"The girl eats."

Translation: Das Mädchen isst.

[OuiAg]

why "Mädchen" is a neuter noun if it's referring to a girl, which is a female word?

[inkabink]

The gender of the word does not always match the gender of the actual thing. For example, in Spanish, the word for "dress," a mostly female piece of clothing, is masculine: el vestido.

Language is weird sometimes.

[OuiAg]

Okay, thank you very much!

[Mannimoo]

A girl is female, but the word 'a girl' is not - here it is neuter because the ending ('chen') is a neuter ending.

[OuiAg]

So most or all words ending in -chen are neuter?

[Mannimoo]

Yes, all words ending in "-chen" are neuter - "-lein" as well (it's the other neuter diminutive suffix).

[kiralee.ch]

Something I have found (but doesn't apply all the time) is that children and baby animals are usually "das." It's just the weird way of German.

[eif13]

because it ends with -chen

[velosetcafe]

How do you tell "ist" from "isst"? They're two completely different words, but very similar. Is it just the context of the sentence?

[christian]

They're pronounced exactly the same. You need to look at the context.

[mylifemylove]

What is the difference between "die maid" and "das madchen"?

[hananjames]

One is an adult and the other a child.

[JasdeepCha]

Whats wrong with "maid" instead of "madchen"? Thats means girl right?

[hananjames]

No it means female or woman.

[8apples]

How do i put the two little dots in madchen?

[AmberJones6]

If you are doing it on an Android phone, press the letter for an extra second and you will have all the accented options to choose from :)

[hananjames]

Thats right

[hananjames]

Hold down on the a and different a will pop up .

[stridiculous]

nominative as in "naming?" and "neuter nouns" means?

[Boxeye]

Neuter nouns are nouns without gender - "das" nouns.

And I found a helpful link on cases:
http://german.about.com/library/blcase_nom.htm

[oh.hek]

A most helpful link. Thanks so much for posting this.

[BoutrosChedid]

Why is it "isst?" Why can't you use "esse?"

[Bex1817]

There are different verb endings for 'I', 'you', 'he/she/it', 'we', 'you' (talking to more than one person like, "you's two') and "you formal'.

[MukeshTailor]

why "madchen" joins with "isst".

[IbrahimMaj1]

cuz... er sie es takes "isst"
Mädchen is neuter "er"

[frankelneo]

When do you use isst and esse?
How are they different and in what position should they be placed?

[GiuliaAlmereyda]

I am using duolingo on the phone, normally there are some explanations about the new grammar things like the difference between die and das...could someone explain me? My laptop broke up today so... :)

[athey678]

Whats the difference between isst and esse?

[eif13]

I cannot get the dots above the a on my phone