der, die, das: German Articles and Noun Gender
After this lesson you can work out the gender of most German nouns from their ending.
der, die, das: German Articles and Noun Gender
Every German noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and the article shows which. It is not about meaning — it is about the word, so the article is learned WITH the word.
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Kulturnotiz
German dictionaries and school materials list nouns as der/die/das rather than with an m./f./n. abbreviation, and German children learn them that way too. If you are buying a textbook or a vocabulary app, check that it shows the article on the card — a surprising number of English-market ones do not, and they quietly cost you a year of relearning.
Common questions
+Is there a rule for German noun gender?
Not from meaning, but there is from form. Word endings predict gender for roughly 80% of nouns — -ung, -heit, -keit and -schaft are feminine; -chen and -lein are neuter; -ling and -ismus are masculine. Learn the endings, not the logic.
+Why is das Mädchen neuter when it means “girl”?
Because -chen is a diminutive suffix and every -chen noun is neuter. Grammatical gender attaches to the word form, not to the person it describes.
+Do I really have to memorise the article for every noun?
Yes, and it is much cheaper to do it from the start. Once you reach the accusative and dative, the article changes shape — and you cannot change what you never learned.
+What happens to der, die and das in the plural?
They all become die. Der Tisch becomes die Tische, das Fenster becomes die Fenster. Plural is the one place where gender stops mattering.