Rules for German Articles
German articles have three genders with seamingly no pattern, which poses a challenge for every German learner. However, some patterns do exist. You can memorize them to make learning easier in the long run. These German gender rules generally fall into two categories: meaning-based and ending-based rules.
For instance, one meaning-based rule says that most rivers in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) are female, like "die Donau" (the Danube), while most rivers outside of that region are male, like "der Nil" (the Nile). While, this isn’t a strict rule ("die Themse" for the Thames), it is still a good pattern to remember.
Ending-based rules can be particularly helpful. One famous and reliable German article rule is that nouns ending with -ung are always female without exception, such as "die Wohnung". Other rules, like nouns ending in -e usually being female, are also very useful despite having numerous exceptions.
Below is a breakdown of all meaning-based and ending-based rules for each gender. Pay attention to the note on how reliable the rules are ("All..", "Nearly all..", "Most..", "Many..").
Masculine Nouns (Der)
Meaning-Based Rules
- All masculine:
- Days, months, and seasons (e.g., der Montag, der Juli, der Winter)
- Most masculine:
- Weather terms (e.g., der Regen, der Schnee)
- Alcoholic and plant-based drinks (e.g., der Wein)
- Car and train types (e.g., der BMW)
- Currencies (e.g., der Euro)
- Mountains and mountain ranges (e.g., der Himalaya)
- Non-German rivers (e.g., der Amazonas)
- Rocks and minerals (e.g., der Granit)
Suffix-Based Rules
- All masculine
- -ismus (e.g., der Kapitalismus)
- Nearly all masculine
- -ant, -ast (e.g., der Elefant, der Enthusiast)
- -ich, -ig (e.g., der Teppich, der Honig)
- -ling (e.g., der Schmetterling)
- -or (e.g., der Motor)
- -us (e.g., der Bonus)
- Most masculine
- -er, -en, el (e.g., der Lehrer, der Garten, der Apfel)
Feminine Nouns (die)
Meaning-Based Rules
- All feminine:
- Rivers within German-speaking countries (e.g., die Donau)
- Named machines (e.g., die Boeing 747, die Titanic)
- Numerals used as nouns (e.g., die Eins)
- Most feminine:
- Trees, flowers, and fruits (e.g., die Rose, die Birne)
Suffix-Based Rules
- All feminine:
- -ade, -age (e.g., die Marmelade, die Garage)
- -anz (e.g., die Toleranz, die Intelligenz)
- -ei (e.g., die Bäckerei, die Melodie)
- -ere (e.g., die Konfessere)
- -ette, -atte (e.g., die Kassette, die Krawatte)
- -ik (e.g., die Musik)
- -ion, (e.g., die Nation, die Diskussion)
- -tät (e.g., die Universität, die Qualität)
- -in, -ung (e.g., die Lehrerin, die Zeitung)
- -heit, -keit (e.g., die Freiheit, die Möglichkeit)
- -schaft (e.g., die Mannschaft)
- -sis (e.g., die Basis)
- -ur (e.g., die Kultur)
- Nearly all feminine:
- -a (e.g., die Pizza)
- Most feminine:
- -e (e.g., die Blume)
Neuter Nouns (das)
Meaning-Based Rules
- All neuter:
- Words that were made into nouns (e.g., das Essen, das Rauchen, das Blau)
- Young humans and animals (e.g., das Kind, das Kätzchen)
- Most neuter:
- Collective nouns with Ge- prefix (e.g., das Gebirge)
- Metals and chemical elements not ending in -stoff (e.g., das Gold)
- Units (except der Meter & der Liter) (e.g., das Gramm)
- Continents, countries, provinces, and cities (e.g., das Deutschland)
- Fractions and percentages (e.g., das Drittel)
Suffix-Based Rules
- All neuter:
- -chen, -lein (e.g., das Mädchen, das Fräulein)
- -ment (e.g., das Instrument)
- -um (e.g., das Zentrum)
- Nearly all neuter:
- -icht (e.g., das Licht)
- -il (e.g., das Ventil)
- -ing (e.g., das Training)
- -ma (e.g., das Thema)
- -tel, -sel (e.g., das Viertel)
- Most neuter:
- -nis (e.g., das Ergebnis)
- -tum (e.g., das Eigentum)
- -o (e.g., das Auto)