Learning German nouns seems to be quite annoying for foreign learners of German because of the three grammatical genders that German nouns can have. In my previous four posts I thoroughly discussed masculine nouns, and in this post I would like to begin with feminine nouns
a) Nouns that denote female humans, female animals, and female occupations
Just like masculine nouns denote male humans, male animals, and male occupations, feminine nouns do, first of all, denote female humans, animals, and occupations or positions.
| Ferminine/female nouns |
Masculine/male nouns |
| die Frau – woman
die Mutter – mother
die Tante – aunt
die Großmutter – grandmother
die Tochter – daughter
die Dame – lady
die Freundin – female friend
die Cousine – female cousine
die Enkelin/Enkeltochter – granddaughter
die Nichte – niece
die Uroma – great-grandma
die Häsin – female hare*
die Henne – hen***
die Hirschkuh – hind*
die Hündin – female dog*
die Katze – (female) cat**
die Kuh – cow
die Löwin – female lion*
die Sau – sow (female pig)***
die Stute – mare (female horse)***
die Angestellte
dei Direktorin
die Lehrerin
die Putzfrau****
die Anwältin
die Flugbegleiterin
die Leiterin
die Rechtsanwältin
die Ärztin
die Friseurin
die Managerin
die Rektorin
die Bürgermeisterin
die Politikerin
die Schneiderin
die Chefin
die Krankenschwester
die Polizistin
die Verkäuferin |
der Mann – man
der Vater – father
der Onkel – uncle
der Großvater – grandfather
der Sohn – son
der Herr – gentleman
der Freund – male friend
der Cousin – male cousin
der Enkel/Enkelsohn – grandson
der Neffe – nephew
der Uropi – great-grandpa
der Hase – hare
der Hahn – rooster***
der Hirsch – stag
der Hund – (male) dog
der Kater – male cat
der Bulle – bull
der Löwe – (male) lion
der Eber – boar (male pig)***
der Wallach – gelding (male horse)***
der Angestellte
der Direktor
der Lehrer
der Raumpfleger****
der Anwalt
der Flugbegleiter
der Leiter
der Rechtsanwalt
der Arzt
der Friseur
der Manager
der Rektor
der Bürgermeister
der Politiker
der Schneider
der Chef
der Krankenpfleger
der Polizist
der Verkäufer |
* Although there are particular grammatical forms in German to denote female animals we usually do not use them in common speech in German, that is, when you are not absolutely sure about the biological gender of an animal or do not intend to emphasize that, you can always use the official masculine/male form. In other words, it is actually not necessary to learn the female forms because the masculine forms usually refer to both biologically genders, male and female.
** The word “Katze” is the only exception to the rule above. The word “Kater” is a more specialized term to denote a male cat. When you are not sure of the biological gender of a cat or do not want to emphasize that you have to use the feminine grammatical form: “die Katze”.
*** Some animals have special terms to reveal the gender of it. Those nouns usually have linguistically no direct connection to the name of the species, for example, das Schwein = pig and das Pferd = horse. It is not necessary to learn these biologically more specific terms as long as you know the name of the species. The only exception is probably poultry. Chickens are common domestic animals in Germany and I think that this is the only animal where we Germans draw a more clear line between genders: das Huhn – chicken is for both biological genders; die Henne – hen for female chickens, and der Hahn – rooster for male chickens.
**** “Putzfrau” is a common word to denote a cleaning woman in German. When you need to make clear that the ‘Putzfrau’ is a male person you should use “Raumpfleger” or the term that can be used for both biological genders: “die Reinigungskraft”, which is grammatically a feminine noun but there aren’t any special forms that exclusively refer to male and/or female people. So to speak, the meaning of the word “Reinigungskraft” is genderless because it doesn’t give any hints about the biological gender of the person.
To be continued…
Comments:
Lee Bergevin:
Sandra,
Nur ein Bit an Information. Eine männliche Pferd ist ein Hengst. Ein Wallach ist ein kastrierter Hengst.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Lee
EP:
I’m sure you’ll be addressing it later, but remember to give a few tips about certain noun endings that help you recognize the gender. Cheers.
Zach:
It’s especially important to remember to use the female form of cat because “einen Kater haben” means to have a hangover
Also I think das Mädchen (girl) should be pointed out as a common exception to this rule