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- Some tips on remembering what…
Some tips on remembering what gender words are.
I found this in my notes at home, so thought I would share it with you all.
Always Masculine: Days, months, season, points on a compass, map locations, names of cars and trains, words ending in -ismus, words ending in -ner,
Usually Masculine: Most occupations and nationalities, words ending in -er, names of alcoholic drinks (except das Bier of course), names of mountains and lakes, most rivers outside of Europe, nouns ending in -ich, -ling, -ist.
Always Feminine: nouns ending in -heit, -keit, - tät, -ung, -schaft, nouns ending in -ie, names of aircraft, ships and motorbikes, nouns ending in -ik, cardinal numbers (eg eine Eins, eine Drei (a 1, a 3))
Usually Feminine: Nouns that end in -in, -e, or -ei, Most types of flowers and trees
Always Neutral: Nouns ending in -chen, or -lein, infinitives used as nouns (eg Das Essen), almost all the elements on the periodic table, names of hotels, cafes and theatres, names of colors when used as nouns.
Usually Neutral: Towns, countries, continents, young animals and people, most metals, nouns ending in -o, -nis, -tum or -um, fractions, most nouns beginning with Ge-, most borrowed words ending with -ment
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Also masculin: tropical spices: der Pfeffer, der Ingwer. Neuter: the letters from the alphabet: das ABC. Usually feminine: words ending in -a: die Villa, but Greek abstract words ending on -ma are neuter. das Thema.
Oh, and a simple joy: words with multiple genders: der/das Band, der/das Teil.
Always Feminine: Names of ships and boats, like "die Bismark", "die Scharnhorst", "die Prinz Eugen", "die Georg Büchner", "die Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" Also Feminine: Model names of motor cycles: "die Hayabusa", "die Virago", "die Schwalbe", "die ETZ"... Usally Masculin: names of car models: "der (VW) Golf", "der (VW) Passat", "der Audi R8", "der Trabant", "der Lexus"..., BUT "die Corvette", "die Viper", " die Ente" ;)
