A1 · Section 2

Nouns I — Gender

The three genders a German noun can belong to, the article that shows which, the classes of meaning and the endings that predict it, and the one article the plural takes whatever the gender.

What a noun is

24.Nouns name people, creatures, places, things and qualities. In German every one of them is written with a capital letter (¶8).

Apfel: apple
Buch: book
Katze: cat

The three genders

25.Every German noun belongs to one of three genders — masculine (das Maskulinum), feminine (das Femininum) or neuter (das Neutrum) — and the definite article in front of it shows which: der, die or das. The gender is a property of the noun rather than of the thing it names, so words for inanimate things carry all three.

der Mann: the man — masculine
der Apfel: the apple — masculine, and not a male
die Frau: the woman — feminine
die Tasche: the bag — feminine
das Kind: the child — neuter
das Essen: the food — neuter

The three genders and their articles
Gender	Article	Example
das Maskulinum	der	der Tisch
das Femininum	die	die Wand
das Neutrum	das	das Fenster

The article of the plural

26.In the plural all three genders take the one article die. Gender is distinguished in the singular only.

der Apfel — die Äpfel: the apple — the apples
die Katze — die Katzen: the cat — the cats
das Kind — die Kinder: the child — the children

Classes of meaning that are masculine

27.Nouns denoting male humans and animals are masculine, and so are the months, the days of the week, and the points of the compass.

der Hund: the dog
der Mann: the man
der Arzt: the doctor
der Kater: the tomcat
der Vater: the father
der Montag: Monday
der Februar: February
der Norden: the north
der Süden: the south

Masculine by meaning
Class	Examples
male humans and animals	der Hund, der Mann, der Arzt, der Kater, der Vater
days of the week and months	der Montag, der Februar
points of the compass	der Norden, der Süden

[1] Diminutives in -chen and -lein are neuter whatever they denote (¶29), so das Bübchen stands beside der Bube.

Classes of meaning that are feminine

28.Nouns denoting female humans and animals are feminine, and so are the names of aeroplanes, motorbikes and ships, and the names of the numerals used as nouns.

die Frau: the woman
die Katze: the cat
die Mutter: the mother
die Boeing: the Boeing
die Cessna: the Cessna
die „Bismarck“: the Bismarck — a ship
die Eins: the number one
die Tausend: the number a thousand

Feminine by meaning
Class	Examples
female humans and animals	die Frau, die Katze, die Mutter
aeroplanes, motorbikes, ships	die Boeing, die Cessna, die Honda, die „Bismarck“, die „Bremen“
the numerals as nouns	die Eins, die Vier, die Tausend

[1] Some vehicle names keep the gender of the word they are built on: der Airbus, because of der Bus.
[2] die BMW is the motorbike; der BMW is the car (¶27).

Classes of meaning that are neuter

29.Nouns denoting the young of humans and animals are neuter, and so are the letters of the alphabet and the names of hotels, cafés, restaurants and cinemas.

das Kind: the child
das Baby: the baby
das Mädchen: the girl — neuter although it denotes a female
das A: the letter A
das B: the letter B
das Taj: the Taj
das Hilton: the Hilton
das Roxy: the Roxy — a cinema
das Airbnb: the Airbnb — a brand name used of the lodging itself

Neuter by meaning
Class	Examples
young humans and animals	das Kind, das Baby, das Lamm, das Ferkel
letters of the alphabet	das A, das B, das Ypsilon
hotels, cafés, restaurants, cinemas	das „Taj“, das „Hilton“, das „Kranzler“, das „Roxy“

In Swiss usage the letters are masculine — der A.

[1] das Mädchen is neuter because it ends in the diminutive -chen, and every noun in -chen and -lein is neuter whatever sex it denotes.

The feminine in -in

30.A feminine noun is formed from many masculine ones by adding -in, and the vowel of the stem takes the Umlaut where it can.

der Arzt — die Ärztin: the doctor (man) — the doctor (woman)
der Koch — die Köchin: the cook (man) — the cook (woman)
der Schauspieler — die Schauspielerin: the actor — the actress
der Lehrer — die Lehrerin: the teacher (man) — the teacher (woman)

Nouns in -mann

31.A noun ending in -mann is masculine, and its feminine replaces that ending with -frau rather than adding -in (¶30).

der Kaufmann — die Kauffrau: the businessman — the businesswoman
der Milchmann — die Milchfrau: the milkman — the milkwoman
der Zimmermann: the carpenter — masculine by its ending

Endings that mark a noun masculine

32.Eight endings mark a noun as masculine, whatever it denotes.

der Konsonant: the consonant
der Teppich: the carpet
der Liebling: the favourite
der Motor: the engine

Masculine endings
Ending	Example
-ant	der Konsonant
-ast	der Kontrast
-ich	der Teppich
-ig	der Honig
-ismus	der Sozialismus
-ling	der Liebling
-or	der Motor
-us	der Rhythmus

Common exceptions: das Labor, das Genus, das Tempus.

[1] Nouns formed from strong verbs without a suffix are masculine too — der Fall, der Gang, der Sprung, der Wurf.

Vocabulary

Apfel: apple · noun; der Apfel, den Apfel, dem Apfel, des Apfels, die Äpfel
Katze: cat · noun; die Katze, die Katze, der Katze, der Katze, die Katzen
Kind: child · noun; das Kind, das Kind, dem Kind, des Kindes, die Kinder
Mann: man · noun; der Mann, den Mann, dem Mann, des Mannes, des Manns, die Männer
Frau: woman · noun; die Frau, die Frau, der Frau, der Frau, die Frauen
Montag: Monday · noun; der Montag, den Montag, dem Montag, des Montags, die Montage
Norden: north · noun; der Norden, den Norden, dem Norden, des Nordens, —; A point of the compass, used in the singular only.
Teppich: carpet · noun; der Teppich, den Teppich, dem Teppich, des Teppichs, die Teppiche
Motor: engine · noun; der Motor, den Motor, dem Motor, des Motors, die Motoren; The stress moves to the second syllable in the plural: Motóren.
Mädchen: girl · noun; das Mädchen, das Mädchen, dem Mädchen, des Mädchens, die Mädchen

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