Visitors
since 1999 May 15
Like English, German has two numbers:
There are three Genders:
With living beings, the sex ordinarily fixes the gender. Only in a few cases does gender and sex differ:
To the English speaker the failure of the German grammar gender to follow actual sex is very difficult to get used to. Thus a little girl or little boy is called it (das). One must say, "The little girl has a doll and it has named it Dolly". I strongly recommend Mark Twain's The Awful German Language on this subject.
In English, the name of a lifeless object is regularly neuter.
In German lifeless objects are as frequently masculine or feminine as neuter.
|
Definite Article |
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| Article | Gender/Number | The Noun | Pronunciation | Meaning |
| der | masc. singular | der Flieger | dayr fleeger | the pilot |
| die | fem. singular | Die Schwester | dee shvester | the sister |
| das | neuter singular | das Jahr | dass yahr | the year |
| die | for the plural of all three genders |
die Flieger die Schwestern die Jahre |
dee fleeger dee shvestern dee yahre |
the pilots the sisters the years |
|
Indefinite Article |
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| ein | masc. singular | ein Flieger | aen fleeger | a pilot |
| eine | fem. singular | eine Schwester | aene shvester | a sister |
| ein | neuter singler | ein Jahr | aen yahr | a year |
In the table below, the numbers refer to person: 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd persons.
|
Singular |
Plural |
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| 1. | ich | ich | I | 1. | wir | veer | we | |
| 2. | du | doo | you, thou | 2. | ihr | eer | you | |
| 3. | masc. | er | ayr | he | 3. | sie | zee | they |
| 3. | fem | sie | zee | she | 3. | Sie | zee | you |
| 3. | neuter | es | ess | it | - | - | - | - |
The conventional pronoun of address in German is Sie. It corresponds in form to the third person plural sie, but is always written with a capital letter. It is used in addressing one person or more, but it always requires a plural verb.
The familiar pronouns of address are du and ihr. They are used only in addressing members of one's own family, intimate friends, young childern, and animals; like the English thou, du is used toward God.
Visitors
since 1999 May 15