der, die, das: gender and articles
Genus und Artikel
Every noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. Learn it with its article.
Every German noun has a gender: masculine (der), feminine (die) or neuter (das). Nouns always start with a capital letter. The gender is often not logical (das Mädchen, the girl), so learn every noun together with its article. In the stories, tap a noun and you see its article.
Articles in the Nominativ
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the | der Tiger | die Kuh | das Kalb | die Kühe |
| a, an | ein Tiger | eine Kuh | ein Kalb | Kühe |
| no, not a | kein Tiger | keine Kuh | kein Kalb | keine Kühe |
Endings that usually tell you the gender
| gender | endings | examples |
|---|---|---|
| der | people ending in -er, -ig, -ling, -ismus; days, months, seasons | der Lehrer, der König, der Montag, der Mai, der Sommer |
| die | -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ion, -tät, -ie; most nouns ending in -e | die Zeitung, die Freiheit, die Information, die Blume |
| das | -chen, -lein, -ment, -um; verbs used as nouns | das Mädchen, das Dokument, das Museum, das Essen |
- In the plural the article is always die, for every gender.
- People usually have their natural gender: der Mann, die Frau. But: das Kind, das Mädchen.
- A compound noun takes the gender of its last part: die Hand + der Schuh = der Handschuh.
✦ Learn nouns as a set: article, noun and plural, e.g. der Tag, die Tage.
Examples from the stories
Punyakoti ist eine Kuh.Punyakoti is a cow.
Punyakoti, die Kuh · Kapitel 1Der Garten ist trocken.The garden is dry.
Tenali Rama und die Diebe · Kapitel 1Das Kalb trinkt Milch.The calf drinks milk.
Punyakoti, die Kuh · Kapitel 2Tuntuni ist ein kleiner Vogel.Tuntuni is a little bird.
Tuntuni und der König · Kapitel 1Die Diebe hören alles.The thieves hear everything.
Tenali Rama und die Diebe · Kapitel 1
See also
Practise it with stories
Every example comes from a DeutschKatha story. On DeutschKatha you can hear each sentence and see which case every word is in.