Is it der, die oder das Odysseus?

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 Odysseus?

How does the declension of Odysseus 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] Name of a heroes of Greek mythology

[1] Odysseus war der Sohn des Laërtes (in weniger verbreiteten Versionen des Sisyphos) und der Antikleia sowie der Bruder der Ktimene. Von seinem Vater übernahm Odysseus die Herrschaft über Ithaka.

[1] Astronomen haben anhand einer in Homers Odyssee beschriebenen Sonnenfinsternis die Ankunft von Odysseus in Ithaka datiert: Demnach kehrte der sagenhafte König und Heerführer am 16. April 1178 vor Christus nach seiner Irrfahrt auf seine Heimatinsel zurück.

[1] „Wir können die Serie aber auch als den Versuch sehen, einen modernen Mythos zu schaffen: den Mythos eines Mannes, der sich wie Odysseus erst auf Irrfahrt begeben muss, bevor er sein Ziel erreichen kann.“

[1] „Die Sirenen erschienen Morgner wagemutiger als Odysseus, eine weibliche Trobadora sinnlicher als ihre männlichen Kollegen und Pandora menschlicher als der von ihr angebetete Prometheus.“