Borrowed words need an article
German borrows English nouns all the time: Meeting, App, Deadline, Job. English has no grammatical gender, so every one of them has to be given a der, die or das when it enters German. Speakers do not pick at random. Three forces decide, roughly in this order of strength.
Meaning: borrow the German partner's gender
Ask yourself what the word would be in plain German. The loanword usually inherits that gender, even when its shape suggests something else.
Loanword and German partner
| Loanword | German partner | English |
|---|---|---|
| die App | die Anwendung | app |
| die Cloud | die Wolke | cloud |
| die Deadline | die Frist | deadline |
| die Homepage | die Seite | homepage |
| die Party | die Feier | party |
| das Baby | das Kind | baby |
Lad dir einfach die App runter, dann geht das schneller.
Just download the app, it's quicker that way.
Die Deadline ist leider nicht verhandelbar.
I'm afraid the deadline isn't negotiable.
Shape: endings that look German
When no German partner comes to mind, the ending takes over. These patterns are reliable enough to guess with.
Endings and their usual gender
| Ending | Gender | German model | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ing | das | das Treffen, das Einkaufen | das Meeting, das Training, das Marketing, das Shopping |
| -er | der | der Drucker, der Lehrer | der Computer, der Browser, der Manager, der Container |
| -ness | die | die Freundlichkeit | die Fitness, die Wellness |
| -ion, -ity | die | die Lektion, die Qualität | die Location, die Session, die Community |
Most loanwords form the plural with -s: die Meetings, die Apps, die Jobs. Words in -er follow their German models and stay unchanged: die Computer, die Manager.
Where usage is still split
Some words are still settling, because two of the forces pull in different directions. Dictionaries list both genders, and you can use either. Pick one and stick with it within a text.
Two accepted genders
Sie schreibt einen Blog über Fermentieren.
She writes a blog about fermenting.
der Blog and das Blog are both standard; der is more frequent in speech.
Ich schick dir das E-Mail gleich.
I'll send you the email right away.
das E-Mail is normal in Austria, Switzerland and parts of southern Germany; elsewhere it is die E-Mail.
Das Event war ausverkauft.
The event was sold out.
das Event is the usual form, der Event also occurs.
The one-syllable tendency has common exceptions, which you simply learn with their article: das Team, das Date, die Band.
