German nouns (a person, place or thing, Substantive) are very easy to spot: they always begin with a CAPITAL letter! German is the only world language that capitalizes all nouns. Although there has been debate over the years about doing away with this rather inefficient practice, for now ALL German nouns must begin with a capital letter. Whether we are talking about a simple tree (ein Baum) or Deutsche Bank, any noun is capitalized in German.
The other important thing for English-speakers to understand about German nouns is the matter of gender. German nouns parallel he, she and it (er, sie, es) by also being masculine (der - DARE), feminine (die - DEE) or neuter (das - DAHSS). We can see the parallel very clearly by the ending letters for each article/pronoun: der = er, die = sie, das = es.
Always learn German nouns with their genders!
Der, die and das are the same as "the" in English - the DEFINITE ARTICLE. In German the definite article is much more important than it is in English. For one thing, it is used more often. In English we might say: "Nature is wonderful." In German, the article would be also be included: "Die Natur ist wunderschön." So knowing which article to use becomes even more important!
The INDEFINITE ARTICLE ("a" or "an" in English) is ein or eine in German. Ein basically means "one" and like the definite article, it indicates the gender of the noun it goes with (eine or ein). For a feminine noun, only eine can be used (in the nominative case). For masculine or neuter nouns, only ein is correct. This is a very important concept to learn! It is also reflected in the use of possessive adjectives such as sein(e) (his) or mein(e) (my), which are also called "ein-words."
Gender is sometimes natural-der Mann/ein Mann (man, masc.), die Frau/eine Frau (woman, fem.), but more often it is not: das Mädchen (girl, neuter). Nor does noun gender carry over from one language to another. The sun is feminine in German (die Sonne) but masculine in Spanish (el sol). A table is masculine in German (der Tisch) but feminine in French (la table). But it is the WORD, not the thing that has gender, and it makes little sense to worry about the whys of gender. Just concentrate on learning the genders. Memorization is key, but you can also use little hints to help you remember a noun's gender. For example, to remind yourself that die Natur, nature, is feminine, you might think of "Mother Nature." As you continue your studies, always learn a new noun and its gender together-as a unit. This important step will become increasingly important as you advance in German.
NOUNS - Substantive | ||
NOMINATIVE SINGULAR | ||
Artikel | Gender | Sample Nouns |
der | masc. | der Bahnhof (train station), Sohn (son), Vater (father), Wagen (car), Zug (draft, parade, train) |
die | fem. | die Anlage (installation, park), Dame (lady), Festung (fortress), Gesundheit (health), Luft (air) |
das | neut. | das Boot (boat), Dach (roof), Geld (money), Jahr (year), Kino (cinema, movie theater), Radio |
NOMINATIVE PLURAL | ||
Artikel | Gender | Sample Nouns (Plurals) |
die | plur. | die Bücher (books), Dächer (roofs), Fenster (windows), Jahre (years), Radios, Söhne (sons), Zeitungen (newspapers) |
Note: All nouns, of any gender, become die in the plural. (Ein can't be plural, but other so-called ein-words can: keine [none], meine [my], seine [his], etc.) That's the good news. The bad news is that there are about a dozen ways to form the plural of German nouns, only one of which is to add an "s" - as in English. | ||
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