Is it der, die oder das SMS?

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 SMS?

How does the declension of SMS 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] Cellular, Telecommunications: Telecommunications service for sending short text messages

[2] Cellular, telecommunications: a short message sent over the cellular network by the service mentioned in [1].

[1]

[2] „Dabei verrät das SMS natürlich auch, wo in Tirol es wie viel geschneit hat.“[4]

[2] „Das SMS kann einfach als Gedankenstütze im Handy gespeichert bleiben.“[5]

[2] „In Gaza wurde Ende Juli ein junger Mann verhaftet, nachdem er eine SMS erhalten hatte, in der eine gewisse Freude über den Tod von fünf Hamas-Kämpfern anklang.“[6]

[2] „Diese SMS stammt aus einer Datenbank, in der alle Textnachrichten erfasst sind, die im Herbst 2009 im Rahmen des an der Universität Zürich und Neuchâtel durchgeführten Projekts »SMS4science« gesammelt wurden.“[7]

[2] „Hin und wieder wurde die Streiterei in der Ecke lauter, und ab und zu erhielt der Barkeeper eine SMS.“[8]

[2] „Ich verliere schnell den Überblick und rufe gähnend meine SMSen ab.“[9]