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Gender of foreign nouns |
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As with German nouns, it is difficult or impossible to predict the gender of nouns of foreign origin. If you are not sure, look it up in the dictionary. Several principles are involved when assigning gender to nouns of foreign origin:
- The "origin principle": Foreign nouns have the same gender as in the original language:
| der Boulevard |
fr. le boulevard |
| die Allee |
fr. une allée |
| der Karton |
fr. le carton |
| die Kaper |
fr. la câpre |
| der Pueblo |
sp. el pueblo |
| die Pesete |
sp. la peseta |
| der Cappuccino |
it. il cappuccino |
The gender of a borrowed noun can also be different from the gender in the original language. This is especially true when the original gender is unknown or, obviously, when the original language does not have a gender system. The "origin principle" competes with other principles:
- Analogy with other words having the same ending
| die Garage |
like die Blamage, die Passage (fr. le garage) |
| die Zigarre |
like die Gitarre an many more in –e (fr. le cigare) |
| das Duett |
like das Tablett, das Amulett (it. il duetto) |
| der Computer |
like all deverbal nouns in –er : der Arbeiter, der Rechner |
See also Gender and form, word endings
- Analogy with the German translation:
| der Star |
like der Stern |
| das Training |
like das Trainieren (and many other English words on –ing) |
| die Bouillon |
like die Brühe (fr. le bouillon) |
| der/die Place des Vôges |
like der Platz/like fr. la place |
| die/der Ponte Vecchio |
like die Brücke/like it. il ponte |
| der Trafalgar Square |
like der Platz |
- Analogy with other nouns belonging to the same semantic group:
| das Marihuana |
like das Heroin, das Kokain, das „Gras“ |
| der/die Grappa |
like der Whisky, der Cognac, der Schnaps/like it. la grappa |
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