Rule for feminine · die

Nouns ending in -tät

-tät → die · no exceptions (0.6%)

The rule, in plain language

Nouns ending in -tät are always feminine and take die - no exception has been found. The suffix comes from the Latin „-tas” and is used mainly for abstract concepts: die Qualität (quality), die Universität (university), die Realität (reality). It's a thin rule - only 0.6% of frequent nouns, 14 words total in our set - but because it's so consistent, it's worth learning without hesitation: see -tät, say die.

In the A1-B1 vocabulary of the Genau course, this rule covers 14 words (0.6%) and has no exceptions.

Representative examples

die Qualität · quality
die Universität · university
die Realität · reality

All course words that follow this rule

die Qualität
die Universität
die Realität
die Identität
die Stabilität
die Solidarität
die Mobilität
die Priorität
die Kapazität
die Kriminalität
die Flexibilität
die Kreativität
die Lebensqualität
die Aktivität

Rules stick through practice. In the Genau app you train exactly this rule on its own words, with the GENAU! stamp on every correct answer - free, offline, no account. Coming soon to the App Store.