Rule for feminine · die

Nouns ending in -ur

-ur → die · 0.8% (exceptions: Abitur, Merkur, Flur)

The rule, in plain language

Many nouns ending in -ur, especially those borrowed from Latin or French, are feminine and take die: die Natur (nature), die Infrastruktur (infrastructure), die Kultur (culture). The rule covers 0.8% of frequent nouns, but this one calls for real caution, because the exceptions aren't rare: das Abitur (the German school-leaving exam) and das Merkur (the planet Mercury) are neuter, while der Flur (hallway) is even masculine. With three exceptions out of 21 words ending this way, -ur is a useful rule, but not one to apply blindly - double-check unfamiliar words.

In the A1-B1 vocabulary of the Genau course, this rule covers 18 words (0.8%) and has 3 exceptions - all listed below.

Representative examples

The exceptions

These contradict the rule - learn them as-is:

All course words that follow this rule

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.