N-Declension in German (Weak Nouns)

The N-declension (N-Deklination), also known as weak noun declension, is a special pattern in German grammar where certain masculine nouns take the ending -n or -en in all grammatical cases except the Nominative singular (i.e., in the Accusative, Dative, and Genitive).

Nouns belonging to this class are always masculine and usually represent male persons or animals. They include words ending in -e (e.g., der Junge, der Kollege), nationalities (e.g., der Russe, der Pole), words of Greek or Latin origin ending in suffixes like -ant, -ent, -ist, or -at (e.g., der Student, der Polizist, der Soldat), and a few exceptional single-syllable nouns (e.g., der Mensch, der Bär). In the Genitive singular, these nouns also take the ending -n or -en instead of the typical masculine ending -s (e.g., des Jungen, des Studenten).

A very common learner mistake is forgetting to add the -n or -en ending in the Accusative or Dative singular, writing ich sehe den Student or ich helfe dem Junge instead of the correct ich sehe den Studenten and ich helfe dem Jungen. Another error is adding an additional -s in the Genitive singular (e.g., writing des Studentens instead of des Studenten), with the exception of der Name which becomes des Namens.