I can say any noun together with its article, without guessing the gender from the meaning, and fill in a simple form: first name, last name, address, city, country, language, phone number.
Der, die, das: the gender is in the article
Der, die, das: the gender is in the article
A German noun always has a gender, and you see it in the article. So learn each noun with its article, as one word: not “Straße” but die Straße.
There are three articles: der is masculine, die feminine, das neuter. The lesson words are sorted by gender in the first table.
English has one “the”, so it's tempting to use one article for everything or to guess from the meaning. Don't: gender comes with the word. Das Mädchen means “girl” but is neuter; das Buch is neuter too.
Two hints work almost always: a word ending in -e is usually die (die Adresse, die Sprache, die Frage); a word ending in -chen is always das (das Mädchen). Among our words, the first hint has two exceptions: der Name, der Junge.
Unlike English, German writes every noun with a capital letter, wherever it stands: Ich lerne die Sprache. The capital is how you spot a noun.
The article stays, as English “the” does: Wie ist die Adresse? Where English asks “What's the address?”, German asks with wie.
The second table shows the lines of a form: this is how the fields are labeled on any German form.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “die Mädchen ist nett” — das Mädchen ist nett.
• NOT “der Straße” — die Straße.
• NOT “Ich lerne die sprache” — Ich lerne die Sprache.
Three articles and the lesson words
The article is part of the word: learn it together with the word.
| der — masculine | die — feminine | das — neuter |
|---|---|---|
| der Name | die Adresse | das Telefon |
| der Vorname | die Nummer | das Land |
| der Familienname | die Frage | das Buch |
| der Junge | die Antwort | das Mädchen |
Form fields: personal details
This is how the fields are labeled on any German form.
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Vorname | Marie |
| Familienname | Fischer |
| Straße | Poststraße 12 |
| Stadt | Wien |
| Land | Österreich |
| Sprache | Russisch |
| Telefon | 040 22 19 07 |
Lesson notes
Der, die, das: the gender is in the article
A German noun always has a gender, and you see it in the article. So learn each noun with its article, as one word: not “Straße” but die Straße.
There are three articles: der is masculine, die feminine, das neuter. The lesson words are sorted by gender in the first table.
English has one “the”, so it's tempting to use one article for everything or to guess from the meaning. Don't: gender comes with the word. Das Mädchen means “girl” but is neuter; das Buch is neuter too.
Two hints work almost always: a word ending in -e is usually die (die Adresse, die Sprache, die Frage); a word ending in -chen is always das (das Mädchen). Among our words, the first hint has two exceptions: der Name, der Junge.
Unlike English, German writes every noun with a capital letter, wherever it stands: Ich lerne die Sprache. The capital is how you spot a noun.
The article stays, as English “the” does: Wie ist die Adresse? Where English asks “What's the address?”, German asks with wie.
The second table shows the lines of a form: this is how the fields are labeled on any German form.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “die Mädchen ist nett” — das Mädchen ist nett.
• NOT “der Straße” — die Straße.
• NOT “Ich lerne die sprache” — Ich lerne die Sprache.