Discovering German Nouns

Because English is a Germanic language (the roots of the language come from German) there are
a lot of cognates. Cognates are words that have the same roots, mean similar things, and look
similar.

das Akkordeon = the accordion die Banane = the banana

der Apfel = the apple der Bäcker = the baker
die Butter = the butter die Familie = the family
die Jacke = the jacket das Haus = the house

What 2 differences do you notice about German versus English nouns?

1) ___________________________________________________________________________

2) ___________________________________________________________________________

Can you match the English word on the left with the German cognate on the right?

alt the dinosaur

der Ballon the book
die Schule the group
das Buch the school
der Chor the balloon
der Dinosaurier old
Englisch the choir
die Gruppe English
die Gitarre the guitar

Here are a few cognates that are spelled exactly the same as their English words. What do you
need to do to make them German? (Hint **)

English Deutsch (German)

sofa das _____________________

basketball der _____________________
cafe das _____________________
computer der _____________________
jeans die _____________________
shorts die _____________________
name der _____________________
park der _____________________

** Hint (All German nouns are capitalized)