German words ending in -ismus
A noun ending in -ismus is der. Every one of them, and you already know most of the words.
This is the ending with the best exchange rate in German. Take an English abstract noun in -ism, write -ismus instead, and you have a German word: tourism becomes der Tourismus, optimism becomes der Optimismus, capitalism becomes der Kapitalismus, realism becomes der Realismus. Greek and Latin gave the ending to both languages, and German assigned it masculine across the board.
There are no exceptions anywhere in the language.
The plural, if you need it, is -ismen. You will not need it often, because most of these nouns name a single idea and stay singular.
Worked examples
- der Tourismus tourism
- der Optimismus optimism not in the deck, unchecked
- der Kapitalismus capitalism not in the deck, unchecked
Measured on this deck
100% of the 1 nouns ending in -ismus are der
A B1 syllabus has little use for abstract -ismus nouns, and it shows. This deck holds 1, so the 100 percent beside it is not the reason to trust the rule. The reason is that German has no counter-example to it, on this deck or off it.
- der Tourismus
What a card looks like
Tourismus
Try it
The drill below is the mixed deck and this ending is not in it. That is what an abstract suffix on a beginner syllabus looks like. Read this page for the vocabulary bridge instead.
Wohnung