Language/German/Grammar/Nouns

German Grammar - Nouns

Hi German learners! 😊

In this lesson, we will focus on German nouns, their gender, declension, and pluralization. German nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neutral, and it is important to recognize the gender of a noun as it affects its articles, adjectives, and pronouns.

With the completion of this lesson, consider investigating these related pages: Gender, Be Polite, Talking About Obligations & Two Way Prepositions.

Gender

In German, nouns are classified as either masculine, feminine, or neutral. Unlike in English, there are no specific rules to determine the gender of a noun. Some of them follow a logical gender, for example, Mädchen (girl) is neutral even if it ends in -en, but other times it is completely arbitrary, for example, Die Brille (the glasses) is feminine. To make things easier, it is important to learn the gender together with the noun.

To help you remember the gender of a noun, you can also use a mnemonic trick. For example, all objects of nature are feminine, such as die Sonne (the sun), die Nacht (the night), and die Erde (the earth). All objects related to professions are masculine, such as der Arzt (the doctor), der Lehrer (the teacher), and der Schauspieler (the actor). All objects ending in -chen and -lein are neutral, such as das Mädchen (the girl), das Fräulein (the miss), and das Häuschen (the little house).

Articles

German articles agree with the gender, case, and number of the noun they accompany. There are three types of articles in German: the definite article, the indefinite article, and the null article.

Definite article

The definite article makes reference to a specific noun, already known by the listener/reader. The definite article in German has four different forms, depending on the case:

Der (masculine nominative), den (masculine accusative), dem (masculine/neuter dative), das (neuter nominative/accusative), die (feminine nominative/accusative/dative).

Indefinite article

The indefinite article refers to a noun that is not defined or known by the listener/reader. The indefinite article in German has two different forms, depending on the case:

Ein (masculine/neuter nominative/accusative), einer (masculine/neuter dative), eine (feminine nominative/accusative/dative)

Null article

The null article refers to a noun without an article. In some contexts, German native speakers use the null article instead of the indefinite article when talking about an object in a vague or generic way. For example, Wir haben heute Sonne (we have sun today).

Test

Try to identify the correct article form for the following nouns:

German	Articles
der Tisch	(masculine nominative definite)		eine Katze	(feminine accusative indefinite)		das Auto	(neuter dative definite)		eine Apfelsine	(feminine nominative indefinite)		das Buch	(neuter accusative definite)		Mann	(masculine null)		Mädchen	(neuter nominative indefinite)		der Bus	(masculine accusative definite)		ein Blatt	(neuter dative indefinite)		die Tür	(feminine genitive definite)

Answers:

German	Articles
der Tisch	der		eine Katze	eine		das Auto	dem		eine Apfelsine	eine		das Buch	das		Mann			Mädchen	ein		der Bus	den		ein Blatt	einem		die Tür	der

Noun declension

In German, the declension of a noun changes according to its case, gender, and number. There are four cases in German: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Each case has a different ending, which is added to the stem of the noun.

Nominative

The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence, the noun that is performing the action. In German, the nominative form of a noun is the same as the dictionary form.

Gender	Singular	Plural
Masculine	der Hund	die Hunde	Feminine	die Katze	die Katzen	Neutral	das Haus	die Häuser

Accusative

The accusative case is used for the direct object of a sentence, the noun that is being acted upon. In German, the accusative form of a noun changes according to its gender.

Gender	Singular	Plural
Masculine	den Hund	die Hunde	Feminine	die Katze	die Katzen	Neutral	das Haus	die Häuser

Dative

The dative case is used for the indirect object of a sentence, the person or thing that benefits from the action. In German, the dative form of a noun changes according to its gender.

Gender	Singular	Plural
Masculine	dem Hund	den Hunden	Feminine	der Katze	den Katzen	Neutral	dem Haus	den Häusern

Genitive

The genitive case is used to express possession or a relationship between two nouns. In German, the genitive form of a noun changes according to its gender.

Gender	Singular	Plural
Masculine	des Hundes	der Hunde	Feminine	der Katze	der Katzen	Neutral	des Hauses	der Häuser

Test

Complete the following phrases with the correct declension of the noun:

• Der Hund liegt auf _______ Bett. (the bed) (accusative)
• Ich spiele mit _______ Kindern. (the children) (dative)
• _______ Buch ist interessant. (the book) (nominative)
• Wir sprechen über _______ Autos. (the cars) (genitive)

Answers:

• Der Hund liegt auf dem Bett.
• Ich spiele mit den Kindern.
• Das Buch ist interessant.
• Wir sprechen über die Autos.

Pluralization

To form the plural of a noun, German speakers add different endings, depending on the gender and the noun ending. While there are some generalizations that can be made (for example, all neuter nouns take -er in plural), there are also many exceptions (for example, die Frau (the woman) changes to die Frauen (the women)).

Masculine and neuter nouns

Most masculine and neuter nouns add -e or -en in their plural form. Some neuter nouns add -r in their plural form.

Singular	Plural
der Hund	die Hunde	das Haus	die Häuser	das Kind	die Kinder

Feminine nouns

Some feminine nouns take -en in their plural form, while others take -n.

Singular	Plural
die Katze	die Katzen	die Frau	die Frauen	die Tür	die Türen

Mixed nouns

Mixed nouns are those that can be recognized by their suffix. Some mixed nouns take -e in their plural form, while others take no additional suffix.

Singular	Plural
der Name	die Namen	das Auge	die Augen	der Junge	die Jungen

Test

What is the plural of the following nouns?

• Die Maus (the mouse)
• Der Vogel (the bird)
• Das Mädchen (the girl)
• Der Tisch (the table)
• Die Blume (the flower)

Answers:

• Die Mäuse
• Die Vögel
• Die Mädchen
• Die Tische
• Die Blumen

Dialogue

Here is a short dialogue to help you understand how to use German nouns in context:

• Person 1: Ich habe gestern einen Hund adoptiert. (I adopted a dog yesterday.)
• Person 2: Wie heißt er? (What is his name?)
• Person 1: Sein Name ist Bello. (His name is Bello.)
• Person 2: Wie alt ist er? (How old is he?)
• Person 1: Er ist schon zehn Jahre alt. (He is already ten years old.)

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have learned the basics of German nouns: their gender, articles, declension, and pluralization. German nouns can be tricky, but with practice, you can master them. Remember, don't be afraid to make mistakes, and keep learning!

➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Sources

• German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
• German grammar - Wikipedia
• Introduction to German nouns | Learn German

Congratulations on finishing this lesson! Explore these related pages to keep learning: Gender, Plurals, Temporal Prepositions & Past Participle in German.

Other Lessons

• Past Tense Part 1 Perfect Tense
• How to Use be
• Objects
• Negation
• Cases
• How to Use Have
• Declension
• Simple negative sentences
• Inflections of adjectives
• Questions