Regarding the gender of German words.
53
votes
12answers
3k views
How can I learn noun genders better?
One of the things that I really liked about German, as I was studying it in college was the very orderly grammar, which actually helped me to understand my native English better.
As a non-native ...
31
votes
8answers
885 views
Wonach richtet sich das Geschlecht eines Anglizismus?
Wenn ich das Geschlecht eines Anglizismus bestimmen muss orientiere ich mich an 3 Gegebenheiten:
Hat das Wort ein echtes Geschlecht (the mare, die Stute)?
Welches Geschlecht hat die Übersetzung im ...
20
votes
4answers
242 views
Why do we have two equally used terms for “toe”?
There are two translations for toe that both are equally used. Both are pronounced almost the same but they have a different gender:
der Zeh, m
die Zehe, f
What is the origin of this ...
16
votes
3answers
209 views
Do Latin loanwords conserve their gender?
When I asked my teacher for the gender of Mensa, she replied that it is feminine, because the Latin word mensa is feminine. When it comes to words that share the same spelling in both German and ...
15
votes
3answers
277 views
What gender has a “Virus”?
In German there is some confusion on the gender of "Virus" where both masculine and neuter are used:
Das Influenzavirus ändert jährlich seine Oberflächenstruktur.
Ich habe mir den Virus im ...
11
votes
4answers
474 views
Is it true that 'Putzfrau' is used for males as well?
A friend of mine, who's spent some time in Germany, told me today that in German, the noun Putzfrau is often used for male cleaners as well. This goes beyond all logic, since I found the word Putzmann ...
11
votes
1answer
5k views
Der, die oder das Email?
Is there an official rule on whether it's die Email or das Email? I've heard people use both, although more commonly the female form.
10
votes
2answers
272 views
What is the gender distribution of nouns in the German language?
I want a rough estimate of the percentage of nouns that belongs to each gender category
9
votes
1answer
225 views
Warum heißt es “Ruderin”, nicht “Rudererin”?
Aus den Verben rudern und lehren ergeben sich Tätigkeitsbezeichnungen:
Ein Mann ist Ruderer oder Lehrer.
Eine Frau ist Ruderin oder Lehrerin.
Naiv erwarte ich, dass die weibliche Form Rudererin ...
8
votes
3answers
444 views
Could a “Kerl” be female?
Some translations for "Kerl" are "fellow", "bloke", "guy", "chap" and "dude". Most of them are (somewhat) gender-neutral. What about "Kerl"?
8
votes
2answers
466 views
Genus der Flüsse: eine komische Regel
Im Grammatikbuch Hammer's German Grammar and Usage habe ich eben gelesen , dass Flüsse im Ausland männlich sind:
der Ganges
der Nil
Im Gegenteil sind die Flüsse innerhalb Deutschlands ...
8
votes
3answers
611 views
das Gehalt vs. der Gehalt
In the sense "salary; wage; stipend", the word Gehalt can be either masculine or neuter. dict.cc writes this as
das/[österr. auch] der Gehalt
What is the difference between the word in these ...
7
votes
2answers
261 views
Was bedeutet „Nachten“ in „Weihnachten“?
Ich habe mich gefragt, warum „das Weihnachten“ sächlich ist. Es kommt wahrscheinlich vom Wort „das Nachten“, aber das Wort kann ich in keinem Wörterbuch finden. Ich kann nur die Herkunft von „die ...
7
votes
1answer
116 views
der, die oder das Dock (quick launch bar)?
Nach meinem Sprachgefühl heißt die Schnellstartleiste das Dock, so wie auch das http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Dock aus der Schifffahrt. Auch der Wikipedia-Artikel gibt mir recht ...
6
votes
4answers
593 views
Do adjectives have gender?
I'm trying to get my head around gender in German, for example:
Ist Ihr Freund Deutscher?
So this is German for "Is your friend German?", referring to a male friend. Now if I wanted to say this for ...
6
votes
3answers
202 views
Ist „Mensch“ geschlechtsneutral?
Kann das Subjekt im folgenden Beispiel eine Frau sein?
Der moderne Mensch ist anders. Er hat wenig Zeit.
Wenn nicht, was wäre ein besseres Wort?
5
votes
2answers
196 views
Why do you say “in diesem Sinne” if “Sinne” is a feminine noun?
The LEO page for "Sinne" shows that the noun Sinne is a feminine noun, yet is used in the phrase "in diesem Sinne".
Shouldn't that be "in dieser Sinne"?
5
votes
2answers
109 views
Koppel's gender in “In der Eckerkoppel”
In Hamburg there is a street called Eckerkoppel. According to dict.leo.org, Koppel is a neuter noun. So if a German writes "Sein Haus ist in der Eckerkoppel", is the street name treated as a ...
5
votes
2answers
86 views
Adjective endings in accusative case and in comparison (neu/new)
This page suggests that neu/neuer is new/newer. This page suggests that "ein neuer Wagen" (a new car) is an identification of gender.
Is it true that neuer can stand for both - and thus the only way ...
4
votes
2answers
270 views
Der Nacht oder die Nacht?
Rammstein sings "Sie kommen zu euch in der Nacht" in "Mein herz brennt" song, but to my knowledge "Nacht" is of female gender and it's supposed to be "die Nacht". So what am I missing?
And also ...
4
votes
2answers
314 views
Do all nouns from verbs nominalized by the suffix “-ung” have a female gender?
By suffixing verbs with "-ung" we can build nouns, e.g.:
prüfen - Prüfung
meinen - Meinung
richten - Richtung
All those nouns seem to have a female gender. Is that always true or do we have ...
4
votes
1answer
193 views
Did the gender of “Müll” change with its meaning?
Still in the 19. Century for "Müll" we have both, a neuter and a masculine gender whereas its gender today is masculine. Interestingly it also seems to have had a different meaning than today (trash, ...
3
votes
3answers
129 views
Welches Geschlecht hat “Zamperl”?
Für Nichtbayern, mit Zamperl bezeichnet man kleine Hunde.
Es ist mir nur nicht gelungen herauszufinden, ob es "das Zamperl" oder "der Zamperl" heißt.
3
votes
1answer
148 views
Welches Genus hat ein zitiertes Wort?
Wie kann man das Genus von einem Wort oder Zitat wissen? Wie kann ich zum Beispiel herausfinden, welche Artikel ich in folgenden Texten für die Zitierten Wörter verwenden muss:
„Das wage ich nicht ...
3
votes
1answer
84 views
How do I build subordinative clauses relating to genderless nouns?
In German there are few nouns that have no article and thus seemingly no gender:
Examples
Google
Nahost
Nord
Allerheiligen
In the example "Nord" we could overcome this by using "der ...
2
votes
1answer
354 views
How is the gender of new words established?
When words are borrowed into German, how is it decided what gender that word should be?
I can think of examples with all three genders: der Latte, die Jeans, das Internet.
Are there ever ...
1
vote
2answers
315 views
English analog to “Stelzbock” or why so few sexual cusses for men?
german female version of Stelzbock someone told me would be Flittchen - Hussy (eng). Is there an appropriate translation? Imo, Macho and Gigolo doesn't match , to less animal-like and more a ...
0
votes
2answers
114 views
In welchem Fall kann »Ring« mit sächlichem Artikel verwendet werden?
Bei einer Internetrecherche traf ich auf die Wiedergabe von Wagners Opus Magnum als »Das Ring des Niebelungen« (Rechtschreibung unkorrigiert übernommen). Warum heißt es nicht »Der Ring«?
