FGL: Gender of Nouns and Definite Articles

Gender of Nouns and Definite Articles

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Gender of Nouns

Bus.jpgA noun is a word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, abstract idea or action, like the words "pool, book, beauty, liberty."  

Mein Vater fährt mit dem Bus in die Stadt. (My father is going to the city by bus).

  • In this sentence Vater, Bus, and Stadt are nouns.

In the German language every noun has a gender, based on specific grammatical features of the noun. The gender of a noun is indicated by the definite article used: 

  • der (masculine)
  • die (feminine)
  • das (neuter)

These all mean the. 

In English, nouns have no grammatical gender, unlike in German. All nouns in English are considered natural in their gender, where an object-referencing noun (table, chair, etc.) uses the pronoun it, while a male-referencing noun (man, boy, etc.) uses the pronoun he and a female-referencing noun (woman, girl, etc.) uses the pronoun she.

Definite Articles Examples

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Look at the examples above. Observe that the gender of a noun normally has little to do with the specific qualities of the object it refers to. That's because noun gender is a grammatical concept that has to do with words rather than any physical attribute of the things they represent. The words table, lamp, and house all have a grammatical gender indicated by the definite articles der (masculine), die (feminine) and das (neuter): 

  • der Tisch (masculine)
  • die Lampe (feminine)
  • das Haus (neuter)

Faustregal (rule of thumb)

Even though German gender rules are based on grammar, there are still some natural gender rules that will apply. The following is a guide to some of the general ideas of gender in German:

  • Most nouns referring to males are der-nouns (der Sohn - the son)
  • Most nouns referring to females are die-nouns (die Tochter - the daughter)
  • Most nouns referring to young beings are das-nouns (das Kind - the child)

The key to finding the grammatical gender of German nouns is generally in the noun ending.

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