Topic: German Grammar 

Der, Die and Das are all versions of the word The.  In the German language all nouns have a gender, they are either masculine, feminine, or neuter. 

Der is used before masculine singular nouns

Die is used before feminine singular nouns

Das is used before neuter singular nouns

Words like Mutter (mother), Schwester (sister), and Frau (woman) are feminine - so you would use Die before them.

Words like Vater (father), Bruder (brother), and Mann (man) are masculine - so you would use Der before them.

Words like Buch (book), Heft (notebook), and Haus (house) are neuter - so you would use Die before them.

But it can sometimes be tricky because Salat (salad) is masculine, Tomate (tomato) is feminine and Mädchen (girl) is neuter.  There is no logical reason for this.  So instead of just memorizing the word itself, you should memorize the whole thing.  Instead of just Tiger, think der Tiger, not Musik but die Musik and so on.

Take note that German nouns begin with a capital letter regardless of where they appear in a sentence.

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Start your sentence with a question word.

wann? when?

warum? why?

was? what?

wer? who?

wie? how?

wieviel? how much?

wie viele? how many?

wo? where?

wohin? where to?

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They don't usually tell you this in grammar books, but it's helpful, so maybe I should post it anyway.

'Mädchen' is neuter because it's a... diminutive? (English isn't my first language, so...) and all of them (words ending in '-chen' or 'lein') are neuter. 'Mädel' also means girl, and I'm 98% sure it's feminine.

Also, if the verbs are converted into nouns, they are neuter. If we turn 'lesen' (to read) into 'Lesen' (reading, the action of reading), the noun is neuter (das Lesen).

All the words ending in '-e' or '-ung' are feminine (die Lampe, die Unterhaltung).

That's about all I can remember about simplifying the genders... Sad, isn't it? 

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Ich (I) = e

Du (you, informal) = st

Er, sie, es (he, she, it) = t

Wir (we) = en

Sie (you, formal) = en

sie (they) = en

Ihr (2 or more du's) = t

Example:

Lernen (to learn)

Ich Lerne
Du Lernst
Er, sie, es Lernt
Wir Lernen
Sie Lernen
sie Lernen
Ihr Lernt

Üben (to practice)

Ich Übe
Du Übst
Er, sie, es Übt
Wir Üben
Sie Üben
sie Üben
Ihr Übt

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It is very confusing for some reason. for example you say Ich liebe dich. But then you can say Du bist deutsch.

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Hey all,

I just started my second semester of German... and so far we have been learning a lot of adjective endings.  I was reminded that there are akkusativ and dativ prepositions, as well as dativ verbs to watch out for.  Here is what I have learned about adjectiv endings:

If it is a weak adjectiv (one with a "der" article) then the endings of the adjectiv are as follows:

Masc: Nom -e, Akk -en, Dat -en.

Fem: Nom -e, Akk -e, Dat -en.

Neu: Nom -e, Akk -e, Dat -en.

Plur: Nom, Akk, & Dat all take -en.

It is strong if it has no article.  In this case the endings would be:

Masc: Nom -er, Akk -en, Dat -em.

Fem: Nom -e, Akk -e, Dat -er.

Neu: Nom -es, Akk -es, Dat -em.

Plur: Nom -e, Akk -e, Dat -en.

If the article is an "ein" word, the adjectiv is "mixed" and the endings are:

Masc: Nom -er, Akk -en, Dat -en.

Fem: Nom -e, Akk -e, Dat -en.

Neu: Nom -es, Akk -es, Dat -en.

Plur: Nom, Akk, & Dat are -en.

I would say more, but the template that is running this text writing is wackying out!!  Big time!  It is so slow at the moment.  But anyway, bis bald und Sie haben eine gute Wochenende!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Erin

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Nominative

Ich - I
Du - you
Er - he
Sie - she
Es - it
Wir - we
Ihr - you all
Sie - they
Sie - you

Accusative

Mich - me
Dich - you
Ihn - him
Sie - her
Es - it
Uns - us
Euch - you
Sie - them
Sie - you

Davtive

Mir - to me
Dir - to you
Ihm - to him
Ihr - to her
Ihm - to it
Uns - to us
Euch - to you
Ihnen - to them
Ihnen - to you

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