der/die/das: Is It Beer, Coffee or Pizza? 86 Common Nouns
Most der/die/das guides teach abstract rules. This one is a direct reference for the specific words people actually get stuck on — food, drinks, everyday objects — organised so you can find the word you’re actually looking for.
Food and drink
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bier (beer) | das | Kaffee (coffee) | der |
| Pizza | die | Wein (wine) | der |
| Brot (bread) | das | Wasser (water) | das |
| Käse (cheese) | der | Milch (milk) | die |
| Apfel (apple) | der | Banane (banana) | die |
| Kuchen (cake) | der | Suppe (soup) | die |
| Ei (egg) | das | Fleisch (meat) | das |
| Zucker (sugar) | der | Salz (salt) | das |
| Tee (tea) | der | Schokolade (chocolate) | die |
| Nudeln (pasta) | die (plural) | Reis (rice) | der |
Places and buildings
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel | das | Bäckerei (bakery) | die |
| Restaurant | das | Schule (school) | die |
| Krankenhaus (hospital) | das | Universität | die |
| Bank | die | Bibliothek (library) | die |
| Supermarkt | der | Wohnung (apartment) | die |
| Haus (house) | das | Straße (street) | die |
| Stadt (city) | die | Land (country) | das |
| Büro (office) | das | Kirche (church) | die |
Time
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nacht (night) | die | Tag (day) | der |
| Woche (week) | die | Monat (month) | der |
| Jahr (year) | das | Stunde (hour) | die |
| Minute | die | Morgen (morning) | der |
| Abend (evening) | der | Wochenende (weekend) | das |
People and family
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby | das | Mädchen (girl) | das |
| Kind (child) | das | Frau (woman) | die |
| Mann (man) | der | Freund (friend, male) | der |
| Freundin (friend, female) | die | Familie (family) | die |
| Kollege (colleague, male) | der | Kollegin (colleague, female) | die |
Everyday objects
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handy (mobile phone) | das | Auto (car) | das |
| Tisch (table) | der | Stuhl (chair) | der |
| Buch (book) | das | Tasche (bag) | die |
| Schlüssel (key) | der | Fenster (window) | das |
| Tür (door) | die | Uhr (clock/watch) | die |
The patterns behind these lists
Notice a few recurring shapes across the tables above:
- Words ending in -e are very often die: Straße, Tasche, Suppe, Woche, Banane, Universität, Bäckerei
- Words ending in -chen or -lein are always das: Mädchen (this overrides natural gender — a girl is grammatically neuter)
- Most nouns ending in -er referring to people or tools are der: (though not shown heavily above, this pattern is worth knowing broadly)
- Days, months, seasons, and most alcoholic drinks tend toward der: Kaffee, Tee, Wein
- Baby is one of relatively few exceptions: naturally referring to a person but grammatically neuter, similar to Mädchen
These patterns cover a meaningful share of new words you’ll encounter, though German gender ultimately needs to be learned per word for full accuracy — the patterns narrow your guessing, they don’t eliminate it entirely.
Recognising a word’s article on a page is different from producing it correctly mid-sentence, under pressure — that second skill only builds through actually speaking. SipLingo corrects your article and case usage as you talk, in your own language, across real conversations. Try it free →
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How to actually memorise these instead of just reading them
Reading a list like this passively has limited effect on recall. What works better: say each noun out loud with its article every single time you use it — never “Bier,” always “das Bier” — until the pairing becomes a single mental unit rather than two separate facts to recall. Practising this out loud specifically is far more effective than re-reading lists.
Weather and nature
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regen (rain) | der | Sonne (sun) | die |
| Schnee (snow) | der | Wind (wind) | der |
| Wetter (weather) | das | Himmel (sky) | der |
| Wolke (cloud) | die | Baum (tree) | der |
| Blume (flower) | die | Wald (forest) | der |
Clothing and body
| Word | Article | Word | Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hemd (shirt) | das | Hose (trousers) | die |
| Schuh (shoe) | der | Jacke (jacket) | die |
| Kopf (head) | der | Hand (hand) | die |
| Fuß (foot) | der | Auge (eye) | das |
| Herz (heart) | das | Mund (mouth) | der |
Why memorising isolated words is the slow path
Learning “das Bier” and “der Kaffee” as unrelated flashcard pairs works, but slowly, since each word is a fresh, unconnected fact. Learning the ending patterns (words in -e skew feminine, words in -chen are always neuter) gives you a working default for words you haven’t specifically memorised yet — genuinely useful the first time you encounter a brand-new noun in conversation and need to guess its article on the spot, which happens constantly once your vocabulary starts growing faster than your flashcard review can keep up with.
Related guides: ordering at a German bakery
Official sources
For the official details and the latest updates, see:
- Duden: Duden for learners: articles (der, die, das) – Definite, indefinite and zero articles by gender, number and case
- DWDS (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy): DWDS – Digital Dictionary of the German Language – Free dictionary with meanings, word frequency and typical word combinations
Frequently asked questions
Is beer der, die or das in German? Das Bier — neuter.
Is coffee der, die or das in German? Der Kaffee — masculine.
Is pizza der, die or das in German? Die Pizza — feminine.
Is it worth memorising exceptions to the ending patterns? Selectively, yes — a handful of high-frequency exceptions (like das Mädchen) are worth knowing by name specifically because they’re common enough to come up constantly, even though they break the pattern you’d otherwise expect.
Why do German nouns have genders that don’t match logical categories? Grammatical gender in German is a structural feature of the language, not a reflection of real-world properties — it developed historically and doesn’t map onto meaning the way natural gender does. This is why “das Mädchen” (girl) is grammatically neuter despite referring to a female person; the -chen ending pattern overrides natural gender entirely.
Build automatic recall of articles through real speaking practice, not just reading lists. SipLingo corrects your German as you talk. A1 to B2.
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