German Nouns
2174 words.
German noun is capitalized, not just the first word of a sentence or proper names - Hund (dog), Liebe (love), and Freiheit (freedom) all take a capital letter no matter where they sit in a sentence.
Kommst du heute? – Keine Ahnung.
Are you coming today? - No idea.
Why Capitalization Isn't Just Decoration
Capitalizing each noun means a reader can spot the main elements of a sentence - the things and people - at a glance, before even parsing the grammar around them. It's a structural signal, not a style choice, which is why German never drops it.
A Compound Noun's Gender Comes from Its Last Piece
Handschuh (glove) combines Hand (hand, feminine) and Schuh (shoe, masculine) - and the whole word takes der, because Schuh, the last piece, is masculine. Whatever gender the final component has, the compound inherits, regardless of how many words got stacked in front of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many German nouns are on this page?+
2,174. Use the search box to jump straight to one, or check the ones you want to build a custom study set.
Why are German nouns always capitalized?+
It's a structural signal, not a style choice - capitalizing each noun lets a reader spot the main elements of a sentence, its things and people, before parsing the grammar around them.
How do you know a compound noun's gender?+
It matches the last word in the compound. Handschuh (glove) is der because Schuh (shoe) is der, even though Hand (hand) on its own is die.
Where do these nouns come from?+
Any noun that appears in our A1, A2, or B1 vocabulary lists, pulled out and deduplicated into one reference list.
Practice Nouns Vocabulary
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