44
votes
Accepted
Why is "Baum" masculine?
The rules don't always apply, esp. when the endings are not morphological. And -um is neuter only if the noun comes from Latin that way (Individuum, Museum). But Baum is "natively" German; ...
- 3,846
37
votes
Accepted
Unexpected use of 'Kater' instead of 'Katze'
you'd normally use Katze instead of Kater in normal conversation, even for a male cat. The only time you'd use Kater is a) if you're a veterinarian or breeder who has a professional interest in the ...
- 1,049
31
votes
Why is the sentence "Das ist eine Nase" correct?
In German language, the word "das" is not only an article. It has a second meaning:
It can also have the meanings of the English words "this" or "that".
If the word "das" means "this", there are no ...
- 6,038
27
votes
Accepted
Is the word "Unterlagen" masculine or feminine?
The das in the first example is not an article since an article would have to come just before a noun. It's a demonstrative pronoun roughly translatable as "that", although "this/these&...
- 9,259
23
votes
Masculine, feminine, neuter
German inherited its three-gender system from Proto-Indoeuropean, but the reason that language had it is lost in the mists of time. Some languages kept this. Others reduced to two genders (e.g. French ...
- 563
23
votes
Accepted
Wie nennt man einen weiblichen Nazi?
Ganz allgemein gesprochen ist in diesem Kontext, also wenn es um Prädikative geht, Movierung nicht nötig. Viele Sprecher nehmen keinen Anstoß an Sätzen wie den folgenden, wo das Geschlecht (Sexus) ...
- 23.9k
20
votes
Accepted
When showing interest in people, how is the gender inferred?
There is no masculine or feminine form of the interrogative pronoun "Wer". It applies to all three genders as long as a person is meant. (Similarly, "Was" applies to all three ...
- 3,047
18
votes
Masculine, feminine, neuter
As is true with all languages all through time, linguistic features are not extant in order to 'serve a purpose', but rather often as remnants of things that once served purposes, then became obsolete....
- 353
18
votes
Accepted
Which genus do I use for neutral expressions in German?
Oh boy, you just opened the box of Pandora as this is part of an ongoing discussion in Germany. I'll give an answer without politics first but I feel that this answer also needs to take a look at the ...
- 17.8k
18
votes
Why is "Baum" masculine?
There are much more exceptions from German gender rules than there are rules. The best way to learn German genders is like German native speakers do: Learn for each noun separately which gender it has....
- 116k
17
votes
What definite/indefinite article do Germans use when they don't know/forget the noun they're talking about?
Very often you have a vague idea of what you want to say, and with this idea often comes some words that have similar meanings, but still are not exactly what you want to say. So you often use their ...
- 116k
16
votes
Accepted
Why Mitternacht, not Mittnacht
The word Mitternacht is some centuries younger than Mittwoch and Mittag. Mitternacht derives from 14th century phrases such as vor mitter nahte (‘before middle night’), where mitter is an adjective in ...
- 19.7k
16
votes
Would combining all German articles to just one article have a real negative effect on the language?
In cases where the article is nominative and just there to define the gender of the noun: Yes, there would be very small effects to the language.
But as stated in the comments: Some times the article ...
- 8,970
16
votes
Accepted
Why "WeimarER Republik"?
Your question is smart and beautiful. Thank you for raising this issue here. As a non-native speaker, I guess I have your answer.
In German, there are two kinds of adjectives formed with the suffix -...
- 1,319
16
votes
Accepted
When would you use "er" or "sie" instead of "es", specifically with the meaning of "it"?
Auf die Frage
Ist das deine Jacke?
ist die im Deutschen übliche Antwortformulierung:
Nein, das ist nicht meine Jacke.
Wenn du "Sie ist nicht meine Jacke" sagst, erkennt jeder, dass du Deutsch ...
- 30.9k
16
votes
Accepted
I would say: "You are another teacher", but she is a woman and I am a man
Der folgende Satz wird von Sprechern unterschiedlich bewertet (Stichwort: generisches Maskulinum). Als beleidigend kann er aber meines Erachtens nicht aufgefaßt werden.*
(an eine weibliche Person ...
