Last Updated on August 15, 2024
Usually, German learners are advised to memorize words along with articles. This is all great, but it doesn’t help people with a not very good memory, especially if you didn’t learn the language at school but in courses and had to learn it in a year to B1. The result is usually complete chaos in the vocabulary. Let’s try to put it in a more structured form. There are quite a few groups of words that you can divide into one gender or another based on their meaning or ending. In the first part, we will look at the simplest feminine gender.
Plural, declension, and gender in German. Masculine gender
Plural, declension, and gender in German. Neuter gender
Tests for Gender and Plural in German
Sentences with zu in German
Verbs with prepositions in German. Preposition um and preposition über
Modal verbs in German
Past tense in German. Perfect and preterite
Separable verbs in German
SS or ß in German
From horror to anxiety: fürchten, Angst haben, erschrecken, bangen, entsetzen
Reach an agreement: vereinbaren vs verabreden, ausmachen etc.
Fahrstuhl or Aufzug or Lift and others
Feminine gender in German
Word groups by meaning
Berries, fruits, vegetables
Berries, fruits and vegetables are often feminine, but only as long as they end in -e. Almost all other endings, with rare exceptions, indicate the masculine gender.
There are very few exceptions for berries and fruits, and more for vegetables.
Berries
Beere (Himbeere, Erdbeere…)
Hagebutte
Weintraube
der Sanddorn
der Holunder
Fruits
die Pflaume
die Apfelsine
die Birne
die Kirsche
die Zwetschge
die Banane
die Olive
die Aprikose…
die Ananas
die Dattel
die Mandel
die Nuss
die Grapefruit
die Papaya
die Mango
die Avocado
der Pfirsich (“Persian Apple”)
der Apfel
Vegetables
die Gurke
die Karotte
die Möhre
die Mairübe
die Bohne
die Erbse
die Sellerie
die Aubergine…
die Zucchini
die Kartoffel
die Zwiebel
der Kohl
der Salat
der Spinat
der Lauch
der Knoblauch
der Kürbis
der/die Paprika
der/die Rukola
der Kohlrabi
der Brokkoli
das Radischen
Trees, shrubs, flowers
There is also a noticeable neuter gender in flowers, as there are many diminutive suffixes -röschen, -sternchen.
The same pattern applies here: it ends in -e, which means it is feminine. The most outrageous exceptions are der Klee, die Zeder and die Kiefer.
trees
die Tanne
die Fichte
die Weide
die Birke
die Erle
die Buche
die Platane
die Linde…
die Kiefer
die Zeder
die / der Hasel
die Pappel
der Sanddorn
der Schwarzdorn
der Ahorn
der Flieder
der Hartriegel
flowers
die Azalee
die Tulpe
die Anemone
die Lilie
die Nelke
die Narzisse
die Kaktee…
die Calla
die Gerbera
die Primel
die Brennnessel
die Iris
der Krokus
der Mohn
der Jasmin
der Rittersporn
der Klee
der Lavendel
(see article about masculine)
das Maiglöckchen
das Löwenmaul
das Vergissmeinnicht (see article about neuter)
Insects+
The same story applies to insects and similar creatures: feminine ending in -e and predominantly masculine endings with other endings.
small creatures
die Spinne
die Schnecke
die Fliege
die Biene
die Wespe
die Mücke
die Raupe
die Ameise
die Heuschrecke
die Hornisse
die Motte
die Kakerlake…
die Hummel
die Laus
der Käfer
der Wurm
der Schmetterling
der Floh
der Grashüpfer
der Silberfisch
Numbers – Nouns
Substantivized numbers are relatively rarely used, but they are all feminine.
eine Eins bekomen
die Elf besiegte gestern Serbien mit 0:1
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Feminine gender by form
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Gender designations
Here everything is clear without exception: all words that refer to women with the suffix -in will be feminine.
