Nouns
Gender and number of nouns
In the German language, nouns have three genders: masculine (M), feminine (F), and neuter (N).
The following list contains all the nouns from the first part of our excerpt. The definite article before a singular noun indicates its gender:
der (M), die (F), das (N)
In the plural (PL), all nouns take the same article (die), regardless of gender. This means that in the plural the gender distinction disappears.
This is why the article is not placed before plural nouns in the following list.
| girl | Mädchen | Mädchen [tooltip]girl[/tooltip] |
| dolls | Puppen | Puppen [tooltip]dolls[/tooltip] |
| dream | Träume | Träume [tooltip]dreams[/tooltip] |
| mountain village | Bergdorf | Bergdorf[tooltip] mountain village[/tooltip] |
| beach | Meeresstrand | Meeresstrand [tooltip]beach[/tooltip] |
| sea | Meer | Meer [tooltip]sea[/tooltip] |
| country | Land | Land [tooltip]country[/tooltip] |
| people | Leute | Leute [tooltip]people[/tooltip] |
| language | Sprache | Sprache [tooltip]language[/tooltip] |
| dreams | Träume | Träume[tooltip]dreams[/tooltip] |
| years | Jahre | Jahre [tooltip]years[/tooltip] |
| big ugly man | Riesenkerl | Riesenkerl [tooltip]big ugly man[/tooltip] |
| six-foot man | Zweimetermann | Zweimetermann [tooltip]six-foot man[/tooltip] |
| arms | Arme | Arme [tooltip]arms[/tooltip] |
| doll | Puppe | Puppe [tooltip]doll[/tooltip] |
| tiny creature | Würmchen | Würmchen [tooltip]tiny creature[/tooltip] |
| angel face | Engelsgesicht | Engelsgesicht [tooltip]angel face[/tooltip] |
| spasms | Krämpfe | Krämpfe [tooltip]spasms[/tooltip] |
| little body | Körperchen | Körperchen [tooltip]little body[/tooltip] |
| disease | Morbus | Morbus [tooltip]disease[/tooltip] |
| name | Name | Name [tooltip]name[/tooltip] |
| doctor | Arzt | Arzt[tooltip]doctor[/tooltip] |
| glory | Ruhm | Ruhm[tooltip]glory[/tooltip] |
| forms | Formen | Formen [tooltip]forms[/tooltip] |
| child | Kind | Kind[tooltip]child[/tooltip] |
Making the plural
The second list contains plural nouns from the entire 600-word extract by Pirandello.
The nominative plural article for all genders is die.
The first six nouns in the list are from the first part (see the first list). The words Fenster (windows) and Finger (fingers) are in the second part, while the last six nouns are in the last part of the text.
Read and listen. Copy the words as you read them.
| dolls | Puppen | Puppen[tooltip]dolls[/tooltip] |
| people | Leute | Leute[tooltip]people[/tooltip] |
| dreams | Träume | Träume[tooltip]dreams[/tooltip] |
| years | Jahre | Jahre[tooltip]years[/tooltip] |
| arms | Arme | Arme[tooltip]arms[/tooltip] |
| spasms | Krämpfe | Krämpfe[tooltip]spasms[/tooltip] |
| forms | Formen | Formen[tooltip]forms[/tooltip] |
| windows | Fenster | Fenster[tooltip]windows[/tooltip] |
| fingers | Finger | Finger[tooltip]fingers[/tooltip] |
| lips | Lippen | Lippen[tooltip]lips[/tooltip] |
| ghosts | Geister | Geister[tooltip]ghosts[/tooltip] |
| mountains | Berge | Berge[tooltip]mountains[/tooltip] |
There are five possible plural endings in German.
Our excerpt gives examples of the first four endings, which are the most common. The plural form often involves adding an umlaut to the word.
Zero ending (-ø):
Fenster, Finger[tooltip]windows, fingers[/tooltip]
- (e)n ending:
Puppen, Formen, Lippen[tooltip]dolls, forms, lips[/tooltip]
-e ending:
Träume, Jahre, Berge[tooltip]dreams, years, mountains[/tooltip]
-er ending:
Geister[tooltip]ghosts[/tooltip]
-s ending:
None of the plural nouns in the text use this ending.
There is an exercise on plural nouns in the appendix.
Cases and their functions: The Nominative Case (NOM)
The nominative case is used for the subject and the predicate noun.
The person, animal or object in the nominative case does the action described by the verb.
It answers the questions introduced by the interrogative pronouns wer? or was? ('who' or 'what').
Example:
Was ist das Leben? Ein Hauch.
Was ist das Leben? Ein Hauch. [tooltip]How flimsy life is! A breath.[/tooltip]
Here is a list of the nouns used as subjects in the second part of the text, arranged according to the action of the story. The article helps to identify the gender, number and case of the noun.
| the room | das Zimmer | das Zimmer[tooltip]the room[/tooltip] |
| the two windows | die zwei Fenster | die zwei Fenster[tooltip]the two windows[/tooltip] |
| the mother | die Mutter | die Mutter[tooltip]the mother[/tooltip] |
| the child | das Kind | das Kind[tooltip]the child[/tooltip] |
| a breath | ein Hauch | ein Hauch[tooltip]a breath[/tooltip] |
| your husband | dein Mann | dein Mann[tooltip]your husband[/tooltip] |
| a giant | ein Riese | ein Riese[tooltip]a giant[/tooltip] |
| the certainty | die Gewissheit | die Gewissheit[tooltip]the certainty[/tooltip] |
Good to know!
There are two exercises after this lesson.