- 23.9k
14
votes
Accepted
Why is it “des Lesens” instead of “der Lesen” for the Genitiv of Lesen
It seems you mixed up several concepts.
There is a feminine word die Lese (meaning the process of collecting, usually grapes for making wine). Its genitive plural is indeed der Lesen.
There is a ...
- 19.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Warum ist das Genus von „Abschwung“ maskulin, obwohl Wörter auf „-ung“ meistens feminin sind?
Die »Ausnahme« ist bei genauer Betrachtung gar keine Ausnahme. Die Regel, dass die Endung -ung automatisch das weibliche Geschlecht verlangt, gilt nämlich nur für das Suffix -ung, das aus Verben ...
- 38.3k
14
votes
Accepted
Warum ist ‘Deutsche Grammophon’ feminin?
Du hast recht, dass Deutsche Grammophon feminin ist. Gleichzeitig ist das Grammophon unbestritten neutral. Des Rätsels Lösung ist, dass die Deutsche Grammophon laut Wikipedia 1898 als die Deutsche ...
- 38.3k
14
votes
Accepted
What are the relative pronouns of cities?
All nouns have a gender – a couple allegedly even three, but no name is ungendered. You just have to find out which. In this case, cities (and most countries) are regularly neuter. That rule is ...
- 30.5k
14
votes
The grammar about "Du bist der eine"
Eine is the indefinite article but also a count »one«, you have to add a matching noun in your thoughts:
Du bist der eine, der immer schwierige Fragen stellt.
Du bist der eine Mensch, der immer ...
- 50.1k
14
votes
Accepted
Adjektiv für Mehrzahl ("liebe Erika und Richard" vs "liebe Erika und lieber Richard")
Liebe Erika und Richard ist weniger ein Grammatik- denn ein Stilproblem
Das Stilempfinden deutscher Prägung leidet unter der fehlenden Adjektivkongruenz. Da das Problem nicht lösbar ist, weicht man ...
- 30.9k
14
votes
Accepted
Wann wird «das Morgen» statt «der Morgen» benutzt?
Ob Morgen "das" oder "der" ist, hängt von der Bedeutung ab:
Wird früher Vormittag gemeint, dann ist es "der Morgen".
Wird die Zukunft gemeint, dann ist es "das Morgen".
- 4,618
14
votes
I would say: "You are another teacher", but she is a woman and I am a man
Es ist nicht immer einfach, in solchen Sachen das richtige Geschlecht zu wählen. Ich empfehle, den Satz anders zu bauen.
If you want to say that she prefers a different teaching method:
Du bist ...
- 2,440
14
votes
Of nouns that can be one of two genders, are there any that can't be masculine?
das Steuer = steering wheel
die Steuer = tax
der Steuer doesn't exist
- 231
13
votes
Accepted
Genders of nouns
How are kids taught this? I'm guessing it is just repetition and memorization but any other exercises?
Kids pick it up through osmosis, just like everybody learns their mother tongue, no additional ...
- 19.2k
13
votes
Why Mitternacht, not Mittnacht
In both etymological dictionaries that I have available (one of them here; as well as Kluge, 24. edition), it is mentioned that Mitternacht is derived from prepositional phrases that were used as ...
13
votes
Accepted
Ist eine Stiftung Eigentümer oder Eigentümerin?
Die Verwendung des Wortes "Eigentümerin" für juristische
Personen mit femininem Genus ist in juristischen Texten nicht unüblich. Google findet
2350 Links für "Stiftung als Eigentümerin" verglichen mit
...
- 10.4k
13
votes
Accepted
Can the noun »Süße« be neuter?
Because here, das Süße, is a nominalization ("Substantivierung") of the adjective süß, which in principle can have any article.
There can be two reasons (thanks to @KilianFoth for pointing out one ...
- 3,178
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