UNIT EIGHT

NOUNS AND GENDER

What is a noun?
A noun is a word used to name a person, an object, an abstract
quality or a concept: a woman, a boat, friendship, democracy. In
many languages nouns have different genders – they can be
masculine, feminine or neuter.
Biological gender in English

In English, the gender of nouns conforms with their status:

things, objects, animals and concepts are neuter (‘it’), female
persons are feminine (‘she’) and male persons are masculine
(‘he’). This way of classifying nouns can be called ‘biological’
gender. German uses instead grammatical gender, where there
is no such obvious relationship.
Three genders in German
In German, all nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter. They can be
identified by the definite article (‘the’ in English) which is different for each
gender: der is for masculine nouns, die for female and das for
neuter nouns:
• Masculine Der
• der Mann, der Tisch
• the man, the table
• Feminine die
• die Frau, die Tür
• the woman, the door
• Neuter das
• das Kind, das Fenster
• the child, the window
• Note that in the plural all three groups take the same
article: die Männer ‘the men’, die Frauen ‘the women’, die
Kinder ‘the children’.
• As you can see, it is easy to guess the gender for nouns
where the natural gender is fairly clear: der Mann is
masculine and die Frau feminine.
• Unfortunately for the majority of nouns the gender seems
difficult to work out. The German words for ‘table’, ‘door’
and ‘window’ for example all belong to different groups.
• It is therefore advisable to learn a new noun with its
gender:
der Tisch, die Tür, das Fenster.
How to find the gender of a noun
• In a dictionary the gender of a noun is usually indicated
after the word. The most common abbreviations are: m
(masculine), f (feminine), n (neuter).
• Nevertheless, there are some clues that can help you
work out whether a noun is masculine, feminine or
neuter. One is the ending of a noun. There are also
certain groups of nouns which have identical
genders. Here is an overview.
Clues for masculine nouns
Typical endings
The following endings usually indicate that a noun
is masculine:
-er der Computer, der Wecker (computer,alarm
clock)
-ig der Honig, der Käfig (honey, cage)
-ismus der Idealismus, der Kapitalismus (idealism,
capitalism)
-ling der Frühling, der Schilling (spring, shilling)
-or der Motor, der Reaktor (engine, reactor)
Groups of nouns
There are also certain groups of nouns which are masculine. They
include:

• male persons der Vater, der Sohn father, son

• names of days and months der Montag, der August Monday, August
• names of seasons der Sommer, der Winter summer, winter
• makers of cars der BMW, der Jaguar BMW, Jaguar
• alcoholic drinks der Whisky, der Wein whisky, wine
• ‘Beer’ is an exception and neuter: das Bier
Clues for feminine nouns
Typical feminine endings
The following endings usually indicate that a noun is feminine:
-ei die Bäckerei, die Türkei bakery, Turkey
-enz die Intelligenz, die Differenz intelligence, difference
-heit die Freiheit, die Dummheit freedom, stupidity
-ie die Demokratie, die Phantasie democracy, imagination
-ion die Nation, die Kommunikation nation, communication
-keit die Schwierigkeit, die Möglichkeit difficulty, possibility/opportunity
-tät die Universität, die Fakultät university, faculty
-schaft die Mannschaft, die Landschaft team, landscape
-ung die Wohnung, die Zeitung flat, newspaper
-ur die Kultur, die Natur culture, nature
• Note also that about ninety per cent of nouns
ending in -e are feminine:
die Adresse ‘address’, die Flasche ‘bottle’, die
Krawatte ‘tie’
• But there are a number of important exceptions
such as der Name ‘name’ and der Käse ‘cheese’.
Groups of nouns
Nouns which tend to be feminine are:
• female persons die Mutter, die Tochter
mother, daughter
• names of motorbikes and ships die BMW, die
Titanic BMW, Titanic
• names of trees and flowers die Eiche, die Rose
oak, rose
• Exceptions: das Mädchen ‘girl’, das Veilchen ‘violet’.
Clues for neuter nouns
Typical endings
As for the other two genders, certain endings help you identify
that a noun is neuter. The most important are:
-chen das Mädchen, das Märchen girl, fairy tale
-lein das Fräulein, das Männlein little miss, little man
-ma das Klima, das Thema climate, theme/topic
-ment das Dokument, das Instrument document, instrument
-o das Kino, das Büro cinema, office
-um das Album, das Zentrum album, centre
Important exceptions include: die Firma ‘company’.
Groups of nouns
There are also certain groups of nouns which tend to be
neuter:
• young persons das Baby, das Kind
baby, child
• infinitives used as nouns das Singen, das Tanzen
singing, dancing
• names of hotels and cinemas das Hilton, das Roxy
the Hilton, the Roxy
• names of most metals das Silber, das Gold
silver, gold
• diminutives das Tischlein
small table
Compound nouns
You may have noticed that German speakers love to form
long words. In grammar terms a word that is made up of
more than one noun is called a compound noun. In this case
the last noun defines the gender:

