Question about german articles.?

Question

Is there a short cut or rule of thumb to use to know the proper gender of German nouns?

Answer 1

There is no rule per se, but there are definitely some patterns that can help you:

- All words ending in ''-ung'' or ''-keit'' or ''-heit'' will be feminine.

- All words ending in ''-ur'' and ''-ik'' will be feminine.

- Words ending in ''-ling'' and ''-er'' or those borrowed from Latin ending in "-ismus" will be masculine.

- Verbs used in the infinitive form as nouns (das Gehen, das Aussehen, das Geschehen, etc.) will be neutral.

- All words ending ''-ling'' and ''-lein'' will be neutral.

If you're going to guess, guess masculine, as the vast majority of nouns in German are masculine.

If not, you have to memorize them and trust me, it is not as exhausting as it seems. The more you use those words, the more you'll remember their gender.

Answer 2

curious_lalalala is perfectly right. Just one thing left to add:

- Words ending in ''-nis' will be neuter.

Answer 3

the cuting-making form -chen which is added to nouns is always neuter