Weak Nouns in German Let's look at which nouns fall into th | Learn German with Leo🦁

Weak Nouns in German

Let's look at which nouns fall into the weak declension category:

Words ending in -e (der Junge – the boy)
Words with foreign suffixes, usually indicating a profession (der Student - student), excluding words ending in -r (Politiker)
Inanimate nouns of foreign origin (der Planet - the planet)
Masculine nouns referring to animals (der Affe - the monkey)
Some mainly monosyllabic words that you just have to memorize (der Herr - the gentleman, der Held - the hero, der Hirt - the shepherd, der Mensch - the person, der Narr - the fool, der Tor - the idiot, der Fürst - the prince, der Prinz - the prince, der Graf - the count, der Zar - the tsar, der Kamerad - the comrade, der Nachbar - the neighbor, der Bauer - the peasant).

Examples:

Kennst du den Jungen? (Do you know the boy?)
Der Student schreibt eine Prüfung. (The student is taking an exam.)

For more on how weak nouns are declined in German, check out our new beginner's guide article. And while you're brushing up your grammar, don't forget to spice up your vocabulary with our "Slangtastisches Deutsch" guide. You'll learn the cool, colloquial words and phrases that will make you sound like a native speaker!