der die das – German noun genders (Lingviko)

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Der, die or das? Check any German noun

Type one word or paste a whole text. Every noun gets its article, from a dictionary of 90,000 German nouns.

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German noun Check

Try: HaustürMädchenSeeSchmetterlingKühlschranktürfach

German text Liebe Frau Weber, vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail. Ich suche seit dem Sommer eine neue Wohnung mit Balkon in der Innenstadt. Die Miete sollte nicht zu hoch sein, denn mein Gehalt reicht gerade so. Haben Sie am Freitag Zeit für eine Besichtigung? Mein Mann und unsere beiden Kinder kommen auch mit. Viele Grüße, Anna

• der · masculine
• die · feminine
• das · neuter

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Dictionary data: German Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via the german-nouns dataset.

German has three articles in the singular: der for masculine nouns, die for feminine nouns and das for neuter nouns. In the plural, every noun takes die. The ending of a noun is the best clue, and in a compound noun the last word decides.

Which endings tell you the article?

We counted 88,884 nouns in German Wiktionary to see how reliable each ending really is. Some endings are almost perfect rules. Others are only a hint.

Endings that mean die

Ending	Right in	Example
-keit	100% 999 nouns	die Möglichkeit
-tät	100% 779 nouns	die Universität
-ung	99.2% 5,548 nouns	die Wohnung Exceptions: der Sprung
-schaft	98.9% 540 nouns	die Freundschaft
-heit	98.5% 518 nouns	die Gesundheit
-ie	97% 2,238 nouns	die Familie Exceptions: das Knie, das Genie
-ion	96.5% 1,693 nouns	die Information Exceptions: das Stadion, der Spion
-ik	94.8% 834 nouns	die Musik Exceptions: der Katholik
-e	87.2% 16,966 nouns	die Lampe Exceptions: der Name, der Käse, das Auge

Endings that mean das

Ending	Right in	Example
-lein	98.9% 95 nouns	das Fräulein
-ment	95.2% 209 nouns	das Dokument Exceptions: der Zement
-tum	92% 162 nouns	das Eigentum Exceptions: der Irrtum, der Reichtum
-chen	88.2% 931 nouns	das Mädchen Exceptions: der Kuchen
-nis	77.9% 312 nouns	das Ergebnis Exceptions: die Erlaubnis
-um	73.7% 1,345 nouns	das Zentrum Exceptions: der Baum, der Konsum

Endings that mean der

Ending	Right in	Example
-ismus	100% 558 nouns	der Tourismus
-eur	96.5% 142 nouns	der Friseur
-ist	94.9% 474 nouns	der Tourist Exceptions: die Frist
-ig	93.2% 146 nouns	der Honig
-ling	91.5% 283 nouns	der Schmetterling
-or	90.7% 589 nouns	der Motor Exceptions: das Tor, das Labor
-er	79.5% 9,845 nouns	der Lehrer Exceptions: die Mutter, das Fenster

Across all nouns, 43% are die, 37% are der and 20% are das. If you really have to guess, guess die.

Counted on 1 November 2026 from the same dictionary the checker uses. Each noun counts once, with its main article. Only words longer than the ending count.

Compound nouns: the last word decides

German builds long nouns from short ones, and the article always comes from the last part. Learn the article of the short words and you know thousands of long ones. The checker splits compounds the same way, so it also knows long words that no dictionary lists.

• das Haus + die Tür = die Haustür
• die Hand + der Schuh = der Handschuh
• der Kühlschrank + die Tür + das Fach = das Kühlschranktürfach

In the plural, it's always die

The plural article never changes. Only the ending of the noun does, and that you learn with each noun.

• der Tisch → die Tische
• das Kind → die Kinder
• die Frau → die Frauen

Same word, different article

About 1,500 German nouns have more than one article in our dictionary. Usually the meaning changes with it:

der See / die See

the lake / the sea

der Leiter / die Leiter

the manager / the ladder

das Band / die Band

the ribbon / the music band

die Steuer / das Steuer

the tax / the steering wheel

der Teil / das Teil

a part of something / a single piece

How to remember the article

1. 1

   Never learn a noun on its own: not Tisch, but der Tisch.

2. 2

   Learn the reliable endings from the table first. They cover a large share of everyday nouns.

3. 3

   Use the same three colours every time. Your memory links the colour to the noun.

4. 4

   Read real German texts and let the checker colour them. You see the patterns again and again.

Questions about der, die, das

All questions about Lingviko

How do I know if a noun is der, die or das?

Look at the ending first: -ung, -heit, -keit and -schaft are die, -chen and -lein are das, -ismus and -ling are der. For a compound noun, take the article of the last word. For everything else, learn the noun together with its article, or check it here.

Why is it das Mädchen and not die Mädchen?

Grammar beats meaning here. Every noun ending in -chen is neuter, so it is das Mädchen, even though a girl is female. The same goes for das Fräulein, because of the ending -lein.

Does the article change in other cases?

Yes. der becomes den in the accusative (Ich sehe den Tisch), and der, die, das become dem, der, dem in the dative. The checker shows the basic article (nominative singular), the one you learn with each noun.

How accurate is the checker?

We tested it on 1,006 nouns from real German exam texts. It found 99.2% of them, and 98.7% of those got the right article. Most misses are verbs used as nouns, such as das Arbeiten.

Is the checker free? Do you store my text?

It is free and needs no account. Your text is sent to our checker, the nouns are coloured, and the text is discarded. Nothing is saved.

Sources

1. German Wiktionary: gender and forms of every noun (CC BY-SA 4.0)
2. german-nouns dataset on GitHub, built from German Wiktionary
3. Ending statistics and accuracy test: our own counts, 1 November 2026

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