Gender in German
Gender in German
We have talked about the concept of gender in Lesson 1.4. Here are some more tips for you to help you get your head around it. Remember what nouns are? Nouns are words used to name or identify a person, animal, place, thing, or idea, for example: house, carpet, dream, cat. 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. Nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter.
Is there a clue?
The days of the week, months and seasons are all masculine.
| (der) Montag | Monday |
| (der) August | August |
| der Sommer | the summer |
| der Winter | the winter |
Most nouns ending with – e are feminine, for example “die Blume” the flower. There are some more endings that give you a clue to what gender the noun has. However there are some exceptions, so take it as a rule of thumb.
Zum Beispiel
| Ending | Gender | Example | |
| German | English | ||
| -ast | masculine | der Gast | the guest |
| -mus | masculine | der Realismus | the realism |
| -er | masculine | der Computer | the computer |
| -ig | masculine | der Essig | the vinegar |
| -ling | masculine | der Schmetterling | the butterfly |
| -heit | feminine | die Schönheit | the beauty |
| -keit | feminine | die Freundlichkeit | the friendliness |
| -schaft | feminine | die Freundschaft | the friendship |
| -ung | feminine | die Heizung | the heater |
| -ei | feminine | die Sauerei | the mess |
| -in | feminine | die Freundin | the girlfriend |
| -ion | feminine | die Aktion | the action |
| -ie | feminine | die Garantie | the guaranty |
| -lein | neuter | das Häuslein | the little house |
| -chen | neuter | das Mädchen | the girl |
| - nis | neuter | das Verhältnis | the proportion |
| -at | neuter | das Internat | the boarding school |
| -ment | neuter | das Parlament | the parliament |
| -um | neuter | das Museum | the museum |
What about compound words?
You will come across some very long words in German. These words are called compound nouns and are made up of two or more words. The last noun always determines the gender of the compound noun.
Zum Beispiel
| Die Flasche+ der Rotwein= | die Rotweinflasche (the bottle of red wine) |
| Die Pizza+ der Belag= | der Pizzabelag (the pizza topping ) |
| Die Dose+ der Öffner= | der Dosenöffner (the can opener) |
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