German Individualized Instruction

Tips for Learning the Gender of German Nouns

GENDER OF GERMAN NOUNS

MASCULINE

Names of earth and rocks

Names of most types of money (Exceptions: die Lira, die Mark, das Pfund)

Names of directions and winds

Names of rivers outside Germany (Exceptions: those ending in -a or -e, which are feminine)

Names of mountains, lakes and forms of precipitation

Names of alcoholic drinks (Exception: das Bier)

Names of cars and trains

Most nouns ending in -ichand -ling

Most nouns ending in -ig(Exception: das Reisig)

Most nouns ending in -el (Exceptions: die Achsel, die Amsel, die Bibel, die Dattel, die Distel, die Drossel, die Fackel, die Formel, die Gabel, die Insel, die Kanzel, die Kartoffel, die Kugel, die Mandel, die Nadel, die Nessel, die Orgel, die Pappel, die Regel, die Schachtel, die Schaufel, die Schüssel, die Semmel, die Staffel, die Tafel, die Trommel, die Wurzel, die Zwiebel, das Bündel, das Exempel, das Kabel, das Kapitel, das Mittel, das Segel, das Siegel, das Übel)

Most nouns ending in -en (Exceptions: all Infinitives used as nouns, das Becken, das Eisen, das Examen, das Fohlen, das Kissen, das Laken, das Leinen, das Omen, das Wappen, das Zeichen)

Nouns ending in -er, when they refer to people (Exceptions: die Jungfer, die Mutter, die Schwester, die Tochter: biological gender always overrules grammatical gender, die Butter, das Poster, das Fenster)

Words ending in -ner: Rentner, Schaffner, Zentner, Zöllner. (The feminine form adds -in: die Rentnerin).

FEMININE

Names of German rivers (Exceptions: rivers in the SW are masculine: der Main, der Rhein)

Names of cardinal numbers

Names of planes and ships

Most nouns ending in -e (Exceptions: those with prefix Ge- and those denoting males)

Nouns ending in -heit, -keit and -schaft

Nouns ending in -in (persons only)

Nouns ending in -ei (Exceptions: compound nouns denoting a type of egg eg. das Spiegelei)

Nouns ending in -ung

Nouns of foreign words ending in -ade, -age, -anz, -enz, -ette, -ie, -ik, -ine, -ion, -isse, -itis, -ive, -tät and -ur

NEUTER

Names of metals and most chemical elements (Exceptions: der Stahl, die Bronze)

Names of letters and musical notes

Names of colors

Names of fractions (Exceptions: die Hälfte)

Names of hotels, cafés and theatres

Infinitives used as nouns

Most nouns starting with Ge- (Exceptions: der Gebrauch, der Gedanke, der Gefallen, der Genuß, der Gesang, der Geschmack, der Geruch, der Gewinn, die Gebärde, die Gebühr, die Geburt, die Geduld, die Gefahr, die Gemeinde, die Geschichte, die Gewalt)

Most nouns ending in -chenand -lein(Diminutives are often created by adding the suffixes -chen and -lein. A German mnemonic saying: -chen und -lein machen alles klein.)

Most nouns ending in -ment (Exceptions: der Moment, der Zement )

Most nouns ending in -nis (Exceptions: die Erlaubnis, die Erkenntnis, die Finsternis)

Most nouns ending in -tum (Exceptions: der Irrtum, der Reichtum )

Most nouns ending in -um

The information above is based on the link below. Some mistakes were corrected and examples added.
http://www.home.gil.com.au/~kmunro/g-langua/gender-m.html

Tips, Regeln zur Bestimmung von gender of German nouns:

http://german.miningco.com/homework/german/library/weekly/aa042098.htm
(nett, gefällt mir, includes German gender quizzes)

http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~spkraus1/webdesign/handson/secondpage.htm
(ganz gut, aber keine Tips darüber, welche Wörter welchen Artikel haben; hingegen Allgemeines über Unterschied grammatical vs. biological gender und 2 Tabellen mit den Artikeln in allen Kasi)

http://webcampus3.stthomas.edu/paschons/language_http/German/grammar/noungender.html
(braucht lange um zu laden!, funktioniert nicht immer)

http://www.serve.com/shea/gender.htm
(same as kmunro's page, same mistakes, too)

http://www.home.gil.com.au/~kmunro/g-langua/gender-m.html