Learning German nouns seems to be quite annoying for foreign learners of German because of the three grammatical genders that German nouns can have. In my previous four posts I thoroughly discussed masculine nouns, and in this post I would like to begin with feminine nouns<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
a) Nouns that denote female humans, female animals, and female occupations<\/strong><\/p>\n Just like masculine nouns denote male humans, male animals, and male occupations, feminine nouns do, first of all, denote female humans, animals, and occupations or positions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n die Mutter \u2013 mother<\/p>\n die Tante \u2013 aunt<\/p>\n die Gro\u00dfmutter \u2013 grandmother<\/p>\n die Tochter \u2013 daughter<\/p>\n die Dame \u2013 lady<\/p>\n die Freundin \u2013 female friend<\/p>\n die Cousine \u2013 female cousine<\/p>\n die Enkelin\/Enkeltochter \u2013 granddaughter<\/p>\n die Nichte \u2013 niece<\/p>\n die Uroma \u2013 great-grandma<\/p>\n die H\u00e4sin \u2013 female hare*<\/p>\n die Henne \u2013 hen***<\/p>\n die Hirschkuh \u2013 hind*<\/p>\n die H\u00fcndin \u2013 female dog*<\/p>\n die Katze \u2013 (female) cat**<\/p>\n die Kuh \u2013 cow<\/p>\n die L\u00f6win \u2013 female lion*<\/p>\n die Sau \u2013 sow (female pig)***<\/p>\n die Stute \u2013 mare (female horse)***<\/p>\n die Angestellte<\/p>\n dei Direktorin<\/p>\n die Lehrerin<\/p>\n die Putzfrau****<\/p>\n die Anw\u00e4ltin<\/p>\n die Flugbegleiterin<\/p>\n die Leiterin<\/p>\n die Rechtsanw\u00e4ltin<\/p>\n die \u00c4rztin<\/p>\n die Friseurin<\/p>\n die Managerin<\/p>\n die Rektorin<\/p>\n die B\u00fcrgermeisterin<\/p>\n die Politikerin<\/p>\n die Schneiderin<\/p>\n die Chefin<\/p>\n die Krankenschwester<\/p>\n die Polizistin<\/p>\n die Verk\u00e4uferin<\/td>\n der Vater \u2013 father<\/p>\n der Onkel \u2013 uncle<\/p>\n der Gro\u00dfvater \u2013 grandfather<\/p>\n der Sohn \u2013 son<\/p>\n der Herr \u2013 gentleman<\/p>\n der Freund \u2013 male friend<\/p>\n der Cousin \u2013 male cousin<\/p>\n der Enkel\/Enkelsohn \u2013 grandson<\/p>\n der Neffe \u2013 nephew<\/p>\n der Uropi \u2013 great-grandpa<\/p>\n der Hase \u2013 hare<\/p>\n der Hahn \u2013 rooster***<\/p>\n der Hirsch \u2013 stag<\/p>\n der Hund \u2013 (male) dog<\/p>\n der Kater \u2013 male cat<\/p>\n der Bulle \u2013 bull<\/p>\n der L\u00f6we \u2013 (male) lion<\/p>\n der Eber \u2013 boar (male pig)***<\/p>\n der Wallach \u2013 gelding (male horse)***<\/p>\n der Angestellte<\/p>\n der Direktor<\/p>\n der Lehrer<\/p>\n der Raumpfleger****<\/p>\n der Anwalt<\/p>\n der Flugbegleiter<\/p>\n der Leiter<\/p>\n der Rechtsanwalt<\/p>\n der Arzt<\/p>\n der Friseur<\/p>\n der Manager<\/p>\n der Rektor<\/p>\n der B\u00fcrgermeister<\/p>\n der Politiker<\/p>\n der Schneider<\/p>\n der Chef<\/p>\n der Krankenpfleger<\/p>\n der Polizist<\/p>\n der Verk\u00e4ufer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n * Although there are particular grammatical forms in German to denote female animals we usually do not use them in common speech in German, that is, when you are not absolutely sure about the biological gender of an animal or do not intend to emphasize that, you can always use the official masculine\/male form. In other words, it is actually not necessary to learn the female forms because the masculine forms usually refer to both biologically genders, male and female.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ** The word \u201cKatze\u201d is the only exception to the rule above. The word \u201cKater\u201d is a more specialized term to denote a male cat. When you are not sure of the biological gender of a cat or do not want to emphasize that you have to use the feminine grammatical form: \u201cdie Katze\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *** Some animals have special terms to reveal the gender of it. Those nouns usually have linguistically no direct connection to the name of the species, for example, das Schwein = pig and das Pferd = horse. It is not necessary to learn these biologically more specific terms as long as you know the name of the species. The only exception is probably poultry. Chickens are common domestic animals in Germany and I think that this is the only animal where we Germans draw a more clear line between genders: das Huhn \u2013 chicken is for both biological genders; die Henne \u2013 hen for female chickens, and der Hahn \u2013 rooster for male chickens.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n **** \u201cPutzfrau\u201d is a common word to denote a cleaning woman in German. When you need to make clear that the \u2018Putzfrau\u2019 is a male person you should use \u201cRaumpfleger\u201d or the term that can be used for both biological genders: \u201cdie Reinigungskraft\u201d, which is grammatically a feminine noun but there aren\u2019t any special forms that exclusively refer to male and\/or female people. So to speak, the meaning of the word \u201cReinigungskraft\u201d is genderless because it doesn\u2019t give any hints about the biological gender of the person.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To be continued\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learning German nouns seems to be quite annoying for foreign learners of German because of the three grammatical genders that German nouns can have. In my previous four posts I thoroughly discussed masculine nouns, and in this post I would like to begin with feminine nouns a) Nouns that denote female humans, female animals…<\/p>\n\n\n
\n Ferminine\/female nouns<\/strong><\/td>\n Masculine\/male nouns<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n die Frau \u2013 woman <\/p>\n der Mann \u2013 man <\/p>\n