Grammatical gender in German

All German nouns are included in one of three genders: masculine, feminine or neuter. While the gender often does not directly influence the plural forms of nouns, there are exceptions, particularly when it comes to people and professions.
In German, it is useful to memorize nouns with their accompanying definite article in order to remember their gender. However, for about 80% of nouns, the grammatical gender can be deduced from their singular and plural forms and their meaning.

Noun forms

Derivational suffixes in particular, together with most noun endings, consistently relate with specific genders, and there are very few frequent exceptions to this. Nevertheless, the details in the second column are not solid rules, and their irregularities should be noted.

Masculine endings	Masculine gender indications
-ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or, -us	The majority of nouns which come from strong verbs without a suffix.
-ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or, -us	60% of nouns in -el and -er, as well as 80% of those in -en, are masculine.
-ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or, -us	67% of monosyllabic nouns.
Feminine endings	Feminine gender indications
-a, -ei, -enz, -heit, ''-ie, -ik, -in, -keit, -schaft, -sion, -tät, -tion, -ung, -ur	Most nouns ending in -t originating from verbs.
-a, -ei, -enz, -heit, -ie, -ik, -in, -keit, -schaft, -sion, -tät, -tion, -ung, -ur	90% of nouns in -e.
Neuter endings	Neuter gender indications
-chen, -lein, -ma, -ment, -sel, -tel, -tum, -um	90% of the nouns with the prefix Ge-.
-chen, -lein, -ma, -ment, -sel, -tel, -tum, -um	Two-thirds of nouns in -nis and -sal.
-chen, -lein, -ma, -ment, -sel, -tel, -tum, -um	Most nouns ending in -al, -an, -ar, -är, -at, -ent, -ett, -ier, -iv, -o and -on, provided that they designate things.

'Notes: exceptions and irregularities'''

Noun meanings

The gender of many nouns can be seen by their meaning. However, in almost all circumstances, the rules in the paragraph above override those given here.

Masculine	Male human beings and animals.	but, for example: die männliche Giraffe
Masculine	Seasons, months and days of the week.	but: die Mittwoche
Masculine	Compass points, words about winds and types of weather.	but: die Windböe; das Wetter, Gewitter
Masculine	Rocks and minerals.	-
Masculine	Alcoholic and plant-based drinks.	but: das Bier
Masculine	Car brands.	-
Masculine	Rivers outside Germany.	-
Masculine	Names of currencies.	but: die Mark, das Pfund
Masculine	Names of the planets of the Solar System.	but: die Venus, die Erde
Masculine	Mountains and mountain ranges.	but: das Gebirge
Masculine	Rain and Precipitation	-
Feminine	Female human beings and animals.	but, for example: das Mädchen
Feminine	Fruits, trees, and many flowers.	but: der Apfel; trees ending in -baum
Feminine	Planes, ships and motorbikes.	but: das Flugzeug, Schiff, Motorrad
Feminine	Names of numerals.	-
Neuter	Young human beings and animals.	but: der Säugling
Neuter	Metals and chemical elements.	but: der Kohlenstoff, Sauerstoff, Stickstoff, Wasserstoff
Neuter	Scientific units.	but: der Meter; der/das Liter
Neuter	Letters and musical notes.	but: der Buchstabe; die Note
Neuter	Cafés, cinemas, hotels and restaurants.	-
Neuter	Names of companies with no article.	-
Neuter	Cities, towns, countries, provinces and continents.	but: die Schweiz; der/ Iran, Irak, Sudan
Neuter	Different parts of speech used as nouns.	-
Neuter	Fractions.	-

'''Notes for the chart:'''

Special cases

The genders of a few nouns are not fixed, and may be linked to regional or register differences. There are a number of words with two meanings distinguished by gender.

Compounds and abbreviations

Compound words usually carry the gender of their last element. Moreover, the gender of abbreviations is decided by the gender of the base word, and shortened words take the gender of the full word.

English loanwords

Many loanwords from English adopt the gender of their native German equivalent; the gender of other loanwords may be deduced by the word's form or ending. For example, nouns from English -ing forms are neuter when referring to actions, but masculine when not referring to actions e.g. der Looping, 'loop' esp. in context of a rollercoaster. Another source of neuter loanwords are adverbials like das Off.

Monosyllabic nouns from verbs

Monosyllabic nouns from verbs are often masculine, and the same goes for monosyllabic words for which there is no other indication, which are mainly masculine.

Varying gender

In many cases the gender can vary, either because of regional differences or because the noun's gender is not firmly established.

Professions

Most job titles have both a masculine and feminine form that reflects the gender of the professional, similar to the English distinction between "waiter" and "waitress". Feminine job titles are usually created by adding -in to the grammatically masculine word in question. For example, the general grammatically masculine term for train driver is Lokführer. This yields the feminine form Lokführerin.
For job listings, if the generic masculine form is used, the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache recommends adding an explanatory note "" or "", indicating the role is open to persons of all genders.
In contrast, the German military does not have separate gendered ranks. Even though the grammatically female form of Arzt is Ärztin, the correct form of address for a female medical officer is "Frau Stabsarzt" and not "Frau Stabsärztin".