![]() ![]() ![]() Young animals and people: das baby, das küken (chick), but der junge (boy).But learn non- das countries, such as der Irak, der Jemen, die Schweiz, die Türkei, die USA ) Geographic place names (towns, countries, continents): das Berlin, Deutschland, Brasilien, Afrika. ![]() Memorizing these rules will help you get gender right without having to guess-at least, not all the time! If you're going to guess, guess der. The highest percentage of German nouns are masculine. For most nouns, you will just have to know the gender. These guidelines work for many noun categories, but certainly not for all. There are some hints that can help you remember the gender of a German noun. Are you meeting someone at the lake ( am see) or by the sea ( an der see)? For example, das tor is the gate or portal, while der tor is the fool. Don't just learn garten (garden), learn der garten. Don't just learn tür (door), learn die tür. Not knowing a word's gender can lead to all sorts of other problems. It's enough to drive an English speaker crazy.Ī good general rule for learning German vocabulary is to treat the article of a noun as an integral part of the word. A German moon is masculine ( der mond), while a Spanish moon is feminine ( la luna). The word for "sun" is masculine in Spanish ( el sol) but feminine in German ( die sonne). There are three different German words for "ocean" or "sea," all with a different gender: der ozean, das meer, die see. Gender does not transfer well from one language to another. It is also reflected in the use of possessive adjectives such as sein( e) (his) or mein( e) (my), which are also called " ein-words."Īlthough nouns for people often follow natural gender, there are exceptions such as das mädchen (girl). This is a very important concept to learn. For masculine or neuter nouns, only ein is correct. For a feminine noun, only eine can be used (in the nominative case). Ein basically means "one" and like the definite article, it indicates the gender of the noun it goes with ( eine or ein). The indefinite article ("a" or "an" in English) is ein or eine in German. An English-speaker might say "nature is wonderful." In German, the article would also be included to say " die natur ist wunderschön." In German, the definite article is much more important than it is in English. That's why a “car” can be either das auto (neuter) or der wagen(masculine). It's not the actual person, place, or thing that has gender in German, but the word that stands for the actual thing. It's der wagen, but for learners new to the language it's not so easy to know which form to use.įorget linking gender to a specific meaning or concept. German speakers have had many years to learn whether wagen (car) is der or die or das. The masculine definite article (“the”) is der, the feminine is die, and the neuter form is das. German goes them one better and adds a third gender: neuter. Most world languages have nouns that are either masculine or feminine. ![]()
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