Nouns, gender and plurals
Der, die and das, how a compound noun takes its gender, the plural patterns, and the -n of the dative plural.
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Nouns, gender and plurals, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Learn every noun with its gender
German nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter, and the article shows which: der Tisch, die Tasche, das Buch. Every noun has a capital letter. Learn the article with the noun, as one word.
Use the patterns that give the gender away
Nouns ending in -ung, -heit, -keit, -ion and -schaft are feminine (die Zeitung, die Freiheit); most ending in -e are feminine (die Schule); -chen and -lein are neuter (das Mädchen); days, months and seasons are masculine (der Montag, der Mai, der Sommer).
Give a compound noun the gender of its last part
German joins nouns into one word, and the last one decides the gender: die Stadt and der Plan make der Stadtplan; das Haus and die Aufgabe make die Hausaufgabe. Sometimes a linking s joins them: der Geburtstag, die Arbeitsstunde.
Make feminine person nouns with -in
Add -in to a male person noun: der Lehrer, die Lehrerin; der Freund, die Freundin. Some add an umlaut: der Arzt, die Ärztin. The plural is -innen: die Lehrerinnen.
Learn the plural with the noun
Plurals follow patterns rather than one rule. Many masculine nouns add -e, often with an umlaut (der Tag, die Tage; der Stuhl, die Stühle); most feminine nouns add -n or -en (die Frau, die Frauen); many neuter nouns add -er with an umlaut (das Haus, die Häuser); borrowed words add -s (das Handy, die Handys); nouns in -er, -el and -en often change only the article (das Zimmer, die Zimmer). The plural article is always die.
Add -n to a plural noun in the dative
In the dative plural, a noun adds -n unless its plural already ends in -n or -s: mit den Kindern, in den Häusern, mit meinen Freunden.
Make a verb into a noun
Any infinitive can be a neuter noun with a capital: schwimmen gives das Schwimmen (swimming). Das Lesen macht mir Spaß. Languages work the same way: Englisch is das Englisch.
Add -n or -en to weak masculine nounsHigher only
Some masculine nouns, many of them people, add -n or -en in every case but the nominative singular: der Junge, den Jungen, dem Jungen; der Mensch, den Menschen. Nouns made from adjectives decline like adjectives: der Deutsche, ein Deutscher, die Reichen.
Nouns, gender and plurals key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Gender
- Whether a noun is masculine (der), feminine (die) or neuter (das).
- Compound noun
- Two or more words joined as one noun, taking the gender of the last: der Fußball, das Wohnzimmer.
- Plural
- More than one: der Hund, die Hunde. The plural article is always die.
- Umlaut
- The two dots on ä, ö and ü, which change the sound and often mark a plural: die Mütter.
- Dative plural
- The plural used after a dative preposition or as an indirect object, with an extra -n: mit den Kindern.
- Nominalised infinitive
- A verb used as a neuter noun: das Schwimmen, das Essen.
- Weak masculine noun
- A masculine noun that adds -n or -en outside the nominative singular: den Jungen, dem Menschen.
Common mistakes in Nouns, gender and plurals
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Writing a noun with a small letter, as in der hund.
Every German noun has a capital: der Hund.
Making plurals with -s as in English, as in die Tischs.
Only borrowed words take -s. Learn each plural: die Tische, die Häuser, die Frauen.
Giving a compound noun the gender of its first part, as in das Hausaufgabe.
The last part decides: die Aufgabe, so die Hausaufgabe.
Leaving off the dative plural -n, as in mit meinen Freunde.
Add -n in the dative plural: mit meinen Freunden.
Practice
Try a Nouns, gender and plurals question
A GCSE-style original question from this topic. Have a go before you open the working - deciding on an answer first is what makes the working stick.
Which sentence means 'My German is not very good'?
- Meine Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut.
- Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut.
- Mein Deutsche ist nicht sehr gut.
- Meinen Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut.
Show the answer and the working
Answer: Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut.
A language used as a noun is neuter and takes a capital letter: das Deutsch, so 'my German' is mein Deutsch.
- 'My German' means the language you speak, so Deutsch is a noun with a capital.
- Languages used as nouns are neuter.
- So mein, not meine: Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut.