German nouns and their groups of declension

German nouns: 1st group of declension

In this group, we will find most of the masculine and neuter German nouns.
Let’s try out the declension and take a look at the different endings in the four German cases.
We will show you the masculine noun “der Tisch” (en.: table) as an example.

Exception:
The noun “das Herz” (en.: heart) is an exception – its declension follows the rules of the second group.
So, let’s move on and take a look at that second group:

2nd group of declension

This group collects all masculine nouns ending in -e.

3rd group of declension (feminine nouns):

Nouns belonging to that group do not change in their endings.
There is only one exception to that rule of thumb:
In the dative case, they take an -n with the plural form.

4th group of declension

In the fourth group, we find masculine German nouns ending in:
-ant (Example. der Praktikant – apprentice)
-ent (Example. der Student – student)
-ist (Example. der Pianist – pianist)
-at
-orge
-ot (Example. der Pilot – pilot)
-graf (Example. der Fotograf – photographer)