grammer

[Angieherb]

On subjects such as the bird, the bee, the insect, the rice, the salt, etc how do you know which "the" to use?

I thought die was fem and plural, der was masculine and das was nuter.

The cards show die for spider, fly, etc; das for insect, sale etc; der for bear, sugar, etc? I am not getting this.

Thank you

[Heike333145]

You should learn the nouns together with their articles. The allocation of the gender to the noun has no "logical" basis (except in the case of people).

But if you learn the noun always together with its article, it will become second nature to you. It's "der Baum", not just "Baum", it's "die Fliege", not just "Fliege" etc.

(BTW, I have to do the same in French, Italian, and Spanish. The French/Italian/Spanish moon is feminine, whereas our "Mond" is "der Mond" -- masculine! ;-) And whereas "their" sun is masculine, "our" sun is feminine: "die Sonne")

[Angieherb]

thank you

[pentaan]

There are a few rules for determining the gender of masculine, feminine and neuter. But, very often, you have to memorize each word's gender.

• Gender of Masculine Nouns
  https://www.germanveryeasy.com/masculine-noun-gender

• Feminine Noun Gender
  https://www.germanveryeasy.com/m/feminine-noun-gender

• Gender of Neuter Nouns in German
  https://www.germanveryeasy.com/m/neuter-noun-gender

Game: Guest the Gender
https://www.germanveryeasy.com/m/exercise-gender

[Angieherb]

thank you very much, very helpful

[BLRT2000]

There's no logic to it. You just have to learn the nouns WITH the genders. It's not impossible though.