Noun gender, articles & capitalisation

Luxembourgish nouns are capitalised and come in three genders. Learn each noun with its article — 'de', 'd'' or 'den'; 'e', 'en' or 'eng' — and the n-rule that chooses between them.

Every noun has a gender — and a capital letter

Every Luxembourgish noun is masculine (m), feminine (f) or neuter (n), and — exactly as in German — every noun is written with a capital letter, wherever it sits in the sentence: de Mann, d'Fra, d'Kand, den Numm.

There is no reliable shortcut for gender, so learn each noun together with its article, in the shape it will actually appear: 'de Buttek' (the shop, m), 'd'Aarbecht' (the work, f), 'd'Haus' (the house, n). In writing, forgetting the capital letter on a noun is an easy, avoidable mistake that examiners notice at once.

de Mann	the man	masculine
d'Fra	the woman	feminine
d'Kand	the child	neuter
d'Léierin	the (female) teacher	capitalised, like every noun.

The definite article: de / d' / den

The definite article ('the') has three basic written shapes: 'de' for masculine, and 'd'' (with an apostrophe, joined to the noun) for feminine, for neuter and for all plurals.

Masculine 'de' becomes 'den' before a vowel and before the consonants n, d, t, z, h — 'de Mann' but 'den Apel', 'den Dag'. This is the n-rule again (see the Eifeler Regel article), and it is the one place the definite article changes shape.

For emphasis, or to point something out ('that / those'), Luxembourgish uses the stressed forms 'den' (m), 'déi' (feminine and plural) and 'dat' (n): 'déi Fra do' = 'that woman there'.

de Bus	the bus	masculine, before an ordinary consonant.
den Auto	the car	masculine 'de' becomes 'den' before a vowel.
d'Fra / d'Kand / d'Kanner	the woman / the child / the children	'd'' covers feminine, neuter and all plurals.
déi Kanner do	those children there	stressed 'déi' points something out.

The indefinite article: e / en / eng

The indefinite article ('a / an') is 'e' for masculine and neuter and 'eng' for feminine: 'e Mann', 'e Buch', 'eng Fra'.

'E' becomes 'en' in exactly the same situations that turn 'de' into 'den' — before a vowel and before n, d, t, z, h: 'e Bus' but 'en Apel', 'en Dag'. Feminine 'eng' never changes.

There is no plural indefinite article: 'Ech hunn e Kand' becomes 'Ech hunn Kanner' (I have children). Reach for 'e puer' (a few) if you need to.

e Mann / e Buch	a man / a book	masculine and neuter.
eng Fra	a woman	feminine — always 'eng'.
en Apel	an apple	'e' becomes 'en' before a vowel.
en Hond	a dog	'e' becomes 'en' before h.

When to use den and en (the n-rule)

Both 'den' and 'en' follow one memory hook. Keep the -n when the next word starts with a vowel or with n, d, t, z or h; drop it (to 'de' / 'e') before any other consonant.

This is the same Eifeler Regel that governs verb endings and small words all over the language, so getting it right on the article trains your ear for everything else.

den Dag, den Numm, den Tuerm, den Zuch, den Hond, den Owend	the day, the name, the tower, the train, the dog, the evening	-n kept before d, n, t, z, h and vowels.
de Mann, de Bus, de Kaffi, de Frënd	the man, the bus, the coffee, the friend	-n dropped before other consonants.
en Auto, en Dag	a car, a day	the indefinite 'en' behaves the same way.

Try it

Ech gesinn Apel um Dësch. (de/den)

Before a vowel the article keeps its -n.

Ech huelen Bus an d'Stad. (de/den)

Before 'Bus' (b) the -n drops.