Determinants of Gender in German
Theory by Dr. Donald Nelson
Bowling Green State University
This list accounts for about 80% of all known words in
present German language. Though many theories debate some
of the following rules, generally these rules can be used
in making an appropriate guess with fairly decent accuracy
as to what the gender of a noun could be. The general rule
of thumb is that morphological rules are strongest,
followed by phonetic rules and semantic rules. Many nouns,
however, take different genders by ellipsing the expected
rules.
I. Morphological assignment rules
MASCULINE
1. -er denotes human male agents, occupations, or members
of a class or group. It forms masculine nouns with zero
change in the plural (der Amerikaner, -; der Arbeiter, -).
2. er is the most productive agent suffix. It has a number
of cognate variants such as -eur in loan words from the
French, -är or -or in words borrowed from Latin. -ant and
-ent are also agent suffixes. These suffixes form masculine
agent nouns and corresponding feminine nouns according to
the same model as er (der Sekretär,- ; der Ingenieur,- ;
der Emigrant,- ).
3. -er also forms masculine nouns denoting instruments,
implements, or utensils. Many of the words belonging to
this group are compounds, the gender of which is determined
by the gender of the last part of the word. This is
referred to as the last member principle. As in the case of
masculine human agents ending in er, the nouns in this
group also show zero change in the plural (der Blinker,- ;
der Kugelschreiber,- ).
4. -ismus forms masculine nouns denoting a doctrine,
theory, system, or principle. -ist forms masculine personal
noun derivatives denoting an adherent or proponent of the
doctrine or theory (der Sozialismus, der Sozialist).
5. -us forms masculine nouns borrowed from Latin (der
Ordinarius, der Zirkus).
6. -ling forms masculine nouns denoting a male with a
specified quality. This group does not form corresponding
in female references (der Flüchtling, der Lehrling).
7. Nouns ending in -en are predominantly masculine
(excluding nouns formed from the infinitive forms of
verbs).
FEMININE
8. -in is added to -er suffixes to form the corresponding
feminine noun denoting the female agent; the feminine
nouns, unlike their male counterparts, form their plural by
adding -nen (die Amerikanerin, -nen; die Arbeiterin, -nen).
9. Nouns ending in -e and adding -n in the plural are
predominantly feminine (die Briefmarke, -n; die Adresse,
-n).
10. Nouns ending in -ie regularly have feminine gender (die
Arterie, die Bakterie).
11. -ei regularly forms feminine nouns which fall into two
groups. a) activities or behavior with a pejorative
connotation; b) nouns denoting a trade business, or
organization (die Bimmelei, die Druckerei, die Partei).
12. -heit and -keit always form abstract feminine nouns
(die Freiheit, die Schwierigkeit).
13. –(i)tät regularly from feminine nouns (die Universität,
die Qualität).
14. -schaft forms feminine nouns (die Gesellschaft, die
Freundschaft).
15. -ung forms feminine nouns (die Bildung).
16. -ion forms feminine nouns (die Nation, die Religion).
17. -itis and -sis forms feminine nouns (die Arthritis, die
Thesis).
18. -anz and -enz forms feminine nouns (die Arroganz, die
Dekadenz).
19. -ik forms feminine nouns (die Musik, die Politik).
20. -ur is a feminine noun suffix (der Broschur, die
Natur).
NEUTER
21. Nouns formed from the infinitive of verb is always
neuter (das Gehen, das SchlafFen).
22. -at forms neuter nouns (das Konsulat, das Diktat).
23. –ett forms neuter nouns (das Quartett, das Bankett).
24. –(i)um and tum regularly from neuter nouns. urn
involves loanwords from Latin whereas tum is a Germanic
suffix (das Gymnasium, das Studium, das Altertum).
25. -chen and -lein suffixes of virtually unlimited
productivity; lein has the same meaning of chen but it
occurs less frequently. Both suffixes often denote a
diminutive or express endearment (das Mädchen, das
Fräulein).
26. Inanimate nouns ending in -ier are predominantly neuter
(das Klavier).
27. Nouns ending in -il are predominantly neuter (das
Automobil).
28. Nouns borrowed from English and ending in -ing are
neuter (das Training).
29. -ma is regularly neuter (das Klima, das Aroma).
30. -ment is regularly neuter (das Instrument).
31. Nouns ending in -em are predominantly neuter (das
Problem).
32. Nouns ending in -al are predominantly neuter (das
Arsenal).
