Determining the Gender of a Noun

The Quick Guide

Der Nouns

  • Male human beings
  • Male animals
  • Days of week
  • Months of year
  • Seasons of year
  • Directions
  • Names of some countries (der Iran, der Irak)
  • Nouns ending in -er / -en / -el (some exceptions) / - ig  / -ich / -ling
  • Most nouns ending in -ant / -är / -ast / -ent / -eur / -ier / -ist
  • Most nouns ending in -ismus / -or / -us

Die Nouns

  • Female human beings
  • Female animals
  • Names of most trees
  • Names of most flowers
  • Names of most fruit (exception - der Apfel)
  • Some countries (die Niederlande, die Turkei, die Tschechische Republik, die Vereinigten Staaten / USA, die Schweiz)
  • Nouns ending in -e / -in / -innem (plural)  / -age / -heit / -keit
  • Nouns ending in -schaft / -ie / -ik / -ek / -eke / -ion
  • Nouns ending in -ung / -ur

Das Nouns

  • Nouns ending in the suffix -chen or -lein
  • Names of cities
  • Names of most countries
  • Names of metals and chemical elements
  • Nouns ending in -ium / ment / -eum / -ium / -uim / -ett
  • Infinitive Verbs used as Nouns

Other Helpful Hints

  • The gender of a compound noun is determined by the last word in the combination

der Arm / das Band / die Uhr = die Armbanduhr

 
 
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