Is it der, die oder das Ofen?

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 Ofen?

How does the declension of Ofen 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] Device, device for heating, burning

[2] colloquially for a self-propelled road vehicle

[3] in the parlance of the state of Salzburg: old name for a cave, in the plural "ovens" for a gorge

[4] in the south of Austria: occasionally rock formations made of slab gneiss that rise up to 20 m and give the impression of a stack of more or less thick slabs of rock

[5] Old German name for the Budapest district and the former city of Buda (right side of the Danube), the 3 cities of Buda / Ofen, Obuda / Alt-Ofen, and Pest (from the Slavic, also stands for Ofen i.Sv [1]

[6] Cigarette rolled with hashish or marijuana

[1] Morgen heizen wir den Ofen an.

[1] „Beide Zimmer hatten keinen Ofen.“[3]

[1] „Der Vater saß auf seinem gewohnten Platz neben dem Ofen, den die Mutter eigens für uns angemacht hatte.“[4]

[2] Mein Schwager hat sich jetzt einen ganz heißen Ofen zugelegt, eine gut erhaltene Laverda.

[3] Jahrhundertelang war der Lamprechtsofen (ein Ofen ist eine Bezeichnung für eine enge Felsformation, Anm.) das Ziel von Schatzsuchern, die dort einen versteckten Schatz des Ritters Lamprecht vermuteten, heißt es auf Wikipedia.[5]

[4] Im Gebiet der Koralm gibt es Öfen zu sehen, zum Beispiel den Bärofen, den Großofen und den Mannagetta-Ofen bei Stainz.

[5] Budapest besteht seit 1872, gebildet aus Buda, was Ofen bedeutet und dem größern Pest oder auch Pesth, das ebenfalls Ofen bedeuten soll.

[6] Nun wollen wir mal in Ruhe einen Ofen bauen. Wo ist das Zigarettenpapier?