When I first started studying German I was told that there was no way to inherently know the gender of German nouns. You just have to learn the with the word. A year and a half later I was told that some words have certain genders if they end a certain way. What the fuck? Anyways I compiled a list of words which are easy to remember the gender for, or to know just by looking at the word.
If you're a beginner, all you need to know is that there are three genders (not counting plural, which is den). Masculine (der), feminine (die), and neuter (das). Although for the most part, you will have to memorize the genders for most words. Good luck! Don't worry, with time it comes naturally!
- Words ending with an e are usually feminine, think die. An exception to this is the word Der Käse (The Cheese).
- Words ending with a r are usually masculine, think der.
- As long as they are used as nouns, numbers are always feminine.
- The same is true for letters, although they are neuter.
- Any nouns with these suffixes are feminine: -ei, -ie, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung, -et, -ion, -ik.
- Days, months, and the seasons are always masculine.
- Compass directions are always masculine.
- Many towns, and countries are neuter.
- Any nouns with these suffixes are masculine: -ier, -ismus, -ist.
- Nouns that end in -chen are always neuter. This is why the word das Mädchen (the girl) is neuter.
- The words fork (die Gabel) , knife (das Messer) , and spoon (der Löffel) are all different genders.
Was learning German for a while, don't really have a good grasp on the genders, thanks!
ReplyDeletemy last name is german....gender?
ReplyDeleteNeat!
ReplyDeleteWhen i was learning gender in high school, this really confused me. so would be simple, and others looked like they had no rhyme or reason to then at all.
ReplyDelete