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What's the difference here - why we use am in one example, and an der in the other?

mcjlnrtwcz
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3 Answers3

65

It is because Main is masculine, while Oder is feminine.

Then, an in this meaning is locative (where is it?), so one should use dative.

Therefore:

Frankfurt am Main = Frankfurt an dem Main (because der Main)

Frankfurt an der Oder (because die Oder)

smci
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GermanBeginner123
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26

Because in German river names have various genders. Some rivers a masculine, some are femine. So it is

der Main

but

die Oder

and thus "am Main" (= an dem Main) but "an der Oder".

IQV
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    Question then: Are rivers mostly feminine or mostly masculine? Is there ever a neuter river? – Omar and Lorraine Sep 27 '18 at 11:39
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    They are mostly feminine: Die Elbe, die Wolga, die Donau.

    But exceptions: der Rhein, der Main, der Neckar

     – GermanBeginner123 Sep 27 '18 at 11:43
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    @Wilson According to this article there are 72 rivers with a length of 100 km or more in Germany, and only 8 are masculine: der Rhein, Main, Inn, Neckar, Lech, Kocher, Regen, Rhin. And I don't know a neuter river. – IQV Sep 27 '18 at 11:44
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    On the other hand, non-European rivers seem generally to be masculine: der Nil, der Ganges, der Amazonas, der Mississippi, der Jordan, der Euphrat, … – celtschk Sep 27 '18 at 14:18
  • French has "la rivière" (feminine) and "le fleuve" (masculine). A "fleuve" is a major river that (nearly always) flows into the sea/ocean. A "rivière" is a more minor river. So, in Canada (where I come from), the St. Lawrence river is "Le St-Laurent", while the St. Maurice river (which flows into the St. Lawrence) is "La St-Maurice". I'm assuming that the rule in Germany is similar – Flydog57 Sep 27 '18 at 19:28
  • @Flydog57 The french rule does not really apply in German: of the 8 masculine german rivers mentioned by IQV only one (Rhein) is flowing directly into the sea, all others flow into other rivers. ("Rhin" is obviously derived from "Rhein", and all the others are in southern Germany, which might be related.) The other big rivers (Elbe, Donau, Oder) are all female. – Paŭlo Ebermann Sep 27 '18 at 20:43
  • Der St.-Lorenz-Strom is masculine in German, too, because it's der Strom (the stream) included in the name. The only rule I could make out is about names ending in consonants or -o (der Rhein, der Jordan, der Nil, der Ob, der Kongo, der Po, der Ebro, der Tejo), these tend to be male. Counterexample: die Oder. But maybe this is because -er is a vowel in German. – Janka Sep 27 '18 at 20:51
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    About river genders there is a great anser here . Unfortunately it is in german. – Javatasse Sep 27 '18 at 23:52
  • When I was in high school I was taught the rule of thumb that Rhein and its tributaries are masculine and the rest of them are feminine. Main flows into Rhein, hence masculine. IIRC the scope of that (undoubtedly sweeping) statement was rivers in Germany. I'm prepared to be wrong. – Jyrki Lahtonen Sep 29 '18 at 13:42
  • @JyrkiLahtonen Inn, Lech and Regen flow into Donau (danube). It has more to do with the celtic origin of the names. – IQV Oct 01 '18 at 05:44
  • Thanks. Wonder where that rule of thumb came from :-) – Jyrki Lahtonen Oct 01 '18 at 05:46
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The declination of "der" and "die" in the case of a Dative case. "An der" and "Am" are actually Dative (location).
"Am" is, as other mentioned, a composition of "An dem"

So in the masculine case, the Dative of "der" is "dem"
and in the feminine case, the Dative of "die" is "der" (which is the same article as the masculine nominative)

Sorry, confusing but just the way it is.

Dative articles

Canelo Digital
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