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Nouns (Nomen / Substantive)

Nouns are words that represent a person, place, thing, or idea (e.g., Mann, Berlin, Tisch, Liebe).

In German, all nouns are always capitalized. They also have three key grammatical properties you must learn:

  1. Gender: Every noun has a grammatical gender: Masculine (der), Feminine (die), or Neuter (das). This must be memorized with the noun.
  2. Number (Plural): Nouns change their form to become plural, using several different endings (e.g., -n, -e, -er, -s).
  3. Case (Declension): Nouns (and their articles) change form based on their grammatical role in a sentence (the Case). This system of changing endings is called Declension.

In This Section

  • Noun Gender A guide to der, die, and das, including patterns and rules to help you guess a noun's gender.

  • Noun Plurals An overview of the different plural endings and how to know which one a noun is likely to take.

  • The Four Cases An essential introduction to the what and why of the four cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive.

  • Noun Declension Learn how to change noun endings for the different cases, including special rules like "N-Declension."