Every German noun is grammatically masculine, feminine, or neuter - and this is not predictable from meaning most of the time. There is no shortcut: memorize the article with the noun, always, from day one.
| Gender | Article | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | der | der Mann (the man) |
| feminine | die | die Frau (the woman) |
| neuter | das | das Kind (the child) |
| Gender | Article | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | ein | ein Mann (a man) |
| feminine | eine | eine Frau (a woman) |
| neuter | ein | ein Kind (a child) |
Masculine and neuter share ein in the nominative; only feminine gets eine.
| Words ending in -e | usually die | die Lampe, die Tasche |
| Words ending in -chen / -lein | always das | das Mädchen (girl - yes, neuter!) |
| Words ending in -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft | always die | die Wohnung, die Freiheit |
| Nationalities/professions (male) | usually der | der Lehrer (male teacher) |
These help you guess for new words, but exceptions exist - the article you memorize with a specific word always wins over the pattern.
All plural nouns take die regardless of original gender. The noun ending varies:
| das Kind → die Kinder | +er |
| die Frau → die Frauen | +en |
| der Tisch → die Tische | +e |
| das Auto → die Autos | +s (mostly loanwords) |
There is no fully reliable rule for which pattern a given noun takes - learn the plural form alongside the singular and article, as one unit, from a dictionary or the Wortliste.
| der Mann | man | die Frau | woman |
| das Kind | child | die Familie | family |
| die Wohnung | apartment | das Haus | house |
| der Tisch | table | die Tasche | bag |
Cross-checked against the official Goethe-Zertifikat A1 Wortliste, which lists gender for every noun.