German Masculine Nouns
Should I use der, die or das? This is one of the
first questions that you will ask when learning German. The first thing
you need to understand is that it is not related to the perceived gender
of the noun it is attached to. Here are a couple of quick examples:
- der Rock – the skirt
- die Hose – the trousers
As you can see, traditionally a skirt is worn by women so your first
instinct would be that it is a female item and therefore would use
die. Also, trousers are associated more with men and therefore you would normally perceive the gender as male and use the
der
article. As you can see from the above two examples these are the
opposite to what you would expect. Therefore it is important to get the
idea out of your mind straight away that the articles der, die or das
have anything to do with the noun itself, rather it is to do with the
word.
As a general rule, you should learn the correct der, die or das
article by heart with each noun as you learn them. That means when
learning a word, learn the article too and test yourself on the noun
including the article. If you get the article wrong then re-learn it
until you get it right. However there are a few general rules you can
learn to help you in those situations where you don’t know whether to
use der, die or das.
The good news is: There are guidelines which will make it easier to
choose between them. In this post we will be looking at the guidlines
for
der words 
Guidlines for Masculine Nouns
1. People/Animals
All nouns which refer to a male person or animal are
der words. Here is a list of the most common ones:
German
|
English |
| der Mann |
man |
| der Vater |
father |
| der Junge |
boy |
| der Opa |
grandad |
| der Onkel |
uncle |
| der Stier |
bull |
| der Eber |
boar |
| der Hengst |
stallion |
2. Male Occupations
Job titles which refer to a male person are
der words. Here are some examples:
German
|
English |
| der Lehrer |
teacher |
| der Bäcker |
baker |
| der Fotograf |
photographer |
| der Polizist |
policeman |
| der Rechtsanwalt |
lawyer |
| der Zahnarzt |
dentist |
| der Soldat |
soldier |
| der Priester |
priest |
3. Days, Months, Seasons and Points of the Compass
There are some groups of words that are also mostly
der words such as days, months, seasons, points of the compass. Here are some examples:
German
|
English |
| der Sommer |
summer |
| der Frühling |
spring |
| der Montag |
Monday |
| der Samstag |
Saturday |
| der Juni |
June |
| der Oktober |
October |
| der Westen |
west |
| der Süden |
south |
There are however few exceptions. For example: das Jahr – year, die Woche – week etc
4. Chemical Elements, Minerals and Stones
There are some groups of words that are also mostly
der words such as chemical elements, minerals and stones. Here are some examples:
German
|
English |
| der Sauerstoff |
oxygen |
| der Kohlenstoff |
carbonate |
| der Wasserstoff |
hydrogen |
| der Diamant |
diamond |
| der Smaragd |
emerald |
| der Rubin |
ruby |
| der Rosenquarz |
rosy quartz |
| der Bernstein |
amber |
There are however few exceptions. For example: das Kalzium – Calcium, die Kohle – coal etc.
5. Certain Endings
Nouns that end in the following are always
der nouns:
Here are some examples:
German
|
English |
| der Egoismus |
egoism |
| der Rentner |
pensioner |
| der Gärtner |
gardener |
| der Stich |
sting |
| der Wellensittich |
budgerigar |
| der Feigling |
coward |
| der Essig |
vinegar |
| der Pfennig |
penny |
The nouns that end in the following are also usually
der nouns:
Here are some examples:
German
|
English |
| der Keller |
cellar |
| der Teller |
plate |
| der Bauer |
farmer |
| der Fernseher |
TV |
| der Polizist |
policeman |
| der Pianist |
pianist |
| der Atheist |
atheist |
| der Optimist |
optimist |
