Is it der, die oder das Lichtjahr?

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 Lichtjahr?

How does the declension of Lichtjahr 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] Astronomy, distance unit: The distance that the light travels back in one year (corresponds to 9.46 trillion kilometers)

[1] Der nächste Stern, Proxima Centauri, ist ca. 4,3 Lichtjahre weit entfernt.

[1] „Mit der Geschwindigkeit von 40000 km/Std., die unsere »Raumschiffe« zwischen Erde und Mond derzeit erreichen, würde eine Reise zum rund 4 Lichtjahre entfernten sonnennächsten Fixstern über 100000 Jahre dauern.“

[1] „Als das Männlein fertiggeschnitzt war, trieb mein Vater ihm zwei Schusternägel in den Kopf, und so traue ich mir zu, ihn wiederzuerkennen, auch wenn ich ihn erst nach vielen Lichtjahren in der Milchstraße treffen sollte.“

[1] „Vergleicht man diese beiden Zeremonien, so erkennt man, dass Lichtjahre eine deutsche Kanzlerin von einem französischen Präsidenten trennen.“