Linguata
Introduction to learning German - Genders
The previous article mentioned the importance – if you decide to learn German words – of memorizing the definite article that goes with each word, so you learn the two items as a unit. This is because the definite article tells you the noun’s gender, which gives you an important clue about how the word behaves in different kinds of sentence. Unfortunately the gender of German nouns is not always obvious, even when they apply to people e.g. ‘girl’ (das Mädchen), ‘woman’ (das Weib) and ‘child’ (das Kind) are all neuter.
However there are some useful pointers:
Masculine
|
1. |
Most men and male animals: der Mann - the man; der Hund - the dog |
|
2. |
Most words ending in –el –en* –er –ig –ich –ing –ling: der Teppich (carpet) |
|
3. |
Seasons, months, days: der Winter, der Januar, der Montag |
|
4. |
Stones: der Stein (stone), der Marmor (marble) |
|
* except infinitives |
Feminine
1.
Most women and female animals:
2.
Words ending in
3.
Words ending in
4.
Foreign words ending in
5.
Two-syllable names of inanimate objects ending in
Neuter
|
1. |
Infinitives used as nouns: das Skilaufen (skiing) |
|
2. |
All towns and most countries: das England |
|
3. |
Diminutives in –chen and –lein: das Hähnchen (chicken) |
|
4. |
Most words ending in –al –el –ier –nis –sel –tum: das Datum (date) |
|
5. |
Collective nouns beginning with Ge-: das Gepäck (luggage) |
|
6. |
Most metals: das Gold |
Note : Compound nouns take their gender from the end component e.g. Hotel is neuter, but Hoteldirektor is masculine because the end component word, Direktor, is masculine. If the hotel manager is a woman, a Direktorin, she would be die Hoteldirektorin. Reise (journey) is feminine but it is der Reisepaß (passport) because der Paß is masculine.
The Definite and Indefinite Articles; Demonstrative Adjectives
Definite Article
The following table shows how the definite article, ‘the’, is declined:
|
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
|||
|
Masc. |
Fem. |
Neut. |
All genders |
|
|
Nom. |
der |
die |
das |
die |
|
Acc. |
den |
die |
das |
die |
|
Gen. |
des |
der |
des |
der |
|
Dat. |
dem |
der |
dem |
den |
Conveniently, demonstrative adjectives such as dieser (this), jener (that), jeder (each, every), welcher ( which ) and mancher (many) follow virtually the same pattern:
|
Nom. |
dieser |
diese |
dieses |
diese |
|
Acc. |
diesen |
diese |
dieses |
diese |
|
Gen. |
dieses |
dieser |
dieses |
dieser |
|
Dat. |
diesem |
dieser |
diesem |
diesen |
The Indefinite Article
The next tables show how the indefinite article, ‘a’, and the possessive pronouns are declined:
|
SINGULAR |
|||||
|
Masc. |
Fem. |
Neut. |
|||
|
Nom. |
ein |
eine |
ein |
||
|
Acc. |
einen |
eine |
ein |
||
|
Gen. |
eines |
einer |
eines |
||
|
Dat. |
einem |
einer |
einem |
||
The possessive adjectives are declined similarly. They are mein ‘my’, dein ‘your’ (informal), sein ‘his/its’, ihr ‘her/its’, unser ‘our’, Ihr ‘your’ (formal, sing. and plur.). Kein ‘no’, follows the same pattern.
|
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
|||
|
Masc. |
Fem. |
Neut. |
All genders |
|
|
Nom. |
mein (my) |
meine |
mein |
meine |
|
Acc. |
meinen |
meine |
mein |
meine |
|
Gen. |
meines |
meiner |
meines |
meiner |
|
Dat. |
meinem |
meiner |
meinem |
meinen |
