Der, Die, Das: German Noun Gender Explained

Der, die, das: German noun gender

A noun is a word for a person, place, thing or idea. Every German noun has a grammatical gender: masculine, feminine or neuter. Gender is a word class, not a fact about the thing itself: a spoon is masculine (der Löffel), a fork feminine (die Gabel), a knife neuter (das Messer). It decides the word for “the”, and every German noun is written with a capital letter.

The three words for “the”, and one for the plural

An article is a word like “the” or “a” that comes before a noun. German has a different “the” for each gender in the singular, and one shared die for all plurals. These are the basic forms; they change when the noun takes a different job in the sentence, through the system of cases taught at A2.

Masculine der dehr

Feminine die dee

Neuter das dahs

All plurals die dee

For people, grammatical gender usually follows the person’s gender: der Mann (the man), die Frau (the woman). The famous exception is das Mädchen (the girl), which is neuter because of its -chen ending, explained below.

Endings and groups that predict gender

Gender looks random, but many endings and word groups follow reliable patterns. Choose a gender to see its strongest clues.

-er (people and tools)very reliable der Lehrer, der Computer Agents and machines: who or what does something. Exceptions: das Messer, das Fenster.

-lingalmost always der Frühling, der Liebling Spring, darling.

-ismusalways der Tourismus, der Kapitalismus Matches English -ism.

Days, months, seasonsalways der Montag, der Mai, der Winter All time units of this kind.

Weather and directionsusually der Regen, der Norden Rain, snow, wind; north, south.

Car brandsalways der BMW, der Audi Because der Wagen (car) is masculine.

Endings like -ung, -heit and -chen are suffixes: endings added to a word to make a new word. A suffix decides the gender of the whole word, which is why das Mädchen is neuter.

Ein and kein: “a” and “no”

The indefinite article means “a” or “an”. German uses ein for masculine and neuter nouns and eine for feminine. Put k in front and you get kein, “no” or “not a”, which also has a plural.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
a, an	einein Hund	eineeine Katze	einein Kind	—no plural
no, not a	keinkein Hund	keinekeine Katze	keinkein Kind	keinekeine Kinder
the	derder Hund	diedie Katze	dasdas Kind	diedie Kinder

IchIhabehaveeineaSchwester.sister

ikh HAH-buh INE-uh SHVES-tuh “I have a sister.” Why: Schwester is feminine, so eine. This basic form works after haben for feminine and neuter nouns; masculine ein changes to einen, covered with the cases.

DasthatistiskeinnoProblem.problem

dahs ist kine proh-BLAYM “That’s no problem.” Why: German says “no problem” where English says “not a problem”. Kein replaces nicht ein.

Compound nouns: the last word decides

German joins nouns into one long word. However many parts it has, the compound takes the gender of its last part, because that part names what the thing is. The parts before it only describe it.

The same rule works for the longest words. Die Bundesrepublik (the Federal Republic) is feminine because die Republik is. The word builder on the German hub has more examples.

Five plural patterns

The plural is the form for more than one. English mostly adds -s; German has five main patterns, some with an umlaut added to the vowel. Dictionaries show the plural after each noun, and it is worth learning together with the article: der Hund, die Hunde.

Pattern	Mostly used for	Examples
-e	Many masculine nouns, often with an umlaut	der Hund → die Hunde · der Stuhl → die Stühle
-er	Many neuter nouns, always with an umlaut if possible	das Kind → die Kinder · das Buch → die Bücher
-(e)n	Most feminine nouns	die Frau → die Frauen · die Lampe → die Lampen
no ending	Masculine and neuter nouns ending in -er, -el, -en; some add an umlaut	der Lehrer → die Lehrer · die Mutter → die Mütter
-s	Borrowed words and words ending in a vowel other than -e	das Auto → die Autos · das Hotel → die Hotels

Whatever the singular gender, the plural article is always die: der Tisch → die Tische, das Kind → die Kinder. Umlauts in plurals are explained on the German alphabet page.

Check yourself

Use the clues on this page to choose der, die or das.

___ Zeitungnewspaper

___ Mädchengirl

___ Lehrerteacher (male)

___ Freiheitfreedom

___ Museummuseum

___ MontagMonday

___ Essenfood, eating

___ Kühlschrankfridge

Where to go next

Next guideThe present tensePut these nouns into sentences. Next guideGerman pronunciationHow to say der, die, das and the umlauts. Next guideThe German alphabetÄ, ö, ü and ß in plurals. Course mapGerman hubThe full course map.