Naming Things

Nouns are words used to name or identify a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. Examples include: girl, hat, coat, weather, picture, coffee and hotel. Just as in English, German nouns can either be singular, such as “cat” or Katze , or plural (i.e., more than one), like “cats” or Katzen . The first thing that you must learn about German, however, is that all nouns also have a gender. In other words, all objects and living things are grouped as either;

	masculine (male) words,
	or feminine (female) words
	or neuter ( neuter) words.

Male, female and neuter Words

The concept of gender can feel confusing for new students of the German language. Having a gender does not mean that nouns actually refer to male, female or neuter things, although, in most circumstances, the nouns that refer to males (such as a male doctor or a male animal) are masculine, while nouns that refer to females are generally feminine (such as a female doctor or female animal).

You may find it impossible to figure out the gender of other nouns, however. For example, how would anyone know whether the word for hotel or room is masculine, feminine or neuter? ( Hotel and Zimmer are both neuter.)

In most cases the choice of gender seems random, which it basically is! In German the sun (Sonne) is feminine, whereas the moon (Mond) is masculine. In French and Spanish for example it is exactly the opposite.

For example

Masculine Nouns

Feminine Nouns

Neuter Nouns

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