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For feminine words in the nominative and accusative cases (nominative = subject [as "Frau" in "Eine Frau isst eine Orange" - the thing that does the verb], accusative = direct object [as "Orange" in "Eine Frau isst eine Orange" - the thing that DIRECTLY receives the doing of the verb]), you append an "e" to words like "ein" "kein" "mein" "dein" adjectives ("gut", "schlecht") etc.
Grammatical gender doesn't always correspond to real gender. The word came from "die Magd", which means "the maiden" (it's an old word now, and has medieval connotations), and it took the diminutive ending of -chen to get a meaning of "the girl" by becoming "das Mädchen". All words that take the diminutive ending of -chen are neutral. So the original word is feminine, but because this is a -chen diminutive of the original word, it is neuter regardless of the original word's gender.
how do i make a difference between german feminine words and masculine german words?
The following usually, but for some of them not always, are feminine: -a, -age, -anz, -ei, -enz, -heit, -ie, -ik, -in, -ion, -itis, -keit, -schaft, -sion, -sis, -tät, -tion, -ung, -ur, numerals, female humans and animals, named aeroplanes, motorbikes and ships, native German names for rivers, nouns derived from verbs that end in -t.
The following usually, but for some of them not always, are masculine: -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -ner, -or, alcoholic and plant-based drinks, directions and weather types, makes of car, male human and animals, named mountains and mountain ranges, nouns from strong verbs without a suffix, rivers outside Germany, rocks and minerals, seasons, months, days of the week, units of money.
Moreover, -er, -en and -el are 60% of the time masculine, and -e is 90% of the time feminine.
Masculine words take "der" as a definite article, and feminine "die" ( although this does change according to case when in actual use: http://german.about.com/library/blcase_sum.htm ).
Is there something peculiar about the way "Fr" is to be pronounced which is different from the way one would in english? beacuse it sounds like that but im not sure
In case you speak or are in the process of learning French also, you will notice thath the "r" is nearly pronounced in the same way.
Thanks for pointing that out - that is very interesting (even though I'm not learning French, I consider it for the future)!
Adia_Cheng made me realise that it's a bit like "ch" sound in German, except more back: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/howto/htpronounce.htm
It is somewhat a roll, yes. However, it is not like the Spanish r. The German r is more similar to the French r. A guttural r. It is produced at the back of the throat. Somewhat like you're gargling.
EDIT: I meant to reply to Bufferilla, but...yeah.
though its closer to the french pronounciation of R than it is to the english one, its still not exactly the same. Actually all the german frigatives are tricky! any sources for learning how to pronounce the sch and the ch and the r and the -ig????
not really, because 'Miss' is a form of address. You would not say "I am a Mister", but "I am a man"
If i was wanting to say: "She is A woman" woud I use "ein" or "eine"? I am a bit confused on those as I am A male so if refering to females do I use it masculine or not?
"She is a woman" = "Sie ist eine Frau" and "I am a man" = "Ich bin ein Mann"
"die Frau" is a feminine noun, so it takes "eine", and "der Mann" is a masculine noun, so it takes "ein". This applies to nominative case, which is the subject of a clause. One has to learn the gender for each noun.
One uses the -en ending for "die jungen Frauen", which is "the young women". (definite plural) "the young woman" would be "die junge Frau" with only an -e ending. (definite singular) It's simple with masculine, feminine, and neuter definite forms in the nominative case, as they just take an -e ending for adjectives ("der kleine Hund", "die kleine Katze", "das kleine Kaninchen"), but the plural definite form in the nominative case takes an -en ending for adjectives ("die kleinen Hunde").
You can check the following link for the appropriate adjective endings in the nominative case: http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa030298.htm
Is "Eine" the word used for the numerical, as in one woman. two women, etc, or is there a different word for the number one?
"Eine" means "one"/"a"/"an", and it is used for feminine nouns (the -e ending is also for plural, but there's no "eine" for plural of course). Masculine and neuter nouns rather take "ein". These endings apply to the nominative case (subject of clause).
If you want the number one, it is "eins".
If wife is the same a woman, how would you discern either word by reading the sentence.
Usually when you see it being used in possession, then you'll be able to tell (compare "Sie ist meine Frau" with "Sie ist eine Frau").
It's also worth mentioning that there is a specific word for wife, "die Ehefrau", which is commonly used.
"der" is used for masculine nouns, whereas "die" is used for feminine nouns. This is in the nominative case (subject).
"der" is only ever used for feminine nouns in the dative (indirect object) and genitive (possession) cases.
All nouns begin with a capital letter in German. Simultaneously, non-nouns do not begin with a capital letter (excluding the formal pronoun, "Sie"), even if it is an adjective that is based off of a proper noun (like "German", as an adjective, is "deutsch", but as a noun, it is "Deutsch").
