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- when to use der die or das?
when to use der die or das?
I was practicing my german when it told me to translate "the children read a book"I type out "das Kinder lesen ein buch" and it tells me I should use die instead of das. Duolingo says kinder is a neuter noun, so why do I use die? Does the der die or das change depending on the type of sentence? If it does, is there any way to predict it or do I just memorize it?
9 Comments
1529
no, not all plural nouns, it depends on the time, or dative/genetiv. As f.e. "es ist eine Frage der Zeiten" even not "die Zeiten". or "Es ist das Spielzeug der Kinder/der Frauen" not die Kinder/Frauen. "Wir sehen den Ball der Spieler" Only "das" is never used in plurals.
1529
Don't bother, i just thougt that it could be interesting for you, seeing diferences and details in early learning. You're right, excuse me and believe me , that there are a lot of native german speakers, making faults in even this case ;-) so it's really very dificult. Have fun and keep on learning and whenever you have a question depending on Germany or the language, please ask me.
It will be - when I get to it. I also know how beneficial it is to teach others as it's a review for you even if it's new to them. I'm used to conjugation having studied in Spanish and Portuguese - but case is brand new to me. I really wish I had more time to put into it - but I'll be learning it at a snail's pace as it is.
1658
In Duolingo's web version (www.duolingo.com) in the "Desktop mode" of your browser
- many skills have grammar "Tips and notes" under their lessons
- the three grammatical genders (der, die, das) are explained in the skills "Basics 1" and "The"