NOUNS part1(§1 - §6)

                                                                                                                                       ⏪ CONTENTS

                                                                                           SHORTCUT TO NOUNS part2(§7 - §16) ⏩

§1   Nouns identify. They may identify something animate (a person, a tree) or 
       inanimate (a rock, a city), including abstract concepts such as difficulty or justice.


       A noun may stand by itself:
                  power corrupts
       or it may be part of an entire noun phrase:  the tall woman with the Great Dane

§2   Nouns in written German can be identified readily; they all begin with capital letters:

         der Amerikaner     die Österreicherin
         der Paß                 die Fahrkarte            das Gepäck
        A spelling note: When a word ends in -ss or -sst, the -ss is written ß: Paß, heißt. 
       ss is also written ß after long vowels and double vowels (diphthongs): stoßen, heißen.

§3   All German nouns are classified by gender.You will note that each noun in vocabulary
       lists appears with der, die, or das:      
         der Paß                 die Fahrkarte            das Gepäck
       In form and function, der, die, and das all correspond to English ‘the’. In German,
       however, the differences among the three forms der, die, das play an important
       grammatical role. They indicate whether a noun is “masculine”, “feminine”, or
       “neuter”.
                                       Der represents masculine nouns such as Paß.
                                       Die signifies feminine nouns such as Fahrkarte.
                                       Das represents neuter nouns such as Gepäck.

      The correct forms of the nouns are der Paß, die Fahrkarte, and das Gepäck. 

     *Die Paß,*das Fahrkarte, and *der Gepäck are impossible combinations for a native

      speaker of German. Obviously, there is nothing especially masculine about a passport, 

      or feminine about a ticket. These words have what is called grammatical gender. 

      But nouns referring  to humans generally show natural gender, such as der Kanadier 

      or die Frau.

      No doubt you can confidently predict natural gender. After more exposure to German

      you may begin to predict grammatical gender. For now, though, you must memorize

      the gender of each noun. If you do not know the gender, you will be unable to use the

      noun correctly, and you may confuse your listeners.

      Nouns in the dictionary of this text are grouped by der, die, or das in order to encourage

      their identification with one of these three gender signs

§4  In some instances it is possible to make an intelligent guess about the gender of a noun.
      Especially important may be the ending of the noun. Here are some principles:
     a)  Characteristic endings: Nouns that end in -er and denote nationality are
          masculine: der Amerikaner ‘American (man)’, der Kanadier ‘Canadian (man)’.
          Also masculine are nouns that end in -er and denote professions: der Lehrer
          ‘teacher’, der Schaffner ‘conductor’.
          Corresponding feminine nouns are derived from these masculine forms.
          They end in -in: die Amerikanerin, die Kanadierin, die Lehrerin, die Schaffnerin.
          Most nouns ending in -e are feminine: die Fahrkarte ‘ticket’, die Straße
          ‘street’. These include nouns formed from adjectives such as die Länge
          ‘length’ and die Breite ‘width’.
     b) Characteristic suffixes: Nouns ending in the suffixes -heit, -keit, -schaft, and
         -ung are always feminine: die Schönheit ‘beauty’ (from schön ‘beautiful’), die
         Wichtigkeit ‘importance’ (from wichtig ‘important’), die Freundschaft
         ‘friendship’, die Hoffnung ‘hope’ (from the verb hoffen ‘hope’).
         All nouns ending in the suffixes -chen and -lein are neuter; the two suffixes
         suggest smallness: das Häuschen ‘small house’, das Kindlein ‘little child’.
§5  Just as in English, German nouns generally have both singular and plural forms.
      English noun plurals usually end in ‘-s’:

                   tables         parties         cats         houses
      (Note that the sound represented by the written ‘s’ may vary, and that spelling

      changes can be complicated!)

      But there are also many nouns whose plurals do not end in ‘-s’:

                    mice           women        oxen        children        feet

      Some nouns do not even show distinctive plural forms:

                   sheep         fish              moose     a ten-foot pole

      And some nouns have no plural forms at all:

                   evidence    milk              inflation   darkness
      Long ago German nouns could be identified by groups, and plural forms were
      reasonably predictable. Today, however, it is very difficult to guess what a noun’s plural
      form might be.
                     SINGULAR       PLURAL
                   Mann                 Männer
                   Flasche             Flaschen
                   Wurst                Würste
                   Engländer         Engländer
                   Ticket                Tickets
                   Kanadierin        Kanadierinnen
     Because of the variety of plural forms, the plural of each noun must be learned along
     with the singular.
§6 There are several common patterns of plural formation in German.
     • Feminine nouns ending in -e add -n: die Fahrkarte, die Fahrkarten; die Schule,
        die Schulen ‘school, schools’.
     • -er nouns of nationality or profession have no additional ending: der
        Engländer, die Engländer ‘Englishman, Englishmen’, der Bäcker, die Bäcker
        ‘baker, bakers’.
     • The feminine -in nouns of nationality or profession add -nen: die
        Amerikanerin, die Amerikanerinnen, die Autorin, die Autorinnen.
     • Nouns with the feminine suffixes -heit, -keit, and -ung add -en: die
        Schönheiten ‘beauties’, die Möglichkeiten ‘possibilities’, die Hoffnungen ‘hopes’.
     • Some German noun plurals end in -s. They are usually words borrowed
        from other languages, such as English or French:
                  die Hobbys           die Hotels           die Autos
     • Masculine and neuter nouns that end in -el, -en, -er, -chen, and -lein have no
       additional plural ending:
     NOTE: In the dative plural all nouns (other than those whose plurals end in -s) end in -n.
          NOMINATIVE PLURAL: die Tage         DATIVE PLURAL: nach zehn Tagen