Noun Gender & Case

Flashcards for studying the 3 German noun genders & the four German noun cases.

All-in-one declension chart

The 4 declension patterns chart

What are the der die das rules?

Rule #1: Know the gender of your noun.
Rule #2: Know the case of your noun.

What are the 4 German cases and what are their roles & descriptions?

1. Nominative (subject; performs action).

2. Accusative (direct object; receives action).

3. Dative (indirect object; to/for whom action is performed).

4. Genitive (possession).

What are all the ways to say “the” in German?

der die das den dem des

Noun Group

A category of noun which helps determine the gender of various nouns (e.g., days of the week & months of the year are usually masculine nouns).

Noun Form

Specific spelling patterns (particularly, the ending or suffix of the word) of nouns are associated with particular genders of the noun, and thus helps determine the gender of various nouns (e.g., all nouns ending in -ung are feminine).

Masculine Noun Groups

1. Male persons and animals.

2. Days of the week, months of the year, and seasons.

3. Monetary units (currency).

4. Car makes.

5. Most weather elements.

6. Non-German river names.

7. Mountains and mountain ranges.

8. Rocks and minerals.

9. Outer space.

10. Alcoholic and plant-based drinks.

Feminine Noun Groups

1. Female persons and animals.

2. Airplane, motorcycle, and ship models/makes/names.

3. Rivers within Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

4. Trees, fruits, and flowers.

5. Numbers used as nouns.

6. Nouns formed from measurement or size adjectives.

Neuter Noun Groups

1. Young persons and baby animals.

2. Hotels, cafes, restaurants, and movie theaters.

3. Names of continents, cities, provinces, and most countries.

4. Metals and chemical elements.

5. Scientific units & measurements.

6. Letters of the alphabet and music notes.

7. Other parts of speech used as nouns (gerunds, colors, languages, English -ing forms).

Masculine Noun Forms

1. -ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or, -us.

2. Nouns formed from strong verbs.

3. ~60% of nouns ending in -en, -el, -er.

Feminine Noun Forms

1. -a, -anz, -enz, -ei, -ie, -heit, -keit, -ik, -sion, -tion, -sis, -tät, -ung, -ur, -schaft.

2. 90% of nouns ending in -e.

3. most nouns (coming from verbs) ending in -t.

4. -in OR -frau denoting the female counterpart to a male person.

Neuter Noun Forms

1. -chen, -lein, -icht, -il, -it, -ma, -ment, -tel, -tum, -um.

2. ~70% of nouns ending with -nis and -sal.

3. -al, -an, -ar, -är, -at, -ent, -ett, -ier, -iv, -o, -on (foreign loan words for objects).

4. most nouns that start with the prefix Ge-.