German words ending in -erin

A noun ending in -erin is die. The part doing the work is -in.

die Oma the character this deck pins every die-word on

-erin is two suffixes stacked, not one ending. German builds an agent noun with -er, so fahren gives der Fahrer, then builds the feminine of that with -in, so der Fahrer gives die Fahrerin. The gender arrives with -in, the suffix German adds to make the feminine of a person noun, and it does not waver.

That makes this a rule about how a word was made, and it comes with a test you can run in your head. Strip the -in and see whether a masculine noun is left standing. Schülerin leaves Schüler. Mitarbeiterin leaves Mitarbeiter. Übersetzerin leaves Übersetzer. If the test passes, die is safe, and it is safe for the same reason every time.

Notice the contrast with the -er it is built on. On its own, -er leans masculine and is wrong often enough to cost you marks. Add -in and the doubt goes.

These are the words a speaking exam runs on: jobs, roles, who did what. The plural doubles the n, so Schülerinnen and Mitarbeiterinnen, and it stays die in the singular whatever the person does for a living.

Worked examples

die Schülerin pupil
die Mitarbeiterin colleague
die Kellnerin waitress
die Künstlerin artist
die Politikerin politician
die Übersetzerin translator

Measured on this deck

100% of the 37 nouns ending in -erin are die

37 nouns in this deck end in -erin and every one is die. That is 100 percent, and it is one of the densest endings the deck holds, so the rule earns its keep every time you open a text about people and their jobs.

die Partnerin die Partnerinnen
die Absenderin die Absenderinnen
die Ausländerin die Ausländerinnen
die Betreuerin die Betreuerinnen
die Bewohnerin die Bewohnerinnen
die Bürgerin die Bürgerinnen
die Einbrecherin die Einbrecherinnen
die Einwohnerin die Einwohnerinnen
die Fußgängerin die Fußgängerinnen
die Käuferin die Käuferinnen
die Kellnerin die Kellnerinnen
die Künstlerin die Künstlerinnen

and 25 more in the deck. Try the drill.

What a card looks like

Schülerin

Try it

Role nouns are not where a beginner syllabus starts, and none of them reached the mixed deck below. The list above is the whole story on this page.

Wohnung