GermanFluent

A1 · Noun gender

die Haustür

Compound nouns take the gender of their last part

FormKompositum: Genus = Genus des letzten Bestandteils

Meaning and usage

A compound noun is made from two or more words. The gender of the whole compound comes from the last part. For example, das Haus is neuter and die Tür is feminine. Together they make die Haustür, feminine. The last part Tür decides the article. This rule works for many everyday words: die Fahrkarte from die Karte, das Fahrrad from das Rad, das Wochenende from das Ende. When you learn a new compound, look at its last part to find the gender. A common mistake is to use the gender of the first part. For die Haustür, the first part Haus is neuter, but the whole word is feminine.

Examples 3

Ich bin nur über das Wochenende hier.

I'm only here for the weekend.

Hier ist die Fahrkarte von meiner Freundin.

Here's my friend's ticket.

Ich habe das Fahrrad gestern repariert.

I fixed the bike yesterday.

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Haustür ist offen.

    Show answer

    Correct answer: Die

    Haustür is a compound of Haus and Tür. The last part, Tür, is feminine, so the whole word is feminine: die Haustür.

    • Den is accusative masculine, and the subject here needs the nominative feminine article, so den Haustür is wrong.
    • Das is neuter, but the last part Tür is feminine, so das Haustür is wrong.
    • Der is masculine, but the last part Tür is feminine, so der Haustür is wrong.

In this topic: Noun gender

  1. der, die, das the three definite articles: der, die, das
  2. ein, eine a or an: ein, eine
  3. die: -ung, -heit, -keit Nouns in -ung, -heit, -keit are usually feminine
  4. die: nouns in -e Most nouns ending in -e are feminine
  5. der: Tage, Monate, Jahreszeiten Days, months, seasons and weather words take der
  6. das: -chen, das Essen Diminutives in -chen and -lein are neuter
  7. die Haustür Compound nouns take the gender of their last part

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.