German nouns
Encyclopedia
A German noun has one of three specific grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter
) and belongs to one of three declension
classes, only partly dependent of gender. A fourth declension is used for plural declension. These features remain unaltered by inflection but must be considered in this process. The grammatical gender influences articles, adjectives and pronouns. Note that gender is not necessarily dependent on the sex of the noun (e.g. the word "girl" is neuter, while "tree" is masculine). It is best considered as an attribute of the noun.
Number
(singular, plural) and case
(nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) must be taken into account in the process of declension.
The declension can be more difficult than in other languages such as Latin
; not only the word ending, but also the root may be altered by inflecting.
Some nouns only have a singular form (singularia tantum); other nouns only have a plural form (pluralia tantum
):
Traps abound in both directions here; common singular-only words in English
are not singular in German, and vice versa:
"die Informationen" ("the pieces of information")
Some words change their meaning when changing their number:
A few words have two different plurals with distinct meanings. For example:
Singular:
I: no declension: used for all and only feminine nouns
die Frau, die Frau, der Frau, der Frau
II: genitive -(e)s, dative -(e): used for all neuter and most masculine nouns
der Mann, den Mann, dem Mann(e), des Mann(e)s
das Kind, das Kind, dem Kind(e), des Kind(e)s
III: -(e)n for genitive, dative and accusative: used for masculine nouns on -e and a few others, mostly animate nouns. This class of nouns is often called the n-nouns.
a) der Drache, den Drachen, dem Drachen, des Drachen
b) der Prinz, den Prinzen, dem Prinzen, des Prinzen
Plural:
IV: dative -n: used for all nouns except those ending in -n or -s in the nominative plural
a) die Kinder, die Kinder, den Kindern, der Kinder
b) die Frauen, die Frauen, den Frauen, der Frauen
Note that these classes do not yet show how to put a singular noun into its plural form.
The "e" in the dative forms isn't obligatory and restricted to a more sophisticated use of language. However, in the genitive, the "e" has to be used in one-syllable-words (Gottes, Mannes). Words of more syllables usually drop the "e" in dative and genitive (des Königs, dem König). Forms like "dem Könige" can be seen until today but generally have fallen out of use in the 20th century.
Many foreign nouns have irregular plurals, for example:
In some religious publications (especially Catholic
), the name of Jesus
is declined as in Latin
, that is:
Although the ablative is absent in German, it is used where it would be used in Latin. The genitive Jesu is much more frequent than the other cases, as in Die Kreuzigung Jesu "Jesus' crucifixion".
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
) and belongs to one of three declension
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
classes, only partly dependent of gender. A fourth declension is used for plural declension. These features remain unaltered by inflection but must be considered in this process. The grammatical gender influences articles, adjectives and pronouns. Note that gender is not necessarily dependent on the sex of the noun (e.g. the word "girl" is neuter, while "tree" is masculine). It is best considered as an attribute of the noun.
Number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular, plural) and case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
(nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) must be taken into account in the process of declension.
The declension can be more difficult than in other languages such as Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
; not only the word ending, but also the root may be altered by inflecting.
- Der Mann (sg.) - Die Männer (pl.) ("the man" - "the men")
Some nouns only have a singular form (singularia tantum); other nouns only have a plural form (pluralia tantum
Plurale tantum
A plurale tantum is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object...
):
- Das All, der Durst, der Sand ("universe", "thirst", "sand")
- Die Kosten, die Ferien ("costs", "the holidays")
Traps abound in both directions here; common singular-only words in English
are not singular in German, and vice versa:
- information — Information, die Information ("the piece of information")
"die Informationen" ("the pieces of information")
- the police are (pl.) = die Polizei ist (sg.)
Some words change their meaning when changing their number:
- Geld ("money") - Gelder ("different sources of money")
- Wein ("wine") - die Weine ("different types of wine")
A few words have two different plurals with distinct meanings. For example:
- Wort ("word") - Wörter (isolated words, as in "five words") - Worte (connected, meaningful words, as in "his last words")
- Band - Bande ("bonds") - Bänder ("ribbons")
Types of declensions
The four general case declension classes are:Singular:
I: no declension: used for all and only feminine nouns
die Frau, die Frau, der Frau, der Frau
II: genitive -(e)s, dative -(e): used for all neuter and most masculine nouns
der Mann, den Mann, dem Mann(e), des Mann(e)s
das Kind, das Kind, dem Kind(e), des Kind(e)s
III: -(e)n for genitive, dative and accusative: used for masculine nouns on -e and a few others, mostly animate nouns. This class of nouns is often called the n-nouns.
a) der Drache, den Drachen, dem Drachen, des Drachen
b) der Prinz, den Prinzen, dem Prinzen, des Prinzen
Plural:
IV: dative -n: used for all nouns except those ending in -n or -s in the nominative plural
a) die Kinder, die Kinder, den Kindern, der Kinder
b) die Frauen, die Frauen, den Frauen, der Frauen
Note that these classes do not yet show how to put a singular noun into its plural form.
