die Tochter
daughter
Die Tochter (the daughter) is the German word for a female child. Like most German words for female family members, it is feminine and takes die as its definite article. The plural is die Töchter, which adds an umlaut to the o, a common pattern in German family nouns: Mutter becomes Mütter, and Tochter becomes Töchter.
You'll see Tochter in conversation about family: meine Tochter heißt Anna (my daughter is called Anna), seine älteste Tochter (his oldest daughter), die Tochter meines Bruders (my brother's daughter). The last example uses the genitive case, which is how German shows possession across two nouns.
The diminutive Töchterchen (little daughter) is used as a term of affection for a small or young daughter, and is common in fairy tales and older literature.
Pronunciation: stress falls on the first syllable, "TOCH-ter". The "ch" after the "o" is the back, throaty sound also heard in Bach or Scottish "loch", not the soft "ch" in ich. The plural Töchter is pronounced "TÖCH-ter", with "ö" sounding like the vowel in English "her" without the r.
The opposite of Tochter is der Sohn (the son). Other family words you'll meet in the same context are die Mutter (mother), der Vater (father), die Schwester (sister), and der Bruder (brother).
Article / Gender
English
daughter
Singular
die Tochter
Plural
die Töchter
die Tochter appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Die Tochter spielt im Garten.
The daughter is playing in the garden.
Subject first, then verb.
Ich sehe die Tochter jeden Tag.
I see the daughter every day.
Akkusativ object comes after the verb.
Meine Tochter ist sehr freundlich.
My daughter is very friendly.
Adjective after 'sein' is predicative.
- What does Tochter mean in German?
- Tochter means "daughter" in German. It is a feminine noun, so it takes the article die in the nominative (die Tochter). The plural is die Töchter, formed by adding an umlaut to the o.
- What is the plural of Tochter?
- The plural is die Töchter. German nouns that change their stem vowel with an umlaut in the plural are common in family vocabulary; Tochter → Töchter follows the same pattern as Mutter → Mütter.
- Is Tochter masculine, feminine, or neuter?
- Tochter is feminine, so it takes die. This matches a general rule in German: most nouns referring to female people, including Mutter and Schwester, are feminine.
- How do you pronounce Tochter?
- Tochter is pronounced "TOCH-ter" with stress on the first syllable. The "ch" after the "o" is the throaty back sound, the same one heard in Bach or Scottish "loch".
- How do you say "my daughter" in German?
- Meine Tochter means "my daughter" in the nominative case (when the daughter is the subject of the sentence). The possessive mein takes an -e ending because Tochter is feminine: meine Tochter, deine Tochter (your daughter), seine Tochter (his daughter).