N-Deklination (Complete Guide)

In this article I will show you everything you have to know about the N-Deklination. It’s much easier than most learners of German think. If you memorize a handful of suffixes (endings) as well as 5-10 additional nouns you’re good to go!

Deklination (declension) basically means that you have to change the endings of articles, adjectives and (to a much lesser degree) also nouns in German. In most instances the noun does not change at all.

If you’re looking for a complete list of N-Deklination nouns please refer my other article on the topic.

Normal declension vs. N-Deklination

Let’s first of all compare a “normal” noun (der Mann – man) to a noun that has to be declined according to the N-Deklination (der Kunde – customer):

The noun der Mann only changes in two cases: Genitiv singular where you add “(e)s” and Dative plural where we have to add “n”.

The N-Deklination noun der Kunde, however, changes for every singly form except for the first one – the nominative singular. In every other form (Akkusativ, Dativ, Genitiv in the singular and for all 4 cases in the plural) we need to add an “n”. You can see now where the N-Deklination got its name from. 🙂

Der Kunde ist sehr sympathisch. (Nominativ)
Ich kenne den Kunden seit langer Zeit. (Akkusativ)
Ich helfe dem Kunden gern. (Dativ)
Die Frau des Kunden ist auch sehr nett. (Genitiv)

Die Kunden haben gestern viel gekauft. (Nominativ Plural)
Ich mag die Kunden wirklich gern. (Akkusativ Plural)
Ich habe den Kunden viele Produke verkauft. (Dativ Plural)
Ich konnte alle Wünsche der Kunden erfüllen. (Genitiv Plural)

What nouns belong to the N-Deklination?

The nouns that are declined according to the N-Deklination …

• are mostly people and animals,
• mostly end in -e, -ist*, -ent*, -ant* -and*, -at* -graf*, -ot*, -ad*, -it* and -et* and
• a few other masculine nouns: der Herr, der Mensch, der Nachbar, der Bauer, der Bär, der Prinz, der Held, das Herz.
• These nouns are all masculine (exception: das Herz).

*Please note that we have to add “en” instead of just the “n” when the noun ends in “f”, “t” or “d”.

Now let’s take a look at some examples before I show you some specific cases and exceptions. Since (especially for the first three groups) there are a lot of nouns, I’ve included only the most important ones in this article. If you’re looking for a complete list of N-Deklination nouns please refer my other article on the topic.

Most important N-Deklination nouns that end in “e”

der Affe	monkey
der Brite	Briton
der Buchstabe*	letter (i.e. a, b, c…)
der Bulgare	Bulgarian
der Chinese	Chinese
der Däne	Dane
der Experte	expert
der Franzose	French
der Gedanke*	thought
der Grieche	Greek
der Hase	rabbit
der Junge	boy
der Kollege	colleague
der Kunde	client
der Löwe	lion
der Name*	name
der Pole	Pole
der Portugiese	Portuguese
der Wille	will

*See the two subchapters on the exceptions below regarding these nouns.

Most important N-Deklination nouns that end in “ist”

der Egoist	egoist
der Journalist	journalist
der Polizist	policeman
der Terrorist	terrorist
der Tourist	tourist

Most important N-Deklination nouns that end in “ent”

der Agent	agent
der Assistent	assistant
der Konsument	consumer
der Student	student

Most important N-Deklination nouns that end in “ant” / “and”

der Demonstrant	demonstrator
der Doktorand	PhD student
der Konsonant	consonant
der Passant	passer-by
der Praktikant	trainee, intern

Most important N-Deklination nouns that end in “at” / “ad”

der Automat	(vending) machine
der Kamerad	comrade
der Kandidat	candidate
der Soldat	soldier

Most important N-Deklination nouns that end in “et, “it, “graf”, “ot” and “soph”

der Athlet	athlete
der Bandit	outlaw
der Fotograf	photographer
der Idiot	idiot
der Komet	comet
der Patriot	patriot
der Philosoph	philosopher

Most important other N-Deklination nouns

der Bauer	farmer
der Bär	bear
der Held	hero
der Herr*	Mr.; gentleman
das Herz*	heart
der Mensch	human
der Nachbar	neighbour
der Prinz	prince

*See next to subchapters on the exceptions regarding these nouns.

Exceptions: nouns that differ from the normal N-Deklination endings

Exceptions 1: das Herz, der Buchstabe, der Gedanke, der Name

Das Herz is the only N-Deklination noun that is not masculine. Together with the nouns der Buchstabe, der Gedanke, der Name, it gets an extra “s” for the genitive case.

Exception 2: der Herr, die Herren

The noun “der Herr” gets an extra “e” in its plural forms.

If you’re looking for a complete list of N-Deklination nouns please refer my other article on the topic.

Exercises

Test your knowledge with exercises on this topic!