General rules of declension
- Given the nominative singular, genitive singular, and nominative plural of a noun, it is possible to determine its declension.
- Note that in all feminine nouns, all singular forms are identical.
- The dative plural of all nouns ends in -n if such an ending does not already exist, except that of nouns that form the plural with -s, which are usually loan words.
- Most nouns do not take declensions in the accusative or dative cases. A small class of mostly masculine nouns called "weak nouns" takes the ending -n or -en in all cases except the nominative.
Declension classes
| Number | Singular | Plural | Example | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case Grammatical case In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor... |
N | A | D | G | N | A | D | G | |
| Article | der, das, die |
den, das, die |
dem, dem, der |
des, des, der |
die | die | den | der | |
| -(e)s, -e | Berg | Berg | Berg(e) | Berg(e)s | Berge | Berge | Bergen | Berge | der Berg, des Berg(e)s, die Berge |
| -(e)s, -er | Bild | Bild | Bild(e) | Bild(e)s | Bilder | Bilder | Bildern | Bilder | das Bild, des Bild(e)s, die Bilder |
| -(e)s, -en | Staat | Staat | Staat(e) | Staat(e)s | Staaten | Staaten | Staaten | Staaten | der Staat, des Staat(e)s, die Staaten |
| -s, - | Fahrer | Fahrer | Fahrer | Fahrers | Fahrer | Fahrer | Fahrern | Fahrer | der Fahrer, des Fahrers, die Fahrer |
| -s, -e | Lehrling | Lehrling | Lehrling | Lehrlings | Lehrlinge | Lehrlinge | Lehrlingen | Lehrlinge | der Lehrling, des Lehrlings, die Lehrlinge |
| -s, -s | Radio | Radio | Radio | Radios | Radios | Radios | Radios | Radios | das Radio, des Radios, die Radios |
| -en, -en | Student | Studenten | Studenten | Studenten | Studenten | Studenten | Studenten | Studenten | der Student, des Studenten, die Studenten |
| -, - | Mutter | Mutter | Mutter | Mutter | Mütter | Mütter | Müttern | Mütter | die Mutter, der Mutter, die Mütter |
| -, -en | Meinung | Meinung | Meinung | Meinung | Meinungen | Meinungen | Meinungen | Meinungen | die Meinung, der Meinung, die Meinungen |
| -, -e | Kraft | Kraft | Kraft | Kraft | Kräfte | Kräfte | Kräften | Kräfte | die Kraft, der Kraft, die Kräfte |
| -ns, -n | Name | Namen | Namen | Namens | Namen | Namen | Namen | Namen | der Name, des Namens, die Namen |
The "e" in the dative forms isn't obligatory and restricted to a more sophisticated use of language. However, in the genitive, the "e" has to be used in one-syllable-words (Gottes, Mannes). Words of more syllables usually drop the "e" in dative and genitive (des Königs, dem König). Forms like "dem Könige" can be seen until today but generally have fallen out of use in the 20th century.
Irregular declensions
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der Herr | die Herren |
| Accusative | den Herrn | die Herren |
| Dative | dem Herrn | den Herren |
| Genitive | des Herrn | der Herren |
| the heart | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | das Herz | die Herzen |
| Accusative | das Herz | die Herzen |
| Dative | dem Herz(en) | den Herzen |
| Genitive | des Herzens | der Herzen |
Many foreign nouns have irregular plurals, for example:
| Nominative singular | Genitive singular | Nominative plural | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -s, -en | das Thema | des Themas | die Themen | the theme |
| -, -en | der Kommunismus | des Kommunismus | (die Kommunismen) | communism |
| -s, PL | das Thema | des Themas | die Themata | the theme |
| -, PL | der Uterus | des Uterus | die Uteri | the uterus |
In some religious publications (especially Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
), the name of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
is declined as in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, that is:
| sing. | |
|---|---|
| nom. | Jesus |
| gen. | Jesu |
| dat. | Jesu |
| acc. | Jesum |
| voc. | Jesu |
| abl. | Jesu |
Although the ablative is absent in German, it is used where it would be used in Latin. The genitive Jesu is much more frequent than the other cases, as in Die Kreuzigung Jesu "Jesus' crucifixion".
External links
- German Nouns and Gender – German grammar lesson covering nouns and gender