’s grammatical gender in German.
- Grammatical gender in German is impacted by cases which alter articles and adjectives.
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