der Ball
ball
Der Ball is masculine and takes der. The plural is die Bälle, formed with an umlaut plus an -e ending.
Like English "ball", the German word carries two unrelated meanings. The first is the object you throw or kick: wirf mir den Ball zu (throw me the ball). The second is a formal dance: der Wiener Opernball is the Vienna Opera Ball. Both meanings share the same plural, so context does the work of telling them apart.
Sport compounds are everywhere and easy to recognize. Der Fußball is football, der Handball is handball, der Volleyball is volleyball, and der Basketball is basketball. Each keeps the masculine gender of Ball, which is a useful shortcut: a compound noun in German always takes the gender of its final part.
Two idioms are worth knowing. Am Ball bleiben means to stick with something or keep at it, and it is used well beyond sport, as in bleib am Ball (keep going). Der Ball liegt bei dir means "the ball is in your court".
Be careful with der Ballon (balloon), which is a separate word with the stress on the second syllable, and das Ballett (ballet), which is neuter.
Pronunciation: Ball is one syllable, [bal], with a short a because of the double l. The plural Bälle has two syllables and changes the vowel to ä, sounding like the "e" in English "bell".
Article / Gender
English
ball
Singular
der Ball
Plural
die Bälle
der Ball appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Der Ball ist rot.
The ball is red.
Simple subject–verb–predicate sentence.
Ich werfe den Ball.
I throw the ball.
Direct object uses accusative case.
Kannst du den Ball holen?
Can you get the ball?
Yes/no question with modal verb.
- What does Ball mean in German?
- Ball means "ball", both the object used in sport and a formal dance event. It is a masculine noun and takes der.
- What is the plural of Ball?
- The plural is die Bälle, formed with an umlaut plus an -e ending. Both meanings of the word share this plural.
- Is Ball masculine, feminine, or neuter?
- Ball is masculine and takes der. Every compound ending in -ball is masculine too, including der Fußball and der Basketball, because German compounds take the gender of their last part.
- What does am Ball bleiben mean?
- Am Ball bleiben means to keep at something or stay persistent. It comes from football but is used in everyday and workplace German with no sporting sense at all.
- How do you pronounce Ball?
- Ball is one syllable, pronounced [bal] with a short a, since the double l shortens the vowel. It does not sound like the English word "ball", whose vowel is longer and rounder.