Theory by Dr. Donald Nelson
Bowling Green State University

This list accounts for about 80% of all known words in present German language. Though many theories debate some of the following rules, generally these rules can be used in making an appropriate guess with fairly decent accuracy as to what the gender of a noun could be. The general rule of thumb is that morphological  rules are strongest, followed by phonetic rules and semantic rules. Many nouns, however, take different genders by ellipsing the expected rules.

I. Morphological assignment rules

MASCULINE

1. -er denotes human male agents, occupations, or members of a class or group. It forms masculine nouns with zero change in the plural (der Amerikaner, -; der Arbeiter, -).
2. -er is the most productive agent suffix. It has a number of cognate variants such as -eur in loan words from the French, -är or -or in words borrowed from Latin. -ant and -ent are also agent suffixes. These suffixes form masculine agent nouns and corresponding feminine nouns according to the same model as er (der Sekretär,- ; der Ingenieur,- ; der Emigrant,- ).
3. -er also forms masculine nouns denoting instruments, implements, or utensils. Many of the words belonging to this group are compounds, the gender of which is determined by the gender of the last part of the word. This is referred to as the last member principle. As in the case of masculine human agents ending in er, the nouns in this group also show zero change in the plural (der Blinker,- ; der Kugelschreiber,- ).
4. -ismus forms masculine nouns denoting a doctrine, theory, system, or principle. -ist forms masculine personal noun derivatives denoting an adherent or proponent of the doctrine or theory (der Sozialismus, der Sozialist).
5. -us forms masculine nouns borrowed from Latin (der Ordinarius, der Zirkus).
6. -ling forms masculine nouns denoting a male with a specified quality. This group does not form corresponding in female references (der Flüchtling, der Lehrling).
7. Nouns ending in -en are predominantly masculine (excluding nouns formed from the infinitive forms of verbs).

FEMININE

8. -in is added to -er suffixes to form the corresponding feminine noun denoting the female agent; the feminine nouns, unlike their male counterparts, form their plural by adding -nen (die Amerikanerin, -nen; die Arbeiterin, -nen).
9. Nouns ending in -e and adding -n in the plural are predominantly feminine (die Briefmarke, -n; die Adresse, -n).
10. Nouns ending in -ie regularly have feminine gender (die Arterie, die Bakterie).
11. -ei regularly forms feminine nouns which fall into two groups. a) activities or behavior with a pejorative connotation; b) nouns denoting a trade business, or organization (die Bimmelei, die Druckerei, die Partei).
12. -heit and -keit always form abstract feminine nouns (die Freiheit, die Schwierigkeit).
13. –(i)tät regularly from feminine nouns (die Universität, die Qualität).
14.  -schaft forms feminine nouns (die Gesellschaft, die Freundschaft).
15. -ung forms feminine nouns (die Bildung).
16. -ion forms feminine nouns (die Nation, die Religion).
17. -itis and -sis forms feminine nouns (die Arthritis, die Thesis).
18. -anz and -enz forms feminine nouns (die Arroganz, die Dekadenz).
19. -ik forms feminine nouns (die Musik, die Politik).
20. -ur is a feminine noun suffix (der Broschur, die Natur).

NEUTER

21. Nouns formed from the infinitive of verb is always neuter (das Gehen, das SchlafFen).
22. -at forms neuter nouns (das Konsulat, das Diktat).
23. –ett forms neuter nouns (das Quartett, das Bankett).
24. –(i)um and tum regularly from neuter nouns. urn involves loanwords from Latin whereas tum is a Germanic suffix (das Gymnasium, das Studium, das Altertum).
25. -chen and -lein suffixes of virtually unlimited productivity; lein has the same meaning of chen but it occurs less frequently. Both suffixes often denote a diminutive or express endearment (das Mädchen, das Fräulein).
26. Inanimate nouns ending in -ier are predominantly neuter (das Klavier).
27. Nouns ending in -il are predominantly neuter (das Automobil).
28. Nouns borrowed from English and ending in -ing are neuter (das Training).
29. -ma is regularly neuter (das Klima, das Aroma).
30. -ment is regularly neuter (das Instrument).
31. Nouns ending in -em are predominantly neuter (das Problem).
32. Nouns ending in -al are predominantly neuter (das Arsenal).
33. Nouns ending in -ell are predominantly neuter (das Bordell).