Bäckerin, Sekretärin, Ärztin, Freundin…
Words ending in:
– ung
– heit
– keit
– schaft
die Übung
die Gesundheit
die Möglichkeit
die Kundschaft…
– ei
from verbs (repeated action)
collective meaning (a lot of something or in this place they do it)
die Zauberei
die Betrügerei
die Plauderei…
die Konditorei
die Datei
die Kartei
die Ziegelei
die Gärtnerei…
All of these words are feminine without exception, which is very practical. However, the meaning must also be the same (compare der Brei, der Schrei).
Words ending in -e
Derivatives of verbs ending in -e
There are many of these nouns.
das Ende – exception, here the noun was not formed from the verb, but the other way around.
die Wäsche
die Umfrage
die Lüge
die Bremse
die Anklage
die Rede…
Derivatives of adjectives ending in -e
die Breite
die Dicke
die Tiefe
die Höhe…
As we found out in the previous section, other groups of feminine nouns can also end in -e. In fact, most words that end in -e are feminine, but don’t forget the exceptions.
The main exceptions are:
- n-Deklination (see article about masculine),
- on Ge- (see article about neuter)
- a few words that end with -ee (der Klee, der Tee, der Kaffee, der Schnee, das Püree, das Dragee, das Frottee, das Resümee)
- the rest are single words, for example der Käse
The group with -ie (where the -ie at the end is pronounced as -i) will be discussed further.
The nouns derived from verbs with -t at the end
die Naht
die Fahrt
die Einfahrt
die Tat
die Glut
as well as those that are not recognizable at first glance
die Flucht
die Pflicht (pflegen)
die Macht (mögen)
…kunft (kommen) – Ankunft and other
die Vernuft (vernehmen)
die Zunft
die Schuld
die Sucht
die Drift
This group needs to be treated with caution, as it is very small in its pure form, where the suffix -t is added to the verb stem and the word has a meaning “result”. Nevertheless, similar words are often assigned to this group. Most of them are actually feminine, but there are also words that have a different gender.
similar words:
die Acht
die Sicht
die Kunst (können)
die Schicht
die Heirat
die Heimat…
words with other gender
das Licht
das Gift
der Durst
der Frost
der Dienst
der Verlust
Words in -nis
Most words ending in -nis are neuter. The list of feminine nouns is short (at least as far as common words are concerned).
die Besorgnis
die Finsternis
die Erlaubnis
die Ersparnis
die Kenntnis
die Wildnis
Loanwords
Loanwords ending in -ie
We will consider this group separately, as there are variations here.
Words that come from Latin or French, have a collective or general meaning, or are derived from adjectives are classified as feminine. These are usually scientific terms, medical terms, names of sciences.
die Analogie
die Anomalie
die Geologie
die Harmonie
die Hierarchie
die Ironie
die Chemie
die Drogerie…
Now let’s look at words that deviate from the pattern. In fact, they have their own pattern, a different meaning and are similar only in form.
First of all, this is a word from the n-declension (n-Deklination:
der Laie
Es wird unterschiedlich ausgesprochen, mit betonten -e am Ende
Second, a couple of guys from England:
der Zombie
der Yuppie
And finally a few words:
das Knie (not loanword)
das Genie (initially it had a different form)
der Sellerie (from French, but different form)
Loanword ending in:
–ität
die Generalität
die Attraktivität
die Mobilität
die Naivität
die Realität
die Qualität
die Universität
–ion
/-ation
/-ition
from Latin
die Demonstration
die Information
die Operation
die Rehabilitation
die Repetition
die Simulation
die Tradition
–ur
from Latin or French
die Kultur
die Natur
die Agentur
die Kandidatur
die Tastatur
die Reparatur
–ik
from Latin
die Musik
die Akustik
die Diagnostik
die Grammatik
die Kosmetik
die Kritik
die Physik
die Politik
die Technik
–age
from French
die Massage
die Montage
die Passage
die Kartonage
die Spionage
-anz/ -enz
from Latin or French
die Dominanz
die Eleganz
die Ignoranz
die Kulanz
die Absenz
die Assistenz
die Differenz
die Kompetenz
die Konferenz
die Konkurrenz
die Tendenz
–ose
ancient Greek suffix
chemical and medical terms
die Fruktose
die Tuberkulose
die Narkose
–ade
from French
from verbs or names
die Ballade
die Blockade
die Marinade
die Robinsonade
–ette
from French
die Operette
die Sandalette
die Zigarette
Exceptions: das Abitur, because it is a shortening of Abiturium, and das Futur for a similar reason.
