🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -heit? It's always die.
One suffix that removes all the guesswork. Nouns ending in -heit, -keit, or -igkeit are always feminine, with no exceptions.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ung? It's always die.
The most common feminine suffix in German. Most nouns ending in -ung come straight from verbs you already know, so the article follows for free.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -chen? It's always das.
The diminutive suffix that turns anything neuter, even das Mädchen. It looks like an exception until you see the rule behind it.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -schaft? It's always die.
Gemeinschaft, Freundschaft, Landschaft, and Wirtschaft don't share a meaning, but they all share -schaft, and that suffix always makes the noun feminine.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ling? It's always der.
The -ling suffix shows up on words as different as a season, an insect, and a favourite person, and in every case it signals the masculine article.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ion? It's always die.
Hundreds of nouns borrowed from Latin and French end in -ion, and every one of them is feminine, from Nation to Funktion.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ität? It's always die.
Hundreds of nouns borrowed from Latin end in -ität, covering everything from quality to identity, and every single one is feminine.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ment? It's almost always das.
Latin gave German the -ment suffix, and the neuter gender came with it. Only two exceptions worth knowing: der Moment and der Zement.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -tum? It's almost always das.
One of the few native German suffixes that reliably signals gender. Just two exceptions to memorise: der Reichtum and der Irrtum.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ur? It's always die.
Everyday words like nature, culture, architecture, and temperature all end in -ur, and every single one is feminine.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -ik? It's always die.
Music, politics, technology, mathematics: fields with little in common except the -ik ending, which always brings the feminine article along.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -in? It's always die.
Add -in to a masculine person or animal noun and you get the feminine form: der Lehrer becomes die Lehrerin, every time.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -e? It's usually die.
The strongest single gender signal German gives you. Most nouns ending in -e are feminine, with a short, learnable list of exceptions.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Ends in -er? It's always der.
Take a verb, add -er, get a masculine noun for the person who does it. Teacher, streamer, blogger: the pattern never breaks.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Is it a month? It's always der.
All twelve months and all four seasons share one article, no exceptions and no checking required.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Is it a weekday? It's always der.
Same rule as the months: every day of the week is masculine, every single time.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Brand names. The hidden noun decides.
A brand name is standing in for a longer phrase, and the hidden noun behind it decides the article every time.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Is it a car brand? It's always der.
BMW, Audi, Mercedes: every car brand is masculine, because der Wagen is hiding behind every one of them.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Is it a motorcycle brand? It's always die.
Where car brands are masculine, motorcycle brands are feminine, because die Maschine is the hidden noun this time.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Komposita. The last word decides everything.
However many pieces a German compound is built from, only the very last one decides the gender, the plural, and which suffix rule applies.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
sein werden bleiben → Both sides stay yellow.
sein, werden, and bleiben never take an object. Both sides of the sentence stay in the Nominativ, connected rather than acted on.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
sein. Two jobs, both essential.
sein does two jobs: it links a subject to what it is, and it builds the Perfekt for verbs of movement and change. Both come up constantly.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
werden. Three jobs, one verb.
werden means to become, but it also builds the future tense and the passive voice. Three jobs, one set of forms to learn.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
bleiben. The verb that holds still.
bleiben rounds out the copula verbs. It links a subject to what it stays, and unusually takes sein rather than haben in the Perfekt.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Präpositionen. Small words, fixed cases.
Every German preposition fixes the case of the noun after it. durch and für take Akkusativ, mit and zu take Dativ, a few take Genitiv, and the two-way group depends on the verb.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
These prepositions only speak Akkusativ.
durch, gegen, für, ohne, um, and bis always send the following noun into the Akkusativ. No context to check, no decision to make.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
These prepositions only speak Dativ.
mit, bei, zu, von, nach, seit, aus, and gegenüber always take the Dativ. Learn the list once and the case follows automatically.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
These prepositions only speak Genitiv.
wegen, trotz, während, and the rest of this small group always take the Genitiv. Mostly written and formal German, but fixed every time.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Same preposition. The verb decides.
Nine prepositions like in, an, and auf can take Dativ or Akkusativ. Ask Wo? for location or Wohin? for direction, and the verb settles it.
🇬🇧🇹🇷🇺🇦🇻🇳🇵🇱🇪🇸
Feels like movement. But always Dativ.
zu means “to” and feels like movement, so learners expect Akkusativ. But zu is a fixed Dativ preposition, always. So is aus.
No articles match your search.