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).
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Here are some 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.
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Here are some of the most basic German nouns to get you started. Further on in this lesson we will look at the pronunciation of these and more German nouns.
Is there a clue?
The days of the week, months and seasons are all masculine.
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(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.
For example:
der Gast
the guest
der Realismus
the realism
der Computer
the computer
der Essig
the vinegar
der Schmetterling
the butterfly
die Schönheit
the beauty
die Freundlichkeit
the friendliness
die Freundschaft
the friendship
die Heizung
the heater
die Sauerei
the mess
die Freundin
the girlfriend
die Aktion
the action
die Garantie
the guarantee
das Häuslein
the little house
das Mädchen
the girl
das Verhältnis
the proportion
das Internat
the boarding school
das Parlament
the parliament
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.
For example:
Die Flasche
Bottle
der Rotwein
Red wine
die Rotweinflasche
the bottle of red wine
die Pizza
Pizza
der Belag
Topping
der Pizzabelag
the pizza topping
die Dose
Can
der Öffner
Opener
der Dosenöffner
the can opener
Here are a few recommended German lessons to try next!
Bis bald!
Paul Weber: Rocket German
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