In german how do you tell if a word is masculine, feminine, or neuter?

Question

is there a trick like in spanish if it ends in a its fem and o means its masculine?

Answer 1

Not to nearly the degree that it is in Spanish.

There are a few words that follow a rule, like things ending in -lein or -chen are neuter, but the vast majority of German nouns have grammatical genders that can't be guessed at.

Answer 2

Unfortunately no. You must memorize each new word you learn with it's corresponding Der, Die or Das. But there are some exceptions. For example: Every german word ending with -keit, or -heit, is feminine. Every country name is neutral. Exceptions: Türkei (Turkey) and Schweiz (Switzerland) which are feminine.

Answer 3

2nd and 3rd answers are not correct :
- words ending in -in that are not feminine : das Aspirin, der Baldachin
- country names that are not neutral : die Elfenbeinküste, der Senegal, der Tschad, der Sudan

Nouns that end in -heit, -keit (as written above) and -ung are indeed all feminine.
Apart from that, you simply need to learn the articles.

Answer 4

Usually, feminine ends with -in.

Like, with the word teacher:
Masculine:Lehrer
Feminine:Lehrerin
Neuter:Lehrer

Usually neuter and masculine are the same.

Hope this helps!
-Samantha :)