The gender of nouns

Here are a few hints which will help you learn the gender of nouns:

(a) Masculines

• Names of seasons, months, days of the week and points of the compass are all masculine: der Frühling, spring (etc.); der Januar, January (etc.); der Sonntag ,Sunday (etc.); der Norden, north (etc.).

• Persons carrying out a profession or trade; these nouns end in -er: der Arbeiter, worker or workman; der Lehrer, teacher; der Fleischer, butcher (etc.).

• Most nouns formed from the stem if a verb are masculine: der Besuch, visit; der Rat, advice (etc.).

(b) Feminines

• Nouns which end in the syllables -ei, -heit, -keit, -in, -schaft, -ung are all feminine: die Bäckerei, bakery; die Krankheit, illnes; die Einsamkeit, loneliness; die Lehrerin, teacher; die Freundschaft, friendship; die Wohnung, flat.

(c) Neuters

• Infinitives of verbs used as nouns are all neuter. e.g. das Lesen, reading; das Singen, singing.

• All names of towns and most names of countries are neuter in German. (Countries which are not neuter include: die Schweiz, Switzerland; die Türkei, Turkey.)

• All nouns which end in -chen, -lein, -ment, -sal and -um. E.g. das Mädchen, girl; das Fräulein, young lady; das Element, element; das Schicksal, fate; das Studium, study.

(d) Nouns with two genders

There are some nouns which have two genders and mean different things according to the gender. The commonest of these are: