Is it der, die oder das Kontrast?

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 Kontrast?

How does the declension of Kontrast 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] Noticeable difference between at least two things, objects

[2] Linguistics: contrast between linguistic units that follow each other in the word or sentence

[3] Linguistics: Other term for opposition

[1] Schwarze und weiße Gegenstände bilden einen deutlichen Kontrast.

[1] „Zwar hatte in den ersten Tagen ihres Hierseins und vorzüglich während der Anwesenheit des Squire Copeland eine herzliche Aufnahme stattgefunden; aber als dieser abgegangen, wurde ihr der Kontrast nur um so auffallender.“

[2] In dem Wort ›Bus‹ stehen die Laute [b] und [ʊ] sowie die Laute [ʊ] und [s] jeweils in Kontrast zueinander.

[3] In dem Wortpaar „Bus“ und „Kuss “stehen die Laute [b] und [k] Kontrast zueinander.

[2, 3] Kontrast und Opposition sind zwei Formen sprachlicher Beziehungen; sie sind Grundbegriffe der strukturalistischen Linguistik und bedeuten einerseits dasselbe wie eine paradigmatische Beziehung (Opposition), andererseits dasselbe wie eine syntagmatische Beziehung.