Is it der, die oder das Downsyndrom?

Finding the right gender of a noun

German articles are used similarly to the English articles,a and the. However, they are declined differently (change) according to the number, gender and case of their nouns.

In the German language, the gender and therefore article is fixed for each noun.

The most difficult part of learning the German language is the articles (der, die, das) or rather the gender of each noun. The gender of each noun in German has no simple rule. In fact, it can even seem illogical. For example das Mädchen, a young girl is neutral while der Junge, a young boy is male.

It is a good idea to learn the correct article for each new word together - even if it means a lot of work. For example learning "der Hund" (the dog) rather than just Hund by itself. Fortunately, there are some rules about gender in German that make things a little easier. It might be even nicer if these rules didn't have exceptions - but you can't have everything! The best way to learn them is with the App - Der-Die-Das Train! (available for iOS and Android)

German nouns belong either to the gender masculine (male, standard gender) with the definite article der, to the feminine (feminine) with the definite article die, or to the neuter (neuter) with the definite article das.

• for masculine: points of the compass, weather (Osten, Monsun, Sturm; however it is: das Gewitter), liquor/spirits (Wodka, Wein, Kognak), minerals, rocks (Marmor, Quarz, Granit, Diamant);

• for feminine: ships and airplanes (die Deutschland, die Boeing; however it is: der Airbus), cigarette brands (Camel, Marlboro), many tree and plant species (Eiche, Pappel, Kiefer; aber: der Flieder), numbers (Eins, Million; however it is: das Dutzend), most inland rivers (Elbe, Oder, Donau; aber: der Rhein);

• for neutrals: cafes, hotels, cinemas (das Mariott, das Cinemaxx), chemical elements (Helium, Arsen; however it is: der Schwefel, masculine elements have the suffix -stoff), letters, notes, languages and colors (das Orange, das A, das Englische), certain brand names for detergents and cleaning products (Ariel, Persil), continents, countries (die artikellosen: (das alte) Europa; however exceptions include: der Libanon, die Schweiz …).

German declension of Downsyndrom?

How does the declension of Downsyndrom work in the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases? Here you can find all forms in the singular as well as in the plural:

[1] Medicine: Disease with various symptoms (mostly associated with intellectual disabilities and physical anomalies), the cause of which is a chromosome anomaly (triple existing chromosome 21)

[1] Die verschiedenen Formen der Trisomie 21 entstehen entweder spontan oder können vererbt werden, wenn die Mutter bereits selbst das Downsyndrom hat.

[1] In der nationalsozialistischen Diktatur wurden im Deutschen Reich viele Menschen mit Downsyndrom im Rahmen der Aktion T4 ermordet.

[1] 1965 richtete die Mongolei an die WHO einen Antrag mit der Bitte, den Begriff Mongolian Idiocy (Mongolismus) und seine Ableitungen aufgrund der negativen sowie rassistischen Besetzung nicht mehr zu verwenden. Die WHO nahm diesen Antrag einstimmig an. Bereits 1961 hatte die renommierte britische Wissenschaftszeitschrift The Lancet auf die Bitte einer internationalen Gruppe von neunzehn anerkannten Genetikern die Bezeichnung in Down’s Syndrome (deutsch: Downsyndrom) abgeändert.