The German language has 3 genders when it comes to declining nouns. Learn about the three German genders of nouns (masculine, feminine, neuter)
The German gender of nouns is a feature that is not found in English. Nouns are either masculine, neuter, or feminine, and there are some basic rules for determining their gender.
Masculine Nouns
Masculine nouns include those that refer to male individuals, nationalities, professions, directions (e.g. der Westen), times of day (e.g. der Abend), days, months, and seasons. In addition, most (singular) nouns that end with –en, –el, -er, and –ling, nouns ending with –är, -ar, -or, -ich, –ant, -ent, -eur, –ismus, -ist, and -ier are masculine. Furthermore, brand names of cars are masculine (e.g. der Porsche, der Volkswagen).
Examples: der Lehrling – the apprentice
der Rasen – the lawn
Feminine Nouns
Female individuals, professions and nationalities, nouns ending with an unstressed -e or in –heit, -keit, -ung, -tät, -ion, -age, -ur, -schaft, -ei, -ie, -anz, -enz, and -ik are feminine. Numbers, brands of motorcycles, and ships are also feminine (e.g. die Zwei, die Zehn, die Honda, die Titanic).
Examples: die Landschaft – the landscape
die Universität – the university
Neuter Nouns
Nouns referring to young humans and animals, using diminutive suffixes -sel, -lein and -chen (e.g. das Baby, das Mädchen), letters (e.g. das A, das Z), infinitival nouns/gerunds (e.g. das Essen, das Schwimmen), nominalizations of adjectives (e.g. das Gute, das Beste) and the majority of metals. Nouns ending with -um, -tum, and -ment, but also names of most cities, countries, and continents are neuter.
Examples: das Wachstum – the growth
das Universum – the universe
Exceptions
Some words, especially borrowed or “loan” words (i.e. words taken from other languages), are a little more difficult to predict in terms of gender. Generally speaking, these words’ genders are often determined by their German equivalents/counterparts or their endings:
das Training — follows gerund rule, i.e. always neuter
das Apartment — ‘-ment’ suffix is usually neuter