Gender and Articles
Masculine (der):
Nouns referring to male individuals or animals
Most nouns related to things that perform actions
Points of the compass
Seasons, months, days of the week, days, times of day
Winds, rains
Names associated with earth, rock and minerals
Money
Car brands
ends in -and, -ant, -är, - ast, -ör, -ich, -(i)ent, -ier, -iker, -ikus, -ist, -ling, -or, -s
Feminine (die):
Most nouns ending in -e (Note: Male individuals or animals ending in -e are still masculine, the "Ge- -e combo is neuter.)
Counting numbers
Trees and majority of flowers
Motocycle brands
Ship and plane names
ends in -a, -ade, -age, -aille, -äse, -ance, -äne, -anz, -ei, -elle, -ette, -euse, -heit, -ie, -(i)enz, -(i)ere, -ik, -ille, -in, -ine, -ion, -isse, -(i)tät, -itis, -ive, -keit, -ose, -schaft, -sis, -ung, -ur, -üre
Neutral (das):
Most nouns beginning with Ge-
Expressions related to fractions
Infinitive verbs used as nouns
Nouns referring to the young humans and animals
Metals, chemical materials, drugs
Hotels and cinemas
ends in -chen, -lein, -le, -eau, -ett, -icht, -in, -ing, -(i)um, -ma, -ment, -tel, -tum
In compound words and abbreviation, gender and article are determined by the last word.
Plurals
Article for majority of plurals is “die”.
The indefinite has no article in the plural form, although the negative indefinite form does.
der | ein | kein |
die | eine | keine |
das | ein | kein |
die | - | keine |
Forming Plurals
Pluralendungen | ||
- | No suffixes | -el, -er, -en, -chen, -lein, -sel |
◌̈ | Umlaut | |
-e | -nis, -us (gets an additional s) -al, -är, -at, -eur, -ier, -il, | |
◌̈ -e | ||
-er | ||
◌̈ -er | -tum | |
-(e)n | -e, -ei, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung, -age, -ant, -enz, -ion, -ist, -or, -tät, -ur | |
-nen | -in | |
-s | Foreign words, especially ending in a vowel |
Some words that share the same articles and spelling form their plurals differently.
Some words have unique plural forms.
Some words are always in plural while some words are always singular.
German plurals can be categorized into several types based on their endings. Here are examples for nine different types:
No change : der Lehrer (teacher) - die Lehrer (teachers)
Umlaut: die Mutter (mother) - die Mütter (mothers)
-e: der Hund (dog) - die Hunde (dogs)
Umlaut + -e: das Buch (book) - die Bücher (books)
-er: das Kind (child) - die Kinder (children)
Umlaut + -er: das Haus (house) - die Häuser (houses)
-n/-en: die Frau (woman) - die Frauen (women)
-nen: die Lehrerin (female teacher) - die Lehrerinnen (female teachers)
-s: das Auto (car) - die Autos (cars)
Declension of Nouns
German uses declensions to convey essential information about nouns in a sentence, helping us understand who is performing an action and who is receiving it.
The declension of nouns is divided into three groups:
Strong declension
Weak declension
Mixed declension
In the declension of nouns, there are four cases:
Nominative
Accusative
Dative
Genitive
Person | Object | |
N | wer? | was? |
A | wen? | was? |
D | wem? | - |
G | wessen? | wessen? |
Strong Declension
Definite
M | F | N | Pl | |
Nominativ | der | die | das | die |
Akkusativ | den | die | das | die |
Dativ | dem | der | dem | den -n |
Genitiv | des -es | der | des -es | der |
Nouns with the article 'der' or 'das' generally take '-es' in the genitive case if they are monosyllabic, and '-s' if they have more than one syllable. Some nouns can take either suffix.
Nouns ending in -s, -ß, -x, -z, or -tz take the suffix -es.
"Von" is used when a plural noun cannot take an article or ends in -s, -x, -tz, or -z. In these cases, "von" requires the dative case, not the genitive.
If a plural noun does not end in -n, it receives an -n, unless it ends in -s/-a.
Masculine (der)
1. Nominative (der)
-Der Mann ist stark. (The man is strong.)
2. Accusative (den)
-Ich sehe den Mann. (I see the man.)
3. Dative (dem)
-Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. (I give the man the book.)
4. Genitive (des)
-Das Auto des Mannes ist neu. (The man's car is new.)
Feminine (die)
1. Nominative (die)
-Die Frau ist klug. (The woman is smart.)
2. Accusative (die)
-Ich sehe die Frau. (I see the woman.)
3. Dative (der)
-Ich helfe der Frau. (I help the woman.)
4. Genitive (der)
-Das Buch der Frau ist interessant. (The woman's book is interesting.)
Neuter (das)
1. Nominative (das)
-Das Kind ist glücklich. (The child is happy.)
2. Accusative (das)
-Ich sehe das Kind. (I see the child.)
3. Dative (dem)
-Ich gebe dem Kind das Spielzeug. (I give the child the toy.)
4. Genitive (des)
-Das Spielzeug des Kindes ist neu. (The child's toy is new.)
Plural (die)
1. Nominative (die)
-Die Herzen schlagen. (The hearts are beating.)
2. Accusative (die)
-Ich fühle die Herzen. (I feel the hearts.)
3. Dative (den)
-Ich höre den Herzen zu. (I listen to the hearts.)
4. Genitive (der)
-Die Stärke der Herzen ist bemerkenswert. (The strength of the hearts is remarkable.)
