The majority of singular nouns ending in -er are masculine, so der Sommer (the
summer), der Lehrer (the [male] teacher), der Angeber (the show-off), der
Besitzer(the [male] owner), der Amerikaner (the [male] American) or der
Bestatter (the [male] undertaker).
Male people, male der Mann, der Professor, der Lehrer,
animals der Stier
Many instruments/things der Computer, der Toaster, der
that do things (when Kugelschreiber, der Motor
these words end in -er or
-or)
Days, months, seasons, der Tag, der Freitag, der September,
most weather der Winter
elements der Schnee, der Regen, der Nebel
[=fog]
Points on the compass: der Norden, der Süden, der Osten,
der Westen
Makes (names) of cars: der Volkswagen/der VW, der Porsche,
der Toyota
BUT NOTE: das Auto
Most non-German rivers der Mississippi, der Mekong, der Nil,
der Amazonas
Most nouns ending in –en der Garten, der Hafen [=harbour], der
Ofen [=oven]
Namen von
Jahreszeiten: Frühling, Sommer, Herbst, Winter;
DIE
If a word ends with -ung, -keit, -schaf, –tät, -ik, -tion, -heit or –ei
die Ahnung (idea)
die Möglichkeit (possibility)
die Wissenschaf (science)
die Qualität (quality)
die Semantik (semantics)
die Situation (situation)
die Dunkelheit (darkness)
die Bäckerei (bakery)
Very often—though not always—words ending with an -e also have the die article,
like die Lampe (lamp).
Die is always used when speaking in plural (except in the Dativ case, which we’ll
get to later). This can be a lifesaver sometimes. Just only speak of things in terms
of two or more and you’re golden.
– ung die Entscheidung (the decision)
– tät die Universität (the university)
– tion / – sion die Explosion (the explosion)
– schaft die Gesellschaft (the society)
– keit/ – heit die Schönheit (the beauty)
– ie die Geographie (the geography)
– enz / – anz die Toleranz (the tolerance)
– ei die Schlägerei (the fight)
– ur die Natur (the nature)
– in die Boxerin (the [female] boxer)
Female people, female animals die Frau, die Professorin, die Kuh, die Gans
Most German rivers die Donau, die Mosel, die Elbe, die Weser, die
Oder
BUT NOTE: der Rhein, der Main
Most nouns ending in -e BUT NOTE: der Käse, der Name, das Ende, das
Auge, der Affe [and other animals], der Biologe
[and other male job designations], der Kunde
[=customer]
DAS
If a word ends with -chen, -ma, -um, -ment, -lein or -tum,
das Würstchen (sausage)
das Schema (scheme)
das Christentum (Christianity)
das Medikament(medicine)
das Fräulein (lady)
das Eigentum (property)
Also, it’s very common for technology, mechanical and science words to have
the das article in German.
Noun Ending Example
– chen das Häuschen (the little house)
– lein das Büchlein (the booklet/little book)
– um das Wachstum (the growth)
The large majority of nouns beginning with Ge- are neuter, so das Gesetz (the
law), das Gespräch (the conversation) or das Gebäude (the building) — BUT die
Geschichte(probably the most common of the anomalous Ge- nouns) bucks the
trend by taking the feminine form. We recommend you pay particular attention to
the feminine noun endings, as these crop up very frequently. You should also
ensure you internalize the gender of every new noun you learn — don’t just
learn Lehrer, learn the word with it’s definite article: der Lehrer. This way you’ll
begin to naturally couple articles with nouns, and this will facilitate your use of the
German cases (the next little grammatical hurdle in the German language).
Human babies and animal das Baby, das Kind, das Kalb, das
babies Lamm
Most metals das Gold, das Kupfer, das Silber, das
Nickel, das Kadmium
Verb infinitives turned das Leben [=life], das Schwimmen (as
into nouns in: Swimming is fun)
Collectives with Ge- das Gebäude [=building], das Gebirge
[=mountain range], das Geschrei
[=screaming], das Gebüsch [=bushes]
Nouns w. diminutive das Kindlein, das Mädchen, das
suffixes: -chen, -lein (and Hartmutchen
their dialect forms: -le, Hänsel & Gretel
-erl, -el, -li)
Nouns ending in -(i)um; das Museum, das Visum, das Forum,
note the suffix –tum das Antibiotikum, das Aquarium, das
Medium, das Opium; das Wachstum,
das Datum
BUT NOTE: The suffix
-aum is masculine: der Baum, der
Raum, der Schaum
AND NOTE: der Irrtum, der Reichtum
Nouns ending in -ment das Experiment, das Dokument, das
Element, das Instrument
Nouns ending in –ma das Thema, das Schema, das Prisma,
das Koma, das Komma, das Drama,
das Aroma, das Asthma
BUT NOTE: die Firma, der Puma