Thanks, Thomas, You percieved my question correctly--that is what I wanted to know. And, Thanks for your explanation, which sort of lets me know that there really isn't much of a way. LOL Ah, well, I do love my mother's mother country, and wish I could learn German. I waited too long, so that my memory is spotty, so that after I memorize a word, I forget it before I figure out what the next word should be. LOL Love this list. Judy In a message dated 11/23/00 2:56:06 PM, you wrote: << > The intended question is before the one you answered. The question > being if there is some set of rules so that you can look at a noun such as > Baum, and know through those rules whether it should be das Baum, der Baum, > or die Baum. >>