Indefinite
M | F | N | Pl | |
Nominativ | ein | eine | ein | - |
Akkusativ | einen | eine | ein | - |
Dativ | einem | einer | einem | -n |
Genitiv | eines -es | einer | eines -es | - |
M | F | N | Pl | |
Nominativ | kein | keine | kein | keine |
Akkusativ | keinen | keine | kein | keine |
Dativ | keinem | keiner | keinem | keinen -n |
Genitiv | keines -es | keiner | keines -es | keiner |
Masculine (der)
1. Nominative (kein)
-Ich sehe keinen Mann. (I see no man / I don't see a man.)
2. Accusative (keinen)
-Er hat keinen Hund. (He doesn't have a dog.)
3. Dative (keinem)
-Ich helfe keinem Mann. (I am not helping any man.)
4. Genitive (keines)
-Das Auto keines Mannes ist hier. (No man's car is here / The car of no man is here.)
Feminine (die)
1. Nominative (keine)
-Es gibt keine Frau hier. (There is no woman here / There are no women here.)
2. Accusative (keine)
-Ich sehe keine Frau. (I see no woman / I don't see a woman.)
3. Dative (keiner)
-Ich gebe keiner Frau Blumen. (I give no woman flowers / I am not giving any woman flowers.)
4. Genitive (keiner)
- Das Haus keiner Frau ist alt. (No woman's house is old / The house of no woman is old.)
Neuter (das)
1. Nominative (kein)
-Das ist kein Kinderspiel. (That is no child's play / That is not a child's play.)
2. Accusative (kein)
-Er hat kein Spielzeug. (He doesn't have any toys / He has no toys.)
3. Dative (keinem)
-Ich gebe keinem Kind Süßigkeiten. (I give no child candies / I am not giving any child candies.)
4. Genitive (keines)
-Das Zimmer keines Kindes ist groß. (No child's room is big / The room of no child is big.)
Plural (die)
1. Nominative (keine)
-Es gibt keine Bücher hier. (There are no books here.)
2. Accusative (keine)
-Ich sehe keine Bücher. (I see no books / I don't see any books.)
3. Dative (keinen)
-Ich gebe keinen Büchern Geschenke. (I give no gifts to books / I am not giving any gifts to books.)
4. Genitive (keiner)
-Die Seiten keiner Bücher sind weiß. (The pages of no books are white / None of the books' pages are white.)
Weak Declension
The number is significantly fewer compared to words in strong declension.
According to this declension, these words are divided into two groups, and their characteristics are as follows:
A) Definite article for all words that do weak declension is 'der':
Especially nouns ending in suffixes like -and, -ant, -ent, and -ist, as well as nouns derived from Greek indicating a profession.
B) In addition, there are other words that do weak declension. These are nouns derived from adjectives and verbs. However, unlike the other group, their definite articles can be der, die, or das.
It's possible to form a noun from almost any adjective.
Nouns derived from verbs also enter weak declension. These kinds of nouns are made from Partizip I and Partizip II.
Partizip I: The stem form of the verb + ending '-d'
Partizip II: The third form of the verb.
Definite
The difference between weak and strong declension lies in the suffix -en or -n added to weak declension nouns. This suffix remains consistent across cases once the article changes.
Nouns in weak declension take 'der' as the definite article, with the change occurring from the accusative case onwards. In plural, -en or -n is added to nouns, serving as both singular and plural markers, except for a few exceptions.
Singular | Plural | |
N | - | -(e)n |
A | -(e)n | -(e)n |
D | -(e)n | -(e)n |
G | -(e)n | -(e)n |
Nouns derived from adjectives or participles only take the suffix -n, which remains the same in plural. The weak declension suffix is added from the point where the article changes: from the accusative case for 'der' nouns, and from the dative case for 'die' nouns.
M | F | Pl | |
N | - | - | -n |
A | -n | - | -n |
D | -n | -n | -n |
G | -n | -n | -n |
Indefinite
Singular | Plural | |
N | - | -(e)n |
A | -(e)n | -(e)n |
D | -(e)n | -(e)n |
G | -(e)n | -(e)n |
Nouns derived from adjectives or participles that refer to people take the following suffixes when declined with the indefinite article;
M | F | Pl | |
N | -r | - | - |
A | -n | - | - |
D | -n | -n | -n |
G | -n | -n | -r |
1. Nominative
- Der Junge spielt. (The boy is playing.)
2. Accusative
- Ich sehe den Jungen. (I see the boy.)
3. Dative
- Ich gebe dem Jungen das Buch. (I give the boy the book.)
4. Genitive
- Die Mutter des Jungen ist hier. (The boy's mother is here.)
Mixed Declension
These nouns take the weak declension suffixes (-en/-n) as well as the genitive -s suffix from strong declension. The definite article for these nouns is always either 'der' or 'das'.
These types of nouns take the same suffixes whether they are declined with definite or indefinite articles.
M | F | Pl | |
N | - | - | -(e)n |
A | -(e)n | - | -(e)n |
D | -(e)n | -(e)n | -(e)n |
G | -(e)ns | -(e)ns | -(e)n |
1. Nominative
- Der Name ist lang. (The name is long.)
2. Accusative
- Ich schreibe den Namen. (I write the name.)
3. Dative
- Ich gebe dem Namen Bedeutung. (I give the name meaning.)
4. Genitive
- Die Länge des Namens ist ungewöhnlich. (The length of the name is unusual.)