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'Das Mitglied', 'das Kind': neuter nouns for people

In German, a noun's grammatical gender does not always match the sex of the person it describes. A small but important group of person nouns is always neuter, whether the person is a man, a woman or a child. Anna is ein Mitglied, a young man can be das Opfer, and every child is das Kind.

English speakers trip over this because English pronouns follow the real person: we say who and she for Anna without thinking. In German, the article, any adjective ending and the relative pronoun must match the noun. So you say ein neues Mitglied, das, even when you are talking about a woman.

Word list
BabynA1 baby das Baby, das ...; es is common if sex unknown KindnA1 child das Kind, das ...; later es, er or sie KindnA1 child das Kind, das ...; boy or girl MädchennA1 girl das Mädchen, das ...; -chen makes it neuter, later often sie EnkelkindnA2 grandchild das Enkelkind, das ...; but der Enkel MitgliednA2 member ein neues Mitglied, das ...; also for women GeschöpfnB1 creature ein armes Geschöpf, das ...; a person OpfernB1 victim das Opfer, das ...; even for a man or a woman WesennB1 creature ein freundliches Wesen, das ...; a person EinzelkindnB2 only child ein Einzelkind, das ...; -kind makes it neuter IndividuumnB2 individual das Individuum, das ...; formal MittelkindnB2 middle child ein Mittelkind, das ... GenienC1 genius ein großes Genie, das ...; any sex SandwichkindnC1 middle child ein Sandwichkind, das ...; informal WaisenkindnC1 orphan das Waisenkind, das ...; but die Waise ArbeitstiernC2 workaholic ein echtes Arbeitstier, das ...; informal BesatzungsmitgliednC2 crewmember das Besatzungsmitglied, das ...; neuter like Mitglied
How it works

The rule is simple: the noun decides, not the person. Everything that belongs directly to the noun takes neuter forms: das or ein, the neuter adjective ending (ein neues, ein großes) and the relative pronoun das (dem, dessen in other cases).

Anna ist ein neues Mitglied, das sehr aktiv ist.
(Anna is a new member who is very active.)

The same noun can describe a man just as easily. The information about the person comes from the rest of the sentence, never from the article.

Das Opfer war ein junger Mann.
(The victim was a young man.)

Rule of thumb: look up the noun's gender and stick with it for the article, the adjective and the relative pronoun, even if it feels strange.

The words
Children and family

The most common case is Kind, which you will use constantly, together with Baby. Words ending in -kind are neuter too: Enkelkind, Einzelkind, Waisenkind, Mittelkind and its informal twin Sandwichkind.

Lisa ist das Kind, das neben mir sitzt.
(Lisa is the child who is sitting next to me.)
Unser Baby ist ein Mädchen und heißt Mia.
(Our baby is a girl and is called Mia.)
Mein Sohn ist ein Einzelkind, meine Tochter war ein Mittelkind.
(My son is an only child, my daughter was a middle child.)
Mein Enkelkind, das in Berlin wohnt, besucht mich oft.
(My grandchild, who lives in Berlin, often visits me.)
Groups and society

Mitglied and the longer word Besatzungsmitglied describe members of any sex. Opfer and the formal Individuum belong here too.

Jedes Besatzungsmitglied kennt die Regeln an Bord.
(Every crew member knows the rules on board.)
Jeder Mensch ist ein Individuum, das eigene Wünsche hat.
(Every human being is an individual who has their own wishes.)
Describing someone

Some neuter nouns characterise a person: Genie, the informal Arbeitstier, and Wesen or Geschöpf, which mean creature but are often used for people, as in ein freundliches Wesen.

Marie Curie war ein großes Genie.
(Marie Curie was a great genius.)
Meine Chefin ist ein echtes Arbeitstier.
(My boss is a real workaholic.)
Watch out
Later pronouns can switch

Neuter forms are strict close to the noun. In a new sentence, however, Germans usually refer to the real person with er or sie. After Mitglied, Genie or Opfer, the pronoun es would often sound odd. With Kind and Baby, es is common when the sex is unknown or unimportant.

Das neue Mitglied heißt Anna. Sie kommt aus Wien.
(The new member is called Anna. She comes from Vienna.)
The last part of a combined word decides

Enkelkind is neuter because of -kind, but the simple word der Enkel is masculine.

Not every mismatch is neuter

Other person nouns also ignore the person's sex but have a different gender: die Person and die Geisel are always feminine, der Gast is always masculine. They follow the same logic, but this article is about the neuter ones. das Mädchen is neuter for a different reason: the ending -chen (used for small things), which is covered in its own article.

The typical mistake is writing die Mitglied or ein Mitglied, die for a woman. Always check the noun, not the person.

Summary

Some German nouns for people, such as Kind, Baby, Mitglied, Opfer and Genie, are always neuter, whoever they describe. Use das, ein, neuter adjective endings and the relative pronoun das right next to them. In later sentences you can usually switch to er or sie for the real person.