In this lesson I wanted to answer a question I receive from many, many, many students:
How can I remember the gender of nouns?
I would love to tell you that there is a trick or a simple way of remembering what gender each noun is. Unfortunately noun genders are just one of those things you will have to learn on a case by case basis.
So whenever you learn a new word, the first thing to do is to ask “what’s the gender?” and actually write the word down with its gender.
At first, it seems like an impossible task, because Luxembourgish has three genders – masculine, feminine and neuter. So as you go, you will inevitably make some mistakes, but that doesn’t really matter as long as you’ve got the basic ones right. That’s the most important.
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In practice you can guess the gender of many words using generalised rules:
The following nouns are always masculine:
The article for words in these categories is always de(n) “the” or e(n) “a or an“.
Days: Méindeg, Sonndeg …. “Monday, Sunday“
Months: Juli “July“
Seasons: Summer “summer“. Exception: d’ Fréijoer “spring“
Directions: Süden “south“, Norden “north“, Westen “west” Osten “east“
Wieder: Reen “rain“, Schnéi “snow“, Niwwel “fog/mist”
Names of cars and trains: den Audi, den Intercity, den TGV
Names of alcoholic drinks: Wäin “wine“, Béier “beer“, Rhum
People who do something and most occupations:
Affekot “lawyer“, Dokter “docter”, Verkeefer “seller“, Student “student“
Note: that the feminine form of these terms almost always ends in -in: Affekotin, Verkeeferin, d’ Studentin, but d’Doktesch.
Nouns ending in –ismus:
Journalismus, Optimismus, Realismus (equal -ism words in English)
Nouns ending in –ist, iker:
Optimist, Jurist “legal expert“, Techniker “technician“, Akademiker “universtiy graduate“
The following nouns are always feminine:
The article for words in these categories is always d’ “the” or eng “a or an“.
Nouns ending in –heet, –keet:
Gesondheet “health“, Fräiheet “freedom“, Méiglechkeet “possibility“, Schwieregkeet “difficulty“
Nouns ending in –téit, –ung, –schaft:
Qualitéit “quality“, Realitéit “reality“, Zeitung “newspaper“, Meenung “opinion” Frëndschaft “friendship“, Gesellschaft “society“
Nouns ending in –ei:
Bäckerei “bakery“, Bei “bee“, Partei “party” (political group)
Nouns ending in –ie: Theorie “theory“, Geographie, Industrie
Nouns ending in –ik: Grammatik “grammar“, Klinick “hospital“, Panik “panic“, Kritik “criticism“.
Nouns ending in –ioun: Situatioun, Reunioun “meeting“, Traditioun “tradition, custom“
Nouns ending in –ur and –in: Natur, Kultur, Léierin “school teacher“, Frëndin “friend“
but: de(n) Benzin “petrol“
Most types of flowers and trees: Eech “oak“, Rous “rose“
but: de(n) Bam “tree”
The following nouns are always neuter:
The article for words in these categories is always d’ “the” or e(n) “a or an“.
Nouns ending in –chen: Bréitchen “bun“, Meedchen “girl“, Männchen “stick figure“
Infinitives used as nouns: d’ Iessen “ the eating“, d’ Schreiwen ” the writing“, d’Liesen “the reading”
Nouns ending in –ment: Dokument, Experiment, Abonnement
Most nouns starting with Ge-: Gebai “the building“, Geschir “tools“, Gesetz “law“, Gespréich “discussion“
but: there are many exceptions, such as de(n) Gedanken “thought“, d’ Gefor “danger“, d’ Gebuert “birth“, d’ Gedold “patience“, d’ Gemeng “town hall“, d’ Geschicht “story“, and others.
I hope that’s helpful for you. Don’t look for shortcuts. That’s really the way to go with the noun genders in Luxembourgish. Some things in language learning you just have to put your head down and remember it. If you’d like to ask me a question send it to me.
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