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
the der/die/das articles are the singular articles, in the plural all nouns use the die article:
Der Mann (the man) -> Die Männer (the men)
Die Frau (the woman) -> Die Frauen (the women)
Das Kind (the child) -> Die Kinder (the children)
All plural nouns use "die", "Kind" is singular, "Kinder" is plural.
Use "der" for masculine,
Use "die" for feminine,
and use "das" for neuter singular nouns.
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.
We're both level 5 and have only come across the nominative at this point - let's not make it more complicated than it has to be. It doesn't help to give me examples that are above my level because it's all Greek to me right now.
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.
1079
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"
You need to learn the the articles by heart. Every German noun has a specific gender, either it's masculine (der), feminine (die), or neutral (das), and there is no scheme, sorry...
But as allready pointed out, "die" is the regular basic plural article.
