Rules for masculine gender
|
A) All professions and nationalities that refer to male beings, e.g. der Bäcker (baker), der Lehrer (teacher), der Philosoph (philosopher), der Amerikaner (American), der Deutsche (German). B) The names of large wild animals, e.g. der Elefant (elephant), der Löwe (lion), der Tiger (tiger). Large domestic animals are often neuter but the male of the species, where a separate word exists, is masculine, e.g. der Enterich (drake), der Hengst (stallion), der Stier (bull). C) The four seasons, e.g. der Frühling, der Sommer, der Herbst, der Winter. |
|
D) The days of the week, e.g. der Sonnabend, der Sonntag, der Montag etc. E) The months of the year, e.g. der Januar, der Februar, der März etc. F) All nouns derived from verbs beginning with an inseparable prei x where the -en of the infinitive has been dropped, e.g. der Besuch (visit, <besuchen ‘to visit’), der Versuch (attempt, <versuchen ‘to try’). G) The names of many rivers (those that aren’t masculine are feminine, never neuter), e.g. der Inn, der Lech, der Main, der Rhein (Rhine); der Amazonas (Amazon), der Ganges, der Nil (Nile). H) Weak masculine nouns or n-nouns Nearly all the following nouns denote masculine beings but don’t end in -e, but, like those that do end in -e, all are weak masculine nouns and also take -en in the singular in all cases but the nominative. All nouns ending in -arch, -ant, -anz, -ent, -enz, -ist, -it, -krat, -nom, -ot and -soph belong here. |
der Agent /der Despot /der Idiot /der Mensch
der Akrobat /der Diplomat /der Journalist /der Monarch
der Analphabet /der Dozent/ der Kaffer* /der Musikant
der Architekt /der Elefant der /Kakerlak /der Nachbar*
der Asiat /der Favorit/ der Kamerad /der Nachfahr
der Astronom/ der Fink /der Kandidat/ der Narr
der Bandit /der Fotograf /der Katholik /der Obelisk
der Bär /der Fürst/ der Klient /der Päderast
der Bauer*/ der Geck /der Kommandant /der Patriarch
der Bayer* /der Graf /der Konsonant /der Patriot
der Bürokrat /der Gymnasiast/ der Kosak /der Philosoph
der Chaot/ der Held /der Kosmonaut /der Pilot
der Christ /der Herr* /der Leopard /der Pirat
der Demokrat /der Hirt /der Mandant /der Polizist
der Präfekt /der Regent /der Student /der Urahn
der Präsident /der Rekrut /der Tor /der Veteran
der Prinz /der Soldat /der Transvestit /der Vorfahr
der Prophet /der Spatz /der Tyrann /der Zar
der Rebell /der Steinmetz /der Ungar* /der Zyprio
Herr takes -n in the singular but -en in the plural, whereas Bauer, Bayer, Kaffer,Nachbar and Ungar take -n in both the singular and the plural.
There are a few weak masculine nouns, all loanwords with a stressed ending, that don’t designate living beings:
der Automat, Diamant, Paragraph, Planet, Quotient, Satellit
The following masculine nouns in -e take -ens in the genitive but otherwise behave like other weak masculine nouns, taking -en in all cases except the nom. in the singular, as well as the plural. These are the only weak nouns ending in -e that do not refer to masculine beings:
der Buchstabe der Funke der Glaube der Wille
der Drache der Gedanke der Name
