Nou NOUNS are words which name living creatures, things, places, ideas or processes. In written German they can be distinguished easily because they are written with a capital letter. A noun is usually preceded by an ARTICLE or other DETERMINER and often also by one or more ADJECTIVES or 2 longer adjectival phrase. Together, these form the NOUN PHRASE determiner | adjectiveladjectival phrase noun Gott die Erde das ultramoderne Raumschiff ein ‘vom Kultbuchautor Adams erfundenes Computerspiel This chapter gives you details about the main features of nouns the cenpER of nouns (2.1-2.5) © how nouns form their PLURAL (2.6-2.10) @ case and how nouns and noun phrases show it (2.11-2.12). > Study carefully how your dictionary gives information about the gender form indicating case, and its formation of the plural -ach nou, its change of Ba] Gender All German nouns are divided up into three categories, called genders: MASCULINE, FEMININE and NEUTER. masculine feminine neuter der Mann die Frau das Kind der Mund ie Nase das Auge der Léffel die Gabel das Messer The names for the genders are misleading, Nouns denoting male animals or humans are usually masculine, and nouns denoting female animals or humans are usually feminine — but22 Masculine nouns [J not always jie Wache sentry .. ts feminine das Madchen... girl is neuter die Person person v= 8 feminine der Mensch ... human being... is masculine To confuse matters further, words denoting things can be masculine, feminine or neuter and there is often no logical explanation at all der Apfel apple der Computer computer die Birne pear die Diskette diskette das Obst fruit das Faxgerat_ fax machine Only around 20% of German nouns are neuter, so: D You should not assume that things are neuter ‘The gender of each noun affects the endings of any articles or adjectives used with that noun, and you should therefore D always check the gender of a noun in your dictionary. It will normally be indicated by m (masculine), f Geminine) ot m (neuter) D always learn a noun with its definite article — learning it aloud helps you remember it! However, the ending on a noun, or its meaning, may give a clue to its gender (though there are often exceptions). The most useful of these clues are explained in sections 2.2-2.5. BQ Masculine nouns The following nouns are usually MASCULINE. P Nouns with the following meanings: Male humans and animals der Vater | derArzt | derLehrer | der Hahn Seasons, months, days of the week | der Sommer | der Mai | der Mitwoch Wind and weather der Wind | der Regen | der Hagel der Sturm Makes of car der Ford der BMW | der Mercedes | der Toyota D Nouns with the following endings -ant der Konsonant | -ismus der Sozialismus -ast der Kontrast sling der Liebling “ich der Teppich -or der Motor “ig der Honig ous der RhythmusEEE Nouns EE Feminine nouns The following noun usually FEMININE, P Nouns with the following meanings: Female humans and animals | die Mutter | die Arztin | die Lehrerin | die Henne Aeroplanes, motorbikes, ships | die Boeing | die BMW die Suzuki die Bismarck“ Rivers in Germany die Donau | die Elbe | die Mosel | die Ruhr Names of numerals die Null | die Eins | die Hundert | die Milion INB Exceptions: der Arbus, cor Rhein, der Main P Nouns with the following endings “a die Pizza -schaft die Herrschaft -anzl-enz die Eleganz -sionl-tion | die Explosion ei die Bicherei tat die Universitat sheitl-keit die Krankheit ~ung die Bedeutung ie die Biologie “ur die Natur “in die Freundin EZ] Neuter nouns ‘The following nouns are usually NEUTER. DP Nouns with the following meanings: Young persons and animals das Baby das Kind das Lamm Continents, countries, towns das alte Europa das neue Polen das geteilte Berlin NB Exceptions: der Irrtum, ler Reichtum Metals, chemical elements, scientific units | das Gold das Kobalt das Ampere Letters of the alphabet, musical notes dasA das Ypsilon | das hohe C Other parts of speech used as nouns das Du das Gehen das neue Deutsch D Nouns with the following endings ~chen das Madchen tel das Viertel fein das Bitchlein tum) das Eigentum -ma das Drama um das Album sment | das Appartement