Genau
Topic test · A1

Noun gender test

10questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
Start the test Read the topic first

One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

10 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

Zeitung

newspaper

die. The ending is -ung, and as a suffix it has no exceptions. You never have to think about a noun in -ung again: die Wohnung · die Meinung · die Rechnung.

Mädchen

girl

das. This is trap 01: -chen is the diminutive ending and every diminutive is neuter, whatever the word means. die Mädchen is not wrong as such — it is the plural.

das Auto + die Bahn = Autobahn

motorway

die. In a compound only the last chunk votes, and this thing is a Bahn. Taking das from Auto is reading the word from the wrong end.

Fenster

window

das. The -er tempts you, but that ending only signals der when the word means «someone who does it» — der Lehrer, der Fahrer. A window does not do anything, so the ending is silent here. Same group: das Wasser · das Messer · das Zimmer.

Freiheit

freedom

-heit · -keit · -ung · -ion · -schaft → always die. Suffix beats memorising.

Häuschen (little house)

little house

Diminutives -chen/-lein are always neuter — even das Mädchen.

Compound nouns take whose gender? — der Zahn + der Arzt

Zahnarzt = dentist

The last element decides both meaning and gender: der Arzt → der Zahnarzt.

Universität

university

-tät is a reliable die-suffix: die Universität · die Qualität.

Why learn nouns WITH their article?

der/die/das = the

Every case ending and adjective ending depends on gender. Tisch alone is half a word; der Tisch is the whole unit.

Frühling (spring)

spring

Seasons, months, days, and -ling words are masculine: der Frühling · der Montag.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. Suffixes decide hundreds of nouns

    -ung · -heit · -keit · -ion · -schaft · -tät → die. -chen · -lein → das. -ling → der. Learn the suffix, get the noun free.

    die Zeitung · das Mädchen · der Frühling

  2. Compounds: last word wins

    der Zahn + der Arzt → der Zahnarzt · das Auto + die Bahn → die Autobahn. First word only narrows the meaning.

    die Autobahn

  3. Meaning groups help

    Days, months, seasons → der. Infinitives as nouns → das (das Schwimmen).

    der Montag · das Rauchen

  4. Gender drives everything later

    Cases, adjective endings and pronouns all read the gender first. That is why nouns are learned WITH their article, as one unit.

    der Tisch → er → den Tisch

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • die Mädchen (singular)

    das Mädchen

    -chen is always neuter — grammar beats biology.

  • der Autobahn

    die Autobahn

    Last element die Bahn decides.

  • Learning nouns without articles

    der Tisch, die Lampe, das Buch — as one word

    Every later ending depends on the gender you skipped.

  • das Universität

    die Universität

    -tät is a reliable die-suffix.