Charts for picking der, die, or das according to noun endings
You can increase your odds of getting the gender right by memorizing the endings that typically
align with either masculine, feminine or neuter nouns.
MASCULINE ARTICLE - DER
Noun ending Example English
-us der Bus the bus
-ling der Frühling the spring
-ant der Elefant the elephant
-ent der Student the student
-ast der Gast the guest
-er der Käfer the bug
-en der Regen the rain
-ig der Honig the honey
-or der Humor the humor
As you can see, you don’t necessarily have to know the meaning of the German word right
away, simply memorizing the endings will help you a lot.
Good to know: Most German nouns ending with -ent are masculine. However, there are a few
cases with a neuter ending, e.g., das Prozent (the percentage) and das Talent (the talent). The
word Event can even be both, masculine and neuter: der Event or das Event (the event).
While -or is mainly a masculine ending, there is one exception: das Labor (the laboratory).
FEMININE ARTICLE - DIE
When you start learning German, you will soon notice that most common German nouns
ending with -e are feminine, e.g., die Sonne (the sun), die Lampe (the lamp), die Tasche (the
bag). Note that there are also quite a few exceptions to this rule, such as: der Name (the
name), das Auge (the eye), der Käse (cheese).
Here are some common endings of feminine nouns:
Noun ending Example English
-ie die Philosophie the philosophy
-ung die Wohnung the flat
-tät die Nationalität the nationality
-tion/sion die Information the team
-keit/-heit die Krankheit the illness
-enz/-anz die Eleganz the elegance
-ei die Bäckerei the bakery
-ur die Figur the figure
-in die Bäckerin the (female) baker
NEUTER ARTICLE DAS
And last, but not least, the next chart is for endings that typically indicate that the noun is
neuter.
noun ending example English
-lein das Büchlein the booklet
-chen das Plättchen* the platelet
-um das Datum the date
-nis das Ergebnis the result
-tum das Eigentum the property
