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Der, die, or das? Learn how to identify a German word's gender

In German, a noun belongs to one of the following three gender groups: masculine, feminine, or neuter. They are usually written after their definite articles, which are der, die ,and das respectively. Examples:

der Mann (man), der Ball (ball), der Winter (winter) - Masculine nouns

die Frau (woman), die Sonne (sun), die Lampe (lamp) - Feminine nouns

das Haus (house), das Kind (child), das Buch (book) - Neutral nouns

To memorize the gender of the nouns and use the correct articles you need to learn some general rules. They will help you guess the noun's gender in most cases.

Rules:

Maskulin
Male people der Mann (man or husband), der Vater (father), der Präsident (president)
Seasons: der Frühling (spring), der Sommer (summer), der Herbst (autumn), der Winter (winter)
Precipitations: der Schnee (snow), der Regen (rain), der Schauer (shower)
Days, months and times of day: der Montag (monday), der Januar (january), der Abend (evening)
Nouns ending in ‑ling: der Flüchtling (fugitive), der Schmetterling (butterfly)
Nouns ending in ‑ich/ig: der Honig (honey), der Teppich (carpet)
Nouns ending in ‑er: der Computer (computer), der Fehler (error)
Foreign words ending in ‑us: der Feudalismus (feudalism), der Heroismus (heroism)
Verb infinitives turned into nouns without ‑en: der Lauf (run), der Anruf (call), der Dank(thanks)

Feminin
Feminine people: die Frau (woman or wife), die Mutter (mother), die Präsidentin (president) (except for "das Mädchen" - the girl)
The numbers: die Eins, die Zwei, die Drei, die Zehn
Nouns ending in ‑ung: die Endung (ending), die Hoffnung (hope)
Nouns ending in ‑schaft: die Mannschaft (team), die Leidenschaft (passion)
Nouns ending in ‑ion: die Station (station), die Diskussion (discussion)
Nouns ending in ‑heit/keit: die Freiheit (freedom), die Möglichkeit (opportunity)
Nouns ending in ‑tät: die Identität (identity), die Kriminalität (crime)
Nouns ending in ‑ik: die Politik (politics), die Musik (music)
Nouns ending in ‑ade, ‑age, ‑euse, ‑ere, ‑ie: die Fassade (facade), die Magie (magic), die Schleuse (watergate)
Nouns ending in ‑anz, ‑enz, die Toleranz (tolerance), die Korrespondenz (correspondence)

Neutral
Nouns ending in ‑chen: das Mädchen (girl), das Hähnchen (chicken)
Letters: das A, das B
Nouns ending in ‑um: das Museum (museum), das Datum (date), das Album (album)
Nouns ending in ‑ment: Das Experiment (experiment), das Medikament (medicine)
Foreign words ending in ‑ma: das Thema (theme), das Drama (drama)
Verb infinitives turned into a noun: das Essen (food), das Laufen (walk)
Some nouns beginning in Ge‑: das Geschirr (dishes), das Gefälle (gradient)