Substantives and declension
As mentioned in a previous lesson, in German nouns have grammatical gender. They can be feminine, masculine or neuter. Recall also that there are four cases in German. A noun is modified in accordance with the case. The number of the noun must be taken into account in terms of declension.
Before discussing the declension of substantives, let’s review a few important points regarding the noun.
The first point is capitalization. In German, all nouns start with a capital letter, regardless of the position in the sentence:
- Bestellen Sie mir bitte ein Taxi (Please call a taxi for me)
In the sentence above Taxi is a noun and although it does not appear at the beginning of the sentence, it starts with a capital letter.
“ein” which appears in the example sentence is an indefinite article. We will see substantive declension in terms of the indefinite as well as definite articles further below.
Another important point regarding German nouns is the formation of the plural. Here are the important points in terms of the formation of the plural in German.
- Some German nouns do not change in the plural. In this case the use of article shows whether it’s handled with a singular or a plural noun. Example: der Körper (singular), die Körper (plural)
- The feminine words ending in “–in”, such as die Studentin (the (female) student), end in –innen in the plural form: die Studentinnen (the (female) students)
- Many foreign words form the plural with “-s”. For example; Autos, Büros
- Nouns ending in –“nis” form the plural with “-nisse”: das Erlebnis, die Erlebnisse
- Apart from the endings explained above, there are six more possibilities for the formation of a plural German noun:
Umlaut is used: der Briefkasten-die Briefkästen
“-e” is attached: der Haushalt-die Haushalte
Both of the above, i.e. umlaut and “–e” are attached: der Wunsch, die Wünsche
“-er” is attached: das Kleid, die Kleider
Umlaut and “-er” is attached: das Bad, die Bäder
“-en” is added: die Frau, die Frauen
“-n” is added: die Tasche, die Taschen
Declension-1
Definite Articles
|
Singular |
masculine |
feminine |
neuter |
|
Nominative |
der Vater |
die Mutter |
das Kind |
|
Accusative |
den Vater |
die Mutter |
das Kind |
|
Dative |
dem Vater |
der Mutter |
dem Kind |
|
Genitive |
des Vaters |
der Mutter |
des Kindes |
|
Plural |
|
|
|
|
Nominative |
die Väter |
die Mütter |
die Kinder |
|
Accusative |
die Väter |
die Mütter |
die Kinder |
|
Dative |
den Vätern |
den Müttern |
den Kindern |
|
Genitive |
der Väter |
der Mütter |
der Kinder |
- In the case of plural nouns, “-n” is attached to the noun, i.e. Vätern, Müttern, Kindern. But, if the plurals of the noun ends in “-s”, as in Autos, then the dative does not end in “n” but the plural ending is used, such as “in den Autos”.
- The genitive endings for the singular masculine and neuter forms are the same. Here, as shown in the table above, if the noun contains more than one syllable, an “-s” is attached to the end of the noun, e.g. des Vaters. If the noun contains only one syllable, then “-es” is attached as in the case of Kind: des Kindes. In case of the following endings, also “-es” is used: -x, -tz,-z,-ss,-s. Such as der Fluss-des Flusses, das Gesetz, des Gesetzes.
Indefinite Articles
|
Singular |
masculine |
feminine |
neuter |
|
Nominative |
ein Vater |
eine Mutter |
ein Kind |
|
Accusative |
einen Vater |
eine Mutter |
ein Kind |
|
Dative |
einem Vater |
einer Mutter |
einem Kind |
|
Genitive |
eines Vaters |
einer Mutter |
eines Kindes |
|
Plural |
|
|
|
|
Nominative |
Väter |
Mütter |
Kinder |
|
Accusative |
Väter |
Mütter |
Kinder |
|
Dative |
Vätern |
Müttern |
Kindern |
|
Genitive |
Väter |
Mütter |
Kinder |
Declension-2 (n-deklination)
There is a second group of nouns in German which do not follow the rules introduced above exactly. In this case, apart from the singular nominative case, an “–(e)n” is attached to the substantive. Therefore, this second type of declension is called “n-Deklination” in German.
The nouns falling into this group are always masculine with the exception of the noun “das Herz” (the heart).
The following table shows the n declension with the word for human in German: der Mensch
|
Singular |
Definite Article |
Indefinite Article |
|
Nominative |
der Mensh |
ein Mensch |
|
Accusative |
den Menschen |
einen Menschen |
|
Dative |
dem Menschen |
einem Menschen |
|
Genitive |
des Menschen |
eines Menschen |
|
Plural |
|
|
|
Nominative |
die Menschen |
Menschen |
|
Accusative |
die Menschen |
Menschen |
|
Dative |
den Menschen |
Menschen |
|
Genitive |
der Menschen |
Menschen |
- Masculine nouns ending in –e fall into this group: der Junge, der Experte, der Bote etc.
- Many masculine nouns which describe professions fall into this group: der Fotograf, der Soldat, der Diplomat etc.
- Masculine nouns ending in “-and”, “-ant”, “-ent”, “-ist” fall into this group: der Student, der Elefant, der Doktorand, der Terrorist etc.
In the vocabulary section below, you may find a list of some essential nouns following n-Deklination.
Vocabulary
List of the essential nouns that follow n-Deklination
Der Nachbar neighbour
Der Prinz prince
Der Narr fool
Der Bär bear
Der Biologe biologist
Der Philosoph philosopher
Der Fotograf photographer
Der Musikant musician
Der Kapitalist capitalist
Der Utopist utopian
Der Kommunist communist
Der Idealist idealist
Der Produzent producer
Der Lieferant supplier
Der Kunde customer
Der Kollege colleague
Der Sklave slave
Der Hase hare
Der Bulle cop
Der Zeuge witness
Der Gefährte companian
Exercises
Give the plural!
Hund ----
Katze ---
Akademie ---
Tisch ---
Körper ---