In German, nouns can be in 3 genders- Masculine, Feminine, Neuter. The classification of nouns to different genders isn’t solely based on meaning (unfortunately), but there are some general rules which can be followed to identify the gender for a given noun (usually, and as always there are exceptions). Much of the stuff below I have taken from Gender of Nouns in German grammar
Masculine Nouns
| Indicator |
Examples |
| Male People |
Mann, Präsident |
| Seasons of the year |
Frühling, Sommer, Herbst |
| Days |
Sonntag, Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch.... |
| Months |
Januar, Februar, März... |
| Nouns ending in 'er' / 'ling' |
Amerikaner, Lehrer, Schaffner, Vater, Schmetterling, Lehrling |
| Nouns that end in 'ich' or 'ig' |
Teppich, Honig |
| Nouns made from verbs without 'en' |
Lauf (from Laufen), Sitz (from Sitzen) |
| Types of Precipitation |
Regen, Schnee, Schauer |
Feminine Nouns
| Indicator |
Examples |
| Female People |
Frau, Präsidentin |
| Numbers used as nouns |
Eins |
| Nouns ending in 'in' / 'e' / 'heit' / 'keit' / 'ung' / 'schaft' / 'ion' / 'tät' / 'ik' |
Lehrerin, Sportlerin, Tasche, Straße, Schönheit, Freihiet, Wichligkeit, Freundschaft, Mannschaft, Hoffnung, Endung, Diskussion, Identität, Musik |
Neuter Nouns
| Indicator |
Examples |
| Letters of the alphabet |
das A |
| Nouns ending with 'chen'/ 'lein'/ 's'/ 'um'/ 'ment' |
Buchlein, Maüschen, Kindlein, Fräulein, Mädchen, Haus, Museum, Aquarium, Experiment, Thema , Drama |
| Nouns made from verbs in the infinitive |
Laufen, Essen |
| Nouns made from English verbs ending in 'ing' |
Timing, Training |
| Nouns that are made from adjectives that are not referring to something particular |
Neue, Ganze, Glesiche |
A Few exceptions to these behaviours
- Mutter - Ends with ‘er’ but its a female person, and so it is feminine
- Fernster - Ends with ‘er’ but is a neuter
Note
In German nouns must always be capitalised.