Quote:
Originally Posted by freddie
First explain to me why a table is male. I never understood that. It's so clearly female when you look at it.  |
Haha, I guess this would be a good time to introduce the articles of the German Language.
The word "The" in English can be translated to either "Der, Die or Das" in German.
There are more Der words than Die words, and more Die words than Das words - my meaning by "Der/Die/Das words is because - every object in German has a "The" before it. When referring to somthing in formal German you refer to it as "The ____"
Here is a chart to memorize the genders for each "The"
Der - (Male) The (Only use Den when you are not beginning a sentence, otherwise use "Der")
Die - (She or Plural) The
Das - (She) - The/That
In response to somthing being a "The", it also has to be an "it" So - here is the reason why a table is a HE!
The German word table (Tisch) uses the word "Der" or "Den" - which translates to the HE form of The.
The "it" form for any German word will be just like the chart on the last page "Er, Sie, or Es" - He/She/it.
Der - Er | The (Male) - He
Die - Sie | The (Female) - It
Das - Es | The (Neuter) - She
So if a table is a Der (Male) word - then the IT form if it would be "er" since that is also the male form of He/she/it.
If you have questions from this point on - please re-read this or ask me about it. This is crucial to understand
Examples
Der Tisch ist alt, und sehr gross. - The table is old, and very big!
Das Madchen ist schon sechzehn, aber
es nicht zu alt! - The girl is already 16, but she's not to old!
Die schule
ist gross und sie ist neu! - The school is big and it is new!
So - have you grasped the concept of using the German "The" and the German "Its" together - if so, make up some sentences of your own in English - but replacing the words "It" and "The" with either Der/Die/Das and Er/Sie/Es