German grammar lessons › Level A0 › Der, die, das: German gender and articles

der, die, das: gender and articles

Every noun is masculine, feminine or neuter: learn it with its article

Part of the free A0 German course. Press the speaker next to an example to hear it.

Every German noun has a gender: masculine, feminine or neuter. The gender shows in the article, the word for the or a.

Gender	the	a	Example
masculine	der	ein	der Tisch, ein Tisch (table)
feminine	die	eine	die Lampe, eine Lampe (lamp)
neuter	das	ein	das Buch, ein Buch (book)

Gender is grammar, not meaning. A table is not "male" and a lamp is not "female"; the words just belong to different groups. For people, gender usually matches: der Mann (the man), die Frau (the woman). But das Kind (the child) and das Mädchen (the girl) are neuter.

Learn every noun with its article

The best habit: never learn Tisch, always learn der Tisch. Say it out loud, write it in your notes, and colour-code it if that helps.

Helpful patterns

Nouns ending in -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ion are always die: die Wohnung (flat), die Information.
Female people ending in -in are die: die Lehrerin (female teacher).
Nouns ending in -chen and -lein are always das: das Brötchen (bread roll), das Mädchen.
Most nouns ending in -e are die: die Tasche (bag), die Straße. (Not all: der Name, das Auge.)
Days, months and seasons are der: der Montag, der Mai.
In a compound noun, the last part decides: das Haus + die Tür = die Haustür (front door).

Der Tisch ist neu.The table is new.
Die Lampe ist klein.The lamp is small.
Das Buch ist interessant.The book is interesting.
Das ist ein Stuhl.That is a chair.
Das ist eine Zeitung.That is a newspaper.
Das ist ein Fenster.That is a window.
Das Mädchen heißt Mia.The girl is called Mia.
Die Haustür ist offen.The front door is open.

In the plural, every noun takes die: see Plurals: more than one. The pronoun for a noun follows its gender too: der Tisch is er (see I, you, he, she, it: personal pronouns).

In Das ist ein Stuhl, the first Das means "that" and does not depend on the noun. You can say Das ist eine Lampe and Das ist ein Tisch.

Common mistakes

Learning nouns without their article. You will need the gender in almost every sentence.
Guessing gender from meaning: das Mädchen is neuter, die Person is feminine even for a man.
~~Das ist ein Katze.~~ Feminine nouns take eine: Das ist eine Katze.
~~Der Haustür.~~ The last part of a compound decides: die Tür, so die Haustür.

Practice

_____ Mann
the man
Options: der · die · das
Show the answer
der — People usually have their natural gender.
_____ Frau
the woman
Options: die · der · das
Show the answer
die
_____ Kind
the child
Options: das · der · die
Show the answer
das — das Kind is neuter, for a boy or a girl.
_____ Wohnung
the flat
Options: die · der · das
Show the answer
die — Nouns ending in -ung are always die.

In the app, this lesson is taught one idea at a time with the examples read aloud, followed by questions that explain the rule when you get one wrong. It then comes back for review on later days, until you've answered it correctly on three separate days.

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