Plural in the feminine gender in German
The most important suffix for feminine nouns in plural is -(e)n. It can also take the form -nen (for nouns ending in -in). Other endings only affect a very limited number of words.
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-n
Words ending in:
-е
-el
-er
Nase – Nasen…
Idee – Ideen…
Insel – Inseln
Schüssel – Schüsseln
Feier – Feiern
Nummer – Nummern
Schulter – Schultern
Kammer – Kammern…
-en
Words ending in:
-ion
-schaft
-ung
-heit
-keit
-enz / -anz
-ik
-ur
-ei
-t
and with other consonants at the end (except -el and -er)
-ma
-is
Information – Informationen
Mannschaft – Mannschaften
Übung – Übungen
Krankheit – Krankheiten
Differenz – Differenzen
Kritik – Kritiken
Tastatur – Tastaturen
Datei – Dateien
Bäckerei – Bäckereien
Absicht – Absichten
Anschrift – Anschriften
Pflicht – Pflichten
Nachricht – Nachrichten
Wahl – Wahlen
Bahn – Bahnen
Tür – Türen
Uhr – Uhren
Gebühr – Gebühren
Bank – Banken
Burg – Burgen
Schuld – Schulden…
Firma – Firmen
Praxis – Praxen
Basis – Basen
-nen
Words ending in -in
Freindin – Freundinnen
Ärztin – Ärztinnen…
umlaut+ en (exceptions)
…statt – …stätten (Werkstatt)
umlaut,
zero ending
(exceptions)
Mutter – Mütter
Tochter – Töchter
umlaut + е
(almost full list, a few less common words remain outside)
Angst – Ängste
Axt – Äxte
Bank (im Park) – Bänke
Braut – Bräute
Brust – Brüste
Faust – Fäuste
Flucht – Flüchte
Frucht – Früchte
Gans – Gänse
Hand – Hände
Haut – Häute
Kraft – Kräfte
Kuh – Kühe
…kunft – …künfte (Ankunft…)
Kunst – Künste
Laus – Läuse
Luft – Lüfte
Lust – Lüste
Macht – Mächte
Maus – Mäuse
Nacht – Nächte
Nuss – Nüsse
Schnur – Schnüre
Stadt – Städte
Sucht – Süchte
Wand – Wände
Wurst – Würste
Zunft – Zünfte
–se
Words ending in -nis
Erlaubnis – Erlaubnisse
Kenntnis – Kenntnisse
Besorgnis – Besorgnisse
Finsternis – Finsternisse
Ersparnis – Ersparnisse
Wildnis – Wildnisse
-s
Loanwords ending in vowels and occasionally consonants
Avocado – Avocados
Kiwi – Kiwis
Bar – Bars
E-Mail- E-Mails
+ Oma – Omas
Declension of feminine gender
Feminines are practically not declined. However, a small group of words – those that have either no ending or the ending -e in the plural – receive the ending -n in the dative plural.
Dat Plural
Müttern
Gänsen
Erlaubnissen
Plural, declension, and gender in German. Masculine gender
Plural, declension, and gender in German. Neuter gender
Tests for Gender and Plural in German
Sentences with zu in German
Verbs with prepositions in German. Preposition um and preposition über
Modal verbs in German
Past tense in German. Perfect and preterite
Separable verbs in German
SS or ß in German
From horror to anxiety: fürchten, Angst haben, erschrecken, bangen, entsetzen
Reach an agreement: vereinbaren vs verabreden, ausmachen etc.
Fahrstuhl or Aufzug or Lift and others
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