der Wein + die Flasche = die Weinflasche

wine bottle
das Telefon + die Nummer = die Telefonnummer
telephone number
der Computer + das Spiel = das Computerspiel
computer game
Nouns take capital letters in German
Remember that all nouns in German start with a capital letter:
Der Computer hat eine neue Tastatur.
The computer has a new keyboard.
Wie heißt das Kino? What is the name of the cinema?
This can help you spot a noun in a German sentence.

Plurals of articles
You have already seen that there are three different singular
forms for the definite article: der, die and das. In the plural all
three are die.
The indefinite articles
The indefinite article (‘a’ in English) is: ein for masculine nouns,
eine for feminine nouns and ein for neuter nouns:
• Masculine ein
• ein Mann, ein Tisch
• a man, a table
• Feminine eine
• eine Frau, eine Tür
• a woman, a door
• Neuter ein
• ein Kind, ein Fenster
• a child, a Window
Exercise 8.1
Here are groups of nouns. Do you remember which article they
take?
Example: Hilton, Ritz, Vierjahreszeiten-Hotel das Hilton,
Ritz, Vierjahreszeiten-Hotel
1. Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Sonntag
2. Audi, Ferrari, Mini, Ford
3. Silber, Gold, Eisen, Kupfer
4. Rose, Tulpe, Sonnenblume
5. Tochter, Schwester, Mutter, Oma
6. Sommer, Frühling, Herbst, Winter
7. Wodka, Rum, Rotwein, Schnaps
8. Schwimmen, Essen, Tanzen, Joggen
Exercise 8.2
Decide whether the nouns in the box are masculine, feminine or neuter and put m, f or nt in the
appropriate box. Most words have appeared previously, but, if you are not sure about the meaning,
check in your dictionary. The first two have been done for you.

Konditorei Auto Tasse Computer

Lampe Märchen Metzgerei Museum

Kirche Emigration Zentrum Religion

Liberalism Nation Demokrati Instrument

us e
Zeitung Kino Büro Terror

Meinung Universität Solidarität Motor

Flasche Modernis Mädchen Kultur

mus
Exercise 8.3
Rewrite the following sentences and put a capital letter where
necessary.
All German sentences start with a capital letter.
Example: berlin hat eine lange geschichte  Berlin hat eine
lange Geschichte.
1 berlin ist eine fantastische stadt.
2 das hotel, wo wir wohnen, ist sehr komfortabel.
3 der service ist ausgezeichnet und das essen ist gut.
4 die woche geht so schnell vorbei.
5 die landschaft um berlin und besonders die seen sind sehr
schön.
6 heute abend gehen wir in die kneipe und feiern unseren
letzten tag in berlin.
Exercise 8.4
Translate the following sentences.
1 The Ferrari is very fast.
2 The table and the window are broken.
3 The daughter is called Marianna.
4 The newspaper is too expensive.
5 The rose is very beautiful.
6 The cinema is closed. (closed = geschlossen)
7 The football team is bad.
8 The beer costs 2 euros.
9 The town centre is very old.
10 Is the computer new?
11 The girl is five years old and the boy is seven.
12 The cheese is from France.
Checklist
✓
1. Why is gender so important for learners of German?
What is meant by grammatical gender?
2. Can you give the definite and indefinite articles for
masculine, feminine, neuter nouns?
3. What are the endings which indicate that a noun is
masculine, feminine, neuter?
4. Can you list the categories in which nouns are usually
masculine, feminine, neuter?
5. What is distinctive about the spelling of German nouns?