Nouns | Learn Relentlessly

German nouns are split in three categories: masculine (der), feminine (die) and neutral (das)

Feminine nouns: die

Nouns ending with: -a, -ei, -enz, -heit, -ie,-ik,-in,-keit,-schaft, -sion,-tät, -tion, -ung, -ur are always feminine and 90% of the nouns ending in -e are also feminine.Fruits are feminine. Some exceptions: der Apfel (apple), der Pfirsich (peach).
Nouns that refers to female persons or animals: die Mutter (mother), die Schwester (sister), die Kuh (cow), die Ente (duck) ...
Female Occupations: die Lehrerin (teacher), die Bäckerin (baker), die Polizistin (policewoman) ...
Numbers: die einz, die zwei, die Fünf (five) ...
Trees and flowers are mostly feminine: die Eiche (the oak tree), die Kiefer (pine tree), die Rose (rose), die Tulpe (tulip). There are also some exceptions here like das Gänseblümchen (daisy)
Most river names: die Wolga, die Elbe, die Seine ... (are exceptions aswell der Nile, der Rhein etc)
Plane and ship names: die Boeing 747,die Titanic
Motorcycle brands are feminine: die Harley Davidson, die Yamaha, die BMW (only when talking about motorcycles!)

Neutral nouns: das

Nouns with endings: -chen, -lein, -ma, -ment, -sel, -tel, -tum, -um are neutral.
Most nouns ending in -al, -an, -ar, -är, -at, -ent, -ett, -ier, -iv, -o and -on (which are of foreign origin), provided that they designate things.
Nouns that refer to young people or animals: das Baby (baby), das Kind (child), das Küken (chick), das Lamm (lamb), das Mädchen (the young lady), das Fräulein (the miss)
The colors: das Rot (red), das Blau (blue), das Schwarz (black), das Weiß (white) ...
Almost all known chemical elements, metals: das Aluminium (the aluminum), das Messing (the brass), das Kupfer (the copper), das Uran (the uranium).
Exceptions: der Sauerstoff (the oxygen), der Wasserstoff (the hydrogen), der Phosphor (the phosphor), der Schwefel (the sulfur), der Kohlenstoff (the carbon)
Hotel and Theater names: das Hilton, das Novotel, das Ritz, das Broadway Theater, das Mayflower Theater
All the verbs used as nouns: das Fliegen (the flying), das Joggen (the jogging), das Backen (the baking), das Waschen (the washing) ...
All adjectives which are used as nouns: das Schöne, das Gute, das Junge, das Alte, das Neue ...
90% of the nouns that start with Ge- : das Geschenk (present), das Gedicht (poem), das Gerät (gadget), das Gebet (prayer), das Gebäude (building) ...
Most fractions: das Drittel (the third), das Viertel (the fourth) ...

Masculine nouns: der

Nouns ending with: -ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or, -us are always masculine also 60% of nouns in -el and -er, as well as 80% of those in -en, are masculine.
Nouns that refer to male persons or animals: der Bruder (the brother), der Mann (the man), der Vater (father), der Stier (bull), der Eber (boar), der Hengst (stallion)
Male professions: der Polizist (policeman), der Arzt (the male doctor), der Lehrer (teacher), der Bäcker (baker) ...
Seasons, days of the week, months, compass directions, and precipitation are masculine: der Herbst (the autumn), der Frühling (spring), der Juli (July), der Oktober (October), der Montag (Monday), der Samstag (Saturday), der Süden (the south), der Westen (west), der Regen (the rain), der Schnee (the snow) ...
Some chemical Elements: der Sauerstoff (oxygen), der Wasserstoff (hydrogen), der Phosphor (the phosphor), der Schwefel (the sulfur), der Stickstoff (the nitrogen), der Kohlenstoff (the carbon). All the rest of the chemical elements are neutral.
Stones: der Diamant (diamond), der Smaragd (emerald), der Rubin (ruby)
Car brands: der Audi, der BMW, der Mercedes ...