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How to decide whether a word is "der/die/das"?

There is no unique way of telling what grammatical gender a word has. I therefore recommend, whenever you learn vocabulary and new words, learn the gender with it. Learn them as one.

However, there are some endings which are more common for certain genders:

Der: Words that end in -ig Honig, König -ling Schmetterling, Frühling -ent Student, Dozent -ier Offizier, Kavalier -ismus Realismus, Optimismus -ist Jurist, Optimist -or Motor, Rektor -ör Frisör, Likör -iker Akademiker, Mechaniker -ast Phantast, Gymnasiast

Die: -ei Bäckerei, Bücherei -in Lehrerin, Ärztin -keit Heiterkeit, Schwierigkeit -heit Faulheit, Freiheit -schaft Herrschaft, Meisterschaft -ung Erzählung, Meinung -ade Marmelade, Schokolade -ette Toilette, Marionette -ie Kolonie, Theorie -ik Musik, Kritik -ine Maschine, Lawine -ion Dimension, Tradition -tät Realität, Qualität -ive Alternative, Offensive -sis Basis, Skepsis

Das:

-chen Mädchen, Männchen -lein Fräulein, Kindlein -tel Drittel, Viertel -tum Eigentum, Christentum -in Benzin, Nikotin -ing Doping, Meeting -um Datum, Album -ma Klima, Komma -ment Dokument

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Answered by Sanela B. German tutor

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