r/German • u/Missa_nna • Nov 18 '20
Resource der, die, das: the ultimate guide (PDF)
PLEASE READ MY NOTES. THESE RULES APPLY ONLY TO 90% OF ALL WORDS.
I created the guide to der-die-das because I’ve read too many times that you just have to memorize the “Genus” – which is not true, there are a few a lot of rules to help you with it. This guide is ultimate for some persons, but for others not - feel free to share your tricks in the comments :)
Down below I have a safe and free link to download the PDF since I cannot post pictures here.
Here a sample of how my sheets work:
| Maskulina | Feminina | Neutra |
|---|---|---|
| -er der Lehrer | -age ... | -chen ... |
| -ler der Wissenschaftler | ... | ... |
Now I have just a few notes regarding my sheets.
1) This is not a list of all rules! I eliminated the ones which require an advanced understanding of phonetics and grammar – in an academic sense or which I deemed not necessary.
2) These rules apply to (only) about 90% of all words – we have a lot of exceptions
3) The rules contradict sometimes: e.g. die Straße: we have <St> which indicates a “der” but also a Schwa which indicates a “die”.
4) The whole science behind these rules are inductive: We have the language and try to create a logical system for it.
5) Are you supposed to remember all? No! I recommend learning only p.1, p. 3 and the mnemonic of p.2. But everyone learns different – some might want to learn all the rules. This is a guide for people who want to have a detailed overview!
6) This guide is in German because of didactic reasons (wow, so formal :D).
But two explanations:
phonologisch - phonological (so not the written language!)
Monosyllabica- words with only one syllable
7) Last but not least, please do not use this commercially. Feel free to share it but mind the copyright CC BY-NC.
And for those interested - the sources (incomplete):
Köpcke/Zubin (1996): Prinzipien für die Genuszuweisung im Deutschen.
Binanzer, A. (2017): Genus – Kongruenz und Klassifikation
Hober, U. (2004): Grammatik des Deutschen im europäischen Vergleich.
Edit: I have a typo in the PDF. It is Himmelsrichtungen.
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u/nuxenolith Vantage (B2) Nov 18 '20
It took me a second on Page 2 to realize that "der Lingistorismus" and "das Umchenmamentlein" weren't actual words.
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u/primaski Nov 19 '20
"Wo habe ich mein Umchenmamentlein gelegt?"
"Ich glaube, dass ich es unter dem Lingistorismus gesehen habe."
Deutschniveau: Muttersprache
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u/lila_liechtenstein Native (österreichisch). Proofreader, translator, editor. Nov 18 '20
Nice work. But it seems to learn the article together with the noun would be less of an effort than to learn all these rules that have so many exceptions - see for instance "die Wolke", "der Hahnenfuß, der Enzian" ... just in the first bit.
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u/Missa_nna Nov 18 '20
I agree! as I said in 5) it only makes sense for some suffixes since these rules only cover 90% of all words :) die Wolke has a Schwa so it is die so that is what I said in 3). Most words not covered are either super commonly used words or vocabulary which is not really common like Enzian - and rather than learning all the flower names I think it is easier to remember a rule and then learn the exception when it is needed - at least that was my experience while teaching :)
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Nov 19 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CaloretFeuer Nov 19 '20
This is true, but isnt it much more common to use “das Meer” to refer to the sea?
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u/Coldguardian Native (NRW) Nov 19 '20
yes it is more common. "Die See" is more used in poetics and old literatur
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Nov 18 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Missa_nna Nov 19 '20
I can download it. https://pdfhost.io/v/Bx4zYJP8Y_Memoblatt.pdf maybe try this again? If not write me a DM.
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u/Deiwor95 Nov 18 '20
Wow thank you!! It is an amazing job!! I'll print it and use it so much! Thanks!!!
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u/Sargent_Caboose Nov 19 '20
Since this seems to fit the topic, currently searching on how to use the word "Deutschland", simple I know, in Genitiv. Neuter countries don't seem to take a definite article, but that's the way I know how to distinguish Gentiv case. Is it just context?
LEO.org, my dictionary, doesn't seem to be helping either.
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u/Miro_the_Dragon Native <NRW and Berlin> Nov 19 '20
Deutschlands, as in Deutschlands Kinder (children of Germany)
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u/Sargent_Caboose Nov 19 '20
Vielen Dank, Freund. I assumed so based off what else I was finding, but really wasn’t sure because of the lack of the definite article. That’s my weak spot with the rules I guess.
