02-B: Nouns and Articles – Introduction (2)

Nouns and Articles  –  Introduction (2)

Read,     listen        and repeat 

It seems to be logical that
  • der Mann (man) is masculine,
  • die Frau (woman) is feminine,
  • das Kind (child) is neuter
But why is
  • der Loeffel (spoon) masculine,
  • die Gabel (fork) feminine and
  • das Messer (knife) neuter?
 
Nobody knows ! These Nouns just follow the grammatical gender.
 
Here are some rules:
 
Masculine 
Male persons and animals: der Vater (father)-der Hund(dog)
Male professions: der Arzt (Physician) – der Architekt (Architect) – der Handwerker (Craftsman)
Months and weekdays: der Juli (July) – der Sonntag (Sunday)
Seasons, daytimes:der Sommer (summer) – der Abend (evening)
Weather, direction:der Regen (rain) – der Sueden (the south)
 
Feminine
Female persons: die Mutter (mother) – die Tochter (daughter)
Female professions: die Ärztin (Physician) – die Architektin (Architect) – die Lehrerin Teacher)
Many plants:   die Rose (rose) – die Tulpe (tulip)
 
Note: There are some rules (more than are given here) to recognize the gender at the ending
 of a noun. But this does not apply to all nouns .
Therefore, one should learn the nouns along with their definite articles !