 

II. Gender predictability based on knowledge of the plural form

MASCULINE

34. Nouns ending in -el with zero change in the plural are masculine (der Apfel, der Artikel).
35. Nouns with a Ge- prefix and adding -e together with an umlaut in the plural are masculine ( der Gebrauch, -¨e)

FEMININE

36. Nouns ending in -el and adding an -n in the plural are feminine (die Ampel, -n; die Nudel, -n).
37. Nouns ending in -er and adding an n in the plural are feminine (die Leiter, -n).
38. Monosyllable nouns denoting inanimate objects or concepts and adding -en in the plural are predominantly feminine (die Tür, en; die Zeit, en).
39. Nouns with a Ge- prefix that end in a consonant and add -en to form the plural are feminine (die Geburt, -en).
40. Nouns ending in -e and adding -n to form the plural are feminine (die Geschichte, -n).

NEUTER

41. Nouns adding -er with or without umlaut to form the plural are predominantly neuter (das Buch, -¨er; das Lied, -er).
42. Nouns with a Ge- prefix are predominantly neuter when they denote a collective or super ordinate function (das Getreide, das Geflügel).
43. Nouns with a Ge- prefix adding e to form the plural (without umlaut) are neuter (das Gedicht, -e).
44. Nouns with a Ge- prefix and zero change in the plural are neuter (das Gebirge,- ).
45. Nouns with a -Ge prefix adding  -er with or without umlaut to from the plural are neuter (das Gesicht, -er; das Gewand, -¨er).

 

III. Phonological gender determinants

MASCULINE

46. Monosyllabic nouns ending in /k/ are predominantly masculine (der Park, der Sack).
47. Monosyllabic nouns ending in /pf/ are predominantly masculine (der Kopf, der Kampf).
48. Nouns ending in /ˇs/ (spelled sch) are predominantly masculine (der Busch, der Harnisch).
49. Monosyllabic nouns ending in /ts/ (spelled tz) are predominantly masculine (der Blitz, der Platz).
50. Nouns with a /kn/ at the beginning of a word tend to be masculine.

NEUTER

51. Nouns ending in -em and -om are predominantly neuter (das Problem, das Diplom).
52. Nouns ending in -o are predominantly neuter (das Auto, das Kino).

 

IV. Semantic assignment rules

MASCULINE

53. Sex differentiable nouns denoting males (humans and domesticated animals are masculine (der Bruder, der Hund).
54. Nouns denoting rocks, stones, and particulates of these are predominantly masculine (der Stein, der Beton).
55. Gem stones are predominantly masculine (der Diamant, der Opal).
56. Units of time under one year are predominantly masculine (der Tag, der Winter, der Januar).
57. Grains are predominantly masculine (der Reis).
58. Beverages (plant extract and alcoholic) are predominantly masculine (der Kaffee, der Wein).
59. Articles of clothing are predominantly masculine (der Hut, der Mantel).
60. Fabrics are predominantly masculine (der Ginham, der Kaschmir).
61. Heavenly bodies are predominantly masculine (der Mond, der Stem).
62. Forms of precipitation are predominantly masculine (der Regen, der Schnee).
63. Bodies of water (restricted to inland streams, currents, and stagnant bodies) are predominantly masculine (der See, der Teich).
64. Words denoting sound or loud noise or Phonetic speech sounds are masculine (der Donner, der Dental, der Diphthong).
65. Dance steps and popular music forms are masculine (der Jazz, der Tango).

FEMININE

66. Sex differentiable nouns denoting females (humans and domesticated animals) are feminine (die Schwester, die Hündin).
67. Nouns denoting tropical fruits are feminine (die Ananas, die Mango).
68. Numbers are feminine (die Sieben, die Zwei).

NEUTER

69. Nouns denoting humans and animals and referring in a sexneutral way to the species or to the young of the species are neuter (das Kind, das Pferd, das Millen).
70. Units of time one year or longer are neuter (das Jahr, das Jahrzehnt).
71. Chemical elements, chemicals, drugs, and metals are neuter (das Chlor, das Kobalt, das Heroin, das Zinn).
72. Games and sports are predominantly neuter (das Lotto, das Tennis).
73. Letters of the alphabet are neuter (das Ypsilon).
74. Nouns denoting color are neuter (das Blau, das Rot).