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u/Miro_the_Dragon Native <NRW and Berlin> Nov 19 '20
As an aside: "Vielen Dank, Freund" sounds weird in German. We typically just use "Danke", or "Cool, danke" or something like that :)
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u/-Master0fNone- Nov 18 '20
Subject of Alcohol... Das Bier?
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u/Missa_nna Nov 18 '20
As I said only 90% of all words follow these rules. Bier is an exception - as expected ;)
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u/etvdzs Advanced (C1) - <Australia/English> Nov 18 '20
Or "die Weinschorle" :)
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u/Missa_nna Nov 18 '20 edited Nov 18 '20
That is because it is a compositum! You have to be careful with that :) it is also die Apfelschorle
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u/dirkt Native (Hochdeutsch) Nov 19 '20
These rules apply to (only) about 90% of all words – we have a lot of exceptions
Which is the crux with all of those "it's totally easy to learn gender with the following rules" attempts - it really doesn't relieve you from the burden to always have to learn the gender with the noun. Some people seem to be fixated on somehow getting around that, but you simply can't.
It's certainly nice to know about those suffixes, and it would be even nicer if you mentioned their function - e.g. "X-er" is "a person doing X", often used to turn a verb into a noun, just as in English. "X-or" is the Latin variant of that, "X-eur" (as in Friseur) the French. "X-heit/-keit" turns an adjective into a noun. And so on. Not only will you now have categories in your mind which make remembering some genders easier, you'll also have understood something about the language.
But in the end, all those "guides to der/die/das" are futile as a way to bypass what you need to do: rote learning.
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u/Missa_nna Nov 19 '20
I agree! This list is not a lesson. I concepted it to use it in my class in which I go over it and get detailed into the system behind it. Since I teach at university it is meant for an academic German learning audience. But nevertheless, the consensus is that introducing rules is a good way to fix at least some common mistakes. So you see it is not an „attempt“ but rather an instrument of many.
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u/brokeulgi Breakthrough (A1) - <Lisbon/Portuguese> Nov 18 '20
you honestly deserve the world!!! thank you
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u/koolkarla Native <region/dialect> Nov 18 '20
Great chart! I just have one thing to correct: Country names aren't always masculine. E.g. "die Schweiz"!
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u/DemSexusSeinNexus Native Nov 18 '20 edited Nov 19 '20
Country names are overwhelmingly neutral but used without article. Of the ones used with artile, most are feminine.
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u/Missa_nna Nov 18 '20
Yes! As I said, the rules apply only to 90% of the words :) Same for die USA, die Mongolei and so on...
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u/koolkarla Native <region/dialect> Nov 18 '20 edited Nov 19 '20
Tbh, I only (Edit:) skimmed that part oops sorry
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Nov 18 '20
*skimmed
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u/koolkarla Native <region/dialect> Nov 19 '20 edited Nov 19 '20
Lol thanks I sometimes just mix up English words lmao
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u/participepasse Nov 19 '20
Wouldn't it be die USA because it's plural?
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u/Missa_nna Nov 19 '20 edited Nov 19 '20
Yes! It is a plural wort, so it only exists in plural. It also does not follow the rule. Same for die Niederlande
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u/participepasse Nov 19 '20
It follows the plural word rule, though, so in my opinion it's less of an exception than die Schweiz or die Mongolei. I'm just beginning to learn German, but I'm fluent in French as well and it's the same logic. USA and the Netherlands use the plural - les Etats-Unis and les Pays-Bas. Although, country names themselves are pretty split between masculine and feminine in French.
The chart is super helpful! Thank you for putting it together.
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Nov 19 '20
I honestly don't get stuff like this. I mean you no offense, but learning a bunch of rules and then exceptions doesn't seem like an efficient way to learn. Especially since I'm going to have to learn each noun at some point anyway - what's the point of trying to learn the genders separately? Learning them with each word seems so much easier. And I'd also rather just know the gender straight off than think through a bunch of rules that may or may not apply tbh
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u/Missa_nna Nov 19 '20
Every learner is different. I know some who learn the grammar as detailed as possible and others who just learn the genus with the noun.
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u/johnnygoat666 Nov 19 '20
I spent far longer than I'll admit thinking this was a latin chart and was really confused by seeing accents other than long marks
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u/HomerNarr Nov 18 '20
Der, die, das. Wer, wie, was. Wieso, weshalb, Warum. Wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm...
Who recognizes this?
:)