1. Gender, articles, and nouns
Startblock Like English nouns, German nouns can be either singular or plural and may be preceded by a definite or indefinite article. Unlike English nouns, all German nouns have a gender. German nouns are always capitalized, regardless of where they appear in a sentence.

2. Gender, articles, and nouns
All German nouns have a gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. While most nouns referring to males are masculine and most nouns referring to females are feminine, the genders of nouns representing objects and ideas need to be memorized.
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTER
der Mann the man
die Frau the woman
das Buch the book
der Junge the boy
die Blume the flower
das Mädchen the girl

3. Gender, articles, and nouns
Nouns ending with -in that refer to people are always feminine.
Other feminine noun endings include -ei, -heit, -schaft, -ung, and -tät.
die Freundin the (female) friend
die Studentin the (female) student
die Professorin the (female) professor
die Bäckerei
the bakery
die Freundschaft
the friendship
die Universität
the university

4. Gender, articles, and nouns
ACHTUNG
Nouns ending with -chen are always neuter.

5. Gender, articles, and nouns
Definite and indefinite articles
The definite article, equivalent to the in English, precedes a noun and indicates its gender. The masculine article is der, the feminine article is die, and the neuter article is das.
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTER
der Tisch the table
die Tür the door
das Fenster the window

6. Gender, articles, and nouns
The definite article die is used with all plural nouns, regardless of gender.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTER
der Tisch
die Tür
das Fenster
die Tische
die Türen
die Fenster
the tables
the doors
the windows 

7. Gender, articles, and nouns
The indefinite article ein(e) corresponds to a or an in English. It precedes the noun and matches its gender. Note that both masculine and neuter nouns take the form ein, while feminine nouns take eine.
MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTER
ein Tisch a table
eine Tür a door
ein Fenster a window
ein Mann a man
eine Frau a woman
ein Mädchen a girl

8. Gender, articles, and nouns
There is no plural form of the indefinite article. 
Er ist ein Mann.
He is a man.
Sie sind Männer.
They are men.

9. Gender, articles, and nouns
Compound nouns
Compound words are very common in German. As in English, two or more simple nouns can be combined to form a compound noun.
die Nacht night +
das Hemd shirt =
das Nachthemd nightshirt

10. Gender, articles, and nouns
The gender and number of a compound noun is determined by the last noun in the compound.