German Noun Gender How To Stop Memorizing German With Laura
German Noun Gender How To Stop Memorizing German With Laura
German Noun Gender How To Stop Memorizing German With Laura
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German Noun
Gender: Your
Essential Guide
If you’re like many of my students, you’ve
been using Duolingo, watching YouTube, or
learning German through various online
tools. You picked up on those little
words der, die, das that always come in
front of nouns — der Mann, die Frau, das
Kind, etc.
Looking for a
Specific Topic?
Jump Ahead.
What You Need to Know
Noun Groups
Noun Forms
Hierarchy of Rules
Noun Compounds
Noun Outliers
Main Takeaways
Study Tips
What is Noun
Gender?
English uses gendered pronouns — he,
she, it, her, him, his, hers, etc. But that’s
about it. Not an important aspect of English.
Digging Deeper
In this section, we’ll explore various noun
groups & noun forms associated with one
gender over the others. We’ll also talk about
‘outliers’ nouns such as these:
Noun Groups
You’re busy and sometimes German feels
like a big bite that you’ve somehow got to
chew.
Masculine Groups
The following topics are filled with largely
masculine nouns.
! Animals
! Cars
! Currency
! Directions
! Male Persons
! Non-German Rivers
! Outer Space
! Weather
Feminine Groups
There are many masculine and neuter noun
topics. There are notably fewer feminine
noun categories (even easier to memorize!).
! Animals
! Female Persons
Neuter Groups
Like the masculine noun topics, there are
many neuter noun categories.
! Scientific units
Noun Forms
In addition to noun groups, we can
categorize German noun gender according
to spelling patterns (generally ‘suffixes’
added on to the end of words).
Masculine Forms
Feminine Forms:
Here are feminine noun suffixes and other
forms associated with feminine noun gender
(click for examples and common
exceptions):
Neuter Forms:
Finally, here is the (longest of the 3!) list of
suffixes and other forms connected with
neuter noun gender (click for examples
and common exceptions):
Noun Compounds
Usually, the final word in a compound noun
determines the gender, as in: