This language was okay when I started, but now it’s too difficult. Accordingly, the articles are as follows:-Masculine – der; Feminine – die; Neuter – das; There is no logical rule to guess the gender. You’re going to notice one major difference between English and German grammar right away: German noun genders. In English, we call all things – for example, table, car, book, apple – ‘it’, but in German, even words for things have a gender. Although they don’t always make sense, they are something you have to learn. Sometimes it's easy to work out the gender of a noun, as certain words are always a specific gender. German nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter. You can stick to methods that are a little bit more conventional or go completely crazy with colour coding ALL THE NOUNS. To spot neutral nouns, look out for the following word endings: -chen, -o, -lein, -en, -il, -ma, -tel, -ment, -nis, -tum, -um. Finally, male animals and weather elements are usually masculine. I flunked languages in school. Enjoy! Adjectives, articles and pronouns are also affected by whether a noun is singular or plural. When you’re learning German, it’s important to remember that the word, not the thing, has a gender. neuter: das Wasser, das Bier. Let’s say you wanted to learn the gender for strawberry, Die Erdbeeren. Learning German? In German, it is useful to memorize nouns with their accompanying definite article in order to remember their gender. In today's guest post, Kerstin from fluent language shares her thoughts on learning new vocabulary. Many languages, particularly in Europe, have gendered nouns. All you can do is sit there and scratch your head. To be continued… These articles are used to identify the gender of the noun they go with. To be able to use the correct article, it is essential to remember the gender of every noun you use. Just as there’s no rainbow without rain, there’s no German noun without its article. Masculine, feminine and neuter We can put it off no longer. Following this rule, you’ll be correct around 80% of the time. How could a table have a gender? Anki is my favourite tool for this. Of course these are just a few suggestions to get you started. Perhaps you tell yourself: I’m not good at language learning. Genders in German were originally intended to signify three grammatical categories that words could be grouped into. Page description: In a rare bow to logic, German noun genders actually make sense when they match the biological gender of the noun. Note: Some objects, such as boats, have a gender in English. This is what we’re left with today, in a rather convoluted way! Not bad odds. I don’t have enough money to travel the world and properly learn this language. endings that indicated that a word was of, endings that indicated a group of people or things. In German a noun can be masculine, feminine or neuter. Strong and mixed endings are the same for both masculine and neuter words in the nominative or accusative case. There are three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter, plus plural. This makes sense. It is, however, one of the two elements that decide which definite or indefinite article goes before it. All German nouns are one of three genders: masculine, feminine or neutral. Learning new words and figuring out how they’re related to other languages is one of my favourite parts of language learning. To figure out whether a word is masculine, look for the following word endings: -er, -el, -ling, -ich, -ig, -ner, -ismus, -or, -us, -eich, -ant. You can tell someone they’re cute, pretty, elegant, handsome… So many synonyms for the same word, and new ones popping up and fading out all the time (like “looking fly” or “on [...], Here’s an easy way to learn the days of the week in Spanish. Be warned – there’s lots of gender stereotyping ahead! for the last. If you find yourself mid-conversation, and you’re unsure of the gender of a noun, just guess. Der Tisch (table) is masculine. They are masculine, feminine or neuter. That gender is not necessarily the actual gender of the corresponding real-life object; instead it is purely grammatical. Although some words require you to learn the gender by heart, there are many cases where you can look at the ending of a word to work out the gender. Other times the genders are pretty randomly assigned. When this masculine word refers to a female it is still masculine, and thus requires masculine declension of adverbs and adjectives. This is called their gender. Introduction. However, for about 80% of nouns, the grammatical gender can be deduced from their singular … The plural form of the definite article is die. That’s because in English, gender refers to the actual gender of the noun being referenced. Who knows – maybe in time the German language will simplify and gendered nouns will become redundant. Last but not least: You are probably aware of the fact that there are much more rules. This is not because they are changing gender – it is because the indefinite article is (technically) dropped. Masculine. I've been in Austin a few days and I can already see that it's going to be a fun month here!! a person who writes or compiles a dictionary, Get the latest news and gain access to exclusive updates and offers, Create an account and sign in to access this FREE content, Remember that you have to use the right word for, Co-ordinating conjunctions with two parts. Instead, focus on the best ways to remember word genders. Some countries fall into this category. Now, a lot of words in English mean “beautiful”. Next, I'll guide you step-by-step on how to choose the correct adjective ending when building a German sentence. English has only one gender marker for the definite article of all nouns, namely the. One important thing as we get started: All nouns are written with the first letter capitalized. Your best bet with these words is to focus on memorising the gender, rather than figuring it out on the fly. So keep at it! Take cutlery for example. If you say or write a German word without the article that dictates gender, you won’t be using the noun correctly. By the time you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll know how to remember all the days in Spanish. If you’re approaching language learning with the goal of becoming a polyglot at some point in the future, then it is really important that you take the time to learn and understand gendered nouns. Whereas in English gender virtually always corresponds logically to the sex of the noun, this is not the case in German. If you get it wrong, chances are someone will correct you (especially in Germany) and you’ll know how to say it right the next time you need to use that particular word. How grammatical genders influence our worldview. When German nouns become plural, they adopt the feminine definite article of die. Capitalized Nouns. Der Schule is not a masculine nominative, but either the feminine genitive aka possessive ("the school's") or the feminine dative (indirect object: "to / for the school"). There are THREE possible genders in German: feminine, masculine, and neuter). For masculine or neuter nouns, only ein is correct. 2.3 The gender of German nouns. For example, Switzerland is feminine (die Schweiz) and the USA is plural (die USA). A fork is feminine, a spoon masculine and a knife neutral. German nouns have a grammatical gender. Das Pferd (horse) is neuter. How does that make sense? In German, the gender tells you more than just what pronoun to use ("er" = he, "sie" = she, "es" = it). In English, the articles remain the same, irrespective of the gender of the noun. Also, most metals, as well as babies (both human and animal) tend to have neutral genders. Most countries are spelled differently in German than English and they may be masculine, feminine, or neuter. The gender of German nouns can be identified by the article they take; der for masculine, die for feminine and das for neuter. Native German speakers are notoriously direct and will be more than happy to help you out! My top tip for language learners is always to speak from day one. For example, der Mann becomes die Männer. Grimm Grammar is an online German grammar reference from the University of Texas at Austin. It’s how you’ll read the calendar and [...]. That’s because in English, gender refers to the actual gender of the noun being referenced. And you can argue the why of it until you’re blue in the face, but the fact is – gender is something you’re going to have to learn. 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