33. Nouns ending in -ell are predominantly neuter (das
Bordell).
II. Gender predictability based on knowledge of
the plural form
MASCULINE
34. Nouns ending in -el with zero change in the plural are
masculine (der Apfel, der Artikel).
35. Nouns with a Ge- prefix and adding -e together with an
umlaut in the plural are masculine ( der Gebrauch, -¨e)
FEMININE
36. Nouns ending in -el and adding an -n in the plural are
feminine (die Ampel, -n; die Nudel, -n).
37. Nouns ending in -er and adding an n in the plural are
feminine (die Leiter, -n).
38. Monosyllable nouns denoting inanimate objects or
concepts and adding -en in the plural are predominantly
feminine (die Tür, en; die Zeit, en).
39. Nouns with a Ge- prefix that end in a consonant and add
-en to form the plural are feminine (die Geburt, -en).
40. Nouns ending in -e and adding -n to form the plural are
feminine (die Geschichte, -n).
NEUTER
41. Nouns adding -er with or without umlaut to form the
plural are predominantly neuter (das Buch, -¨er; das Lied,
-er).
42. Nouns with a Ge- prefix are predominantly neuter when
they denote a collective or super ordinate function (das
Getreide, das Geflügel).
43. Nouns with a Ge- prefix adding e to form the plural
(without umlaut) are neuter (das Gedicht, -e).
44. Nouns with a Ge- prefix and zero change in the plural
are neuter (das Gebirge,- ).
45. Nouns with a -Ge prefix adding -er with or without
umlaut to from the plural are neuter (das Gesicht, -er; das
Gewand, -¨er).
III. Phonological gender
determinants
MASCULINE
46. Monosyllabic nouns ending in /k/ are predominantly
masculine (der Park, der Sack).
47. Monosyllabic nouns ending in /pf/ are predominantly
masculine (der Kopf, der Kampf).
48. Nouns ending in /ˇs/ (spelled sch) are predominantly
masculine (der Busch, der Harnisch).
49. Monosyllabic nouns ending in /ts/ (spelled tz) are
predominantly masculine (der Blitz, der Platz).
50. Nouns with a /kn/ at the beginning of a word tend to be
masculine.
NEUTER
51. Nouns ending in -em and -om are predominantly neuter
(das Problem, das Diplom).
52. Nouns ending in -o are predominantly neuter (das Auto,
das Kino).
IV. Semantic assignment rules
MASCULINE
53. Sexdifferentiable nouns denoting males (humans and
domesticated animals are masculine (der Bruder, der Hund).
54. Nouns denoting rocks, stones, and particulates of these
are predominantly masculine (der Stein, der Beton).
55. Gem stones are predominantly masculine (der Diamant,
der Opal).
56. Units of time under one year are predominantly
masculine (der Tag, der Winter, der Januar).
57. Grains are predominantly masculine (der Reis).
58. Beverages (plantextract and alcoholic) are
predominantly masculine (der Kaffee, der Wein).
59. Articles of clothing are predominantly masculine (der
Hut, der Mantel).
60. Fabrics are predominantly masculine (der Ginham, der
Kaschmir).
61. Heavenly bodies are predominantly masculine (der Mond,
der Stem).
62. Forms of precipitation are predominantly masculine (der
Regen, der Schnee).
63. Bodies of water (restricted to inland streams,
currents, and stagnant bodies) are predominantly masculine
(der See, der Teich).
64. Words denoting sound or loud noise or Phonetic speech
sounds are masculine (der Donner, der Dental, der
Diphthong).
65. Dance steps and popular music forms are masculine (der
Jazz, der Tango).
FEMININE
66. Sex differentiable nouns denoting females (humans and
domesticated animals) are feminine (die Schwester, die
Hündin).
67. Nouns denoting tropical fruits are feminine (die
Ananas, die Mango).
68. Numbers are feminine (die Sieben, die Zwei).
NEUTER
69. Nouns denoting humans and animals and referring in a
sexneutral way to the species or to the young of the
species are neuter (das Kind, das Pferd, das Millen).
70. Units of time one year or longer are neuter (das Jahr,
das Jahrzehnt).
71. Chemical elements, chemicals, drugs, and metals are
neuter (das Chlor, das Kobalt, das Heroin, das Zinn).
72. Games and sports are predominantly neuter (das Lotto,
das Tennis).
73. Letters of the alphabet are neuter (das Ypsilon).
74. Nouns denoting color are neuter (das Blau, das Rot).