Every German noun has a grammatical gender: masculine (der), feminine (die) or neuter (das). It isn't really about male or female — der Tisch (the table) is masculine, das Mädchen (the girl) is neuter. Because the gender changes the articles and adjective endings around the noun, the golden rule is: always learn a noun together with its article, never alone.
The definite and indefinite articles
| Gender | the (definite) | a/an (indefinite) | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | der | ein | der/ein Mann |
| Feminine | die | eine | die/eine Frau |
| Neuter | das | ein | das/ein Kind |
| Plural | die | — (keine) | die Männer |
Patterns that usually work
- Mostly der: male people, days, months, seasons, weather (der Montag, der Sommer, der Regen), and nouns ending in -er, -ling, -ismus.
- Mostly die: most nouns ending in -e, and almost all ending in -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -tion, -ei (die Zeitung, die Freiheit, die Nation).
- Mostly das: diminutives in -chen and -lein (das Mädchen, das Brötchen), most in -um and -ment, and nouns made from verbs (das Essen, das Leben).
die Wohnung, die Gesundheit
the flat, the health
-ung and -heit → die
das Häuschen
the little house
-chen → das, even though Haus is das anyway
der Kapitalismus
capitalism
-ismus → der
✗Ich sehe der Mann.
✓Ich sehe den Mann.
As a direct object, masculine der becomes den in the accusative.
✗das Zeitung
✓die Zeitung
Nouns in -ung are feminine.
Tipp · When you save a new word, save its plural too (der Tisch, die Tische). Gender + plural learned together saves you re-learning the word three times.