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. You might guess that since trees do not have sexes that it would be das Baum, but my dictionary says it should be der Baum. Streets don't have sex either and yet it is die Strasse. One rule I seem to remember is that words ending in the letter 'e' were usually 'die'. (Okay I quickly found an exception 'der bube' - the boy, but every rule must have an exception or two). As far as I learned in my four years of high school German, there is no pattern, but every German child or anybody else learning German must not only remember the German names for things, but also whether the new word goes with 'der,die, or das', and then depending on the case, this can be changed to 'den, or dem' or if you are saying 'an' object instead of 'the' object there are five or six different ways to say the English word 'a'. That all seems to be alot of extra work which adds nothing to the ideas being communicated. Perhaps it is a common feature in many languages, or is there some reason for the German language to do that? Speaking of German and changes. The Swiss immigrants to Sauk County, Wisconsin quickly built churches, and of course the services were held in German. Eventually, the younger English speaking generation and perhaps some non-German new neighbors, demanded a change to English speaking services. One of the older members was heard to remark: "I suppose God Himself will have to learn English." Thomas Koch ----- Original Message ----- From: Katharina Hines <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 2:49 PM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-LIFE] Language > Hi Judy, > That is determined by the word in front of the word 'door' > These are the words der - male > die - female > das - child > die - is also used in the plural form as for > more then one. > Katharina > > >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 > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________ _________ > Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com >

<<Perhaps it is a common feature in many languages, or is there some reason for the German language to do that?<< Yes, Thomas, it is a common feature in many languages (French, Italian, for example). _________________________ 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: "Thomas Koch" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2000 1:02 AM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-LIFE] Language > 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. You might guess that since trees do not have sexes that it > would be das Baum, but my dictionary says it should be der Baum. Streets > don't have sex either and yet it is die Strasse. One rule I seem to remember > is that words ending in the letter 'e' were usually 'die'. (Okay I quickly > found an exception 'der bube' - the boy, but every rule must have an > exception or two). As far as I learned in my four years of high school > German, there is no pattern, but every German child or anybody else learning > German must not only remember the German names for things, but also whether > the new word goes with 'der,die, or das', and then depending on the case, > this can be changed to 'den, or dem' or if you are saying 'an' object > instead of 'the' object there are five or six different ways to say the > English word 'a'. > That all seems to be alot of extra work which adds nothing to the ideas > being communicated. Perhaps it is a common feature in many languages, or is > there some reason for the German language to do that? > Speaking of German and changes. The Swiss immigrants to Sauk County, > Wisconsin quickly built churches, and of course the services were held in > German. Eventually, the younger English speaking generation and perhaps some > non-German new neighbors, demanded a change to English speaking services. > One of the older members was heard to remark: "I suppose God Himself will > have to learn English." > > Thomas Koch > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Katharina Hines <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 2:49 PM > Subject: Re: [GERMAN-LIFE] Language > > > > Hi Judy, > > That is determined by the word in front of the word 'door' > > These are the words der - male > > die - female > > das - child > > die - is also used in the plural form as for > > more then one. > > Katharina > > > > >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 > > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________ > _________ > > Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : > http://explorer.msn.com > >