§1 Nouns identify. They may identify something animate (a person, a tree) or
inanimate (a rock, a city), including abstract concepts such as difficulty or justice.
A noun may stand by itself:
power corrupts
or it may be part of an entire noun phrase: the tall woman with the Great Dane
der Amerikaner die Österreicherin
der Paß die Fahrkarte das Gepäck
A spelling note: When a word ends in -ss or -sst, the -ss is written ß: Paß, heißt.
ss is also written ß after long vowels and double vowels (diphthongs): stoßen, heißen.
lists appears with der, die, or das:
der Paß die Fahrkarte das Gepäck
In form and function, der, die, and das all correspond to English ‘the’. In German,
however, the differences among the three forms der, die, das play an important
grammatical role. They indicate whether a noun is “masculine”, “feminine”, or
“neuter”.
Der represents masculine nouns such as Paß.
Die signifies feminine nouns such as Fahrkarte.
Das represents neuter nouns such as Gepäck.
or die Frau.
§4 In some instances it is possible to make an intelligent guess about the gender of a noun.
Especially important may be the ending of the noun. Here are some principles:
a) Characteristic endings: Nouns that end in -er and denote nationality are
masculine: der Amerikaner ‘American (man)’, der Kanadier ‘Canadian (man)’.
Also masculine are nouns that end in -er and denote professions: der Lehrer
‘teacher’, der Schaffner ‘conductor’.
Corresponding feminine nouns are derived from these masculine forms.
They end in -in: die Amerikanerin, die Kanadierin, die Lehrerin, die Schaffnerin.
Most nouns ending in -e are feminine: die Fahrkarte ‘ticket’, die Straße
‘street’. These include nouns formed from adjectives such as die Länge
‘length’ and die Breite ‘width’.
b) Characteristic suffixes: Nouns ending in the suffixes -heit, -keit, -schaft, and
-ung are always feminine: die Schönheit ‘beauty’ (from schön ‘beautiful’), die
Wichtigkeit ‘importance’ (from wichtig ‘important’), die Freundschaft
‘friendship’, die Hoffnung ‘hope’ (from the verb hoffen ‘hope’).
All nouns ending in the suffixes -chen and -lein are neuter; the two suffixes
suggest smallness: das Häuschen ‘small house’, das Kindlein ‘little child’.
§5 Just as in English, German nouns generally have both singular and plural forms.
English noun plurals usually end in ‘-s’:
(Note that the sound represented by the written ‘s’ may vary, and that spelling
Long ago German nouns could be identified by groups, and plural forms were
reasonably predictable. Today, however, it is very difficult to guess what a noun’s plural
form might be.
SINGULAR PLURAL
Mann Männer
Flasche Flaschen
Wurst Würste
Engländer Engländer
Ticket Tickets
Kanadierin Kanadierinnen
Because of the variety of plural forms, the plural of each noun must be learned along
with the singular.
§6 There are several common patterns of plural formation in German.
• Feminine nouns ending in -e add -n: die Fahrkarte, die Fahrkarten; die Schule,
die Schulen ‘school, schools’.
• –er nouns of nationality or profession have no additional ending: der
Engländer, die Engländer ‘Englishman, Englishmen’, der Bäcker, die Bäcker
‘baker, bakers’.
• The feminine -in nouns of nationality or profession add -nen: die
Amerikanerin, die Amerikanerinnen, die Autorin, die Autorinnen.
• Nouns with the feminine suffixes -heit, -keit, and –ung add –en: die
Schönheiten ‘beauties’, die Möglichkeiten ‘possibilities’, die Hoffnungen ‘hopes’.
• Some German noun plurals end in -s. They are usually words borrowed
from other languages, such as English or French:
die Hobbys die Hotels die Autos
• Masculine and neuter nouns that end in -el, -en, -er, -chen, and -lein have no
additional plural ending:
NOTE: In the dative plural all nouns (other than those whose plurals end in -s) end in -n.
NOMINATIVE PLURAL: die Tage DATIVE PLURAL: nach zehn Tagen