I am sure this has probably been talked about before, but I have never understood, and hope someone can explain to me. How to you determine the sex of inanimate objects, for the German language. How is it determined if a door, or chair, for instance, is male or female? There must be some reasoning to it, or is this just learned by speaking German as a child, and passed up? Thanks for any help. Judy

On 22 Nov 2000, at 7:44, [email protected] wrote: > How is it determined > if a door, or chair, for instance, is male or female? There must be > some reasoning to it, or is this just learned by speaking German as a > child, and passed up? Thanks for any help. Judy I don't think there is a system. Die Tür, der Stuhl, das Spielzeug. I don't think it makes any sense at all but has to be learned. Fred 4788 Corian Court Naples, FL 34114 941-775-7838 [email protected] Florida Law - count dimples but not military votes

<<How is it determined if a door, or chair, for instance, is male or female?>> A door has no sex! <vbg>. Seriously: You cannot determine whether an inanimate thing is male or female. You just have to learn it. Horrible language. (die Sonne, der Mond = the sun, the moon) _________________________ Heinz L. Zulauf Flotowstrasse 9 D-64287 Darmstadt Germany e-mail: [email protected] Visit my Private Homepage "The Classical Music Site" http://myweb.vector.ch/zulauf _________________________ ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 1:44 PM Subject: [GERMAN-LIFE] Language > I am sure this has probably been talked about before, but I have never > understood, and hope someone can explain to me. How to you determine the sex > of inanimate objects, for the German language. How is it determined if a > door, or chair, for instance, is male or female? There must be some > reasoning to it, or is this just learned by speaking German as a child, and > passed up? Thanks for any help. Judy >