2: Nouns
The next lesson! There are two most important things to remember about German nouns!
a) When writing, the nouns must start with a capital letter, including those nouns that aren't names.
b) Every noun is either a he, she or it.
Explaining b): When you say 'the [insert noun here]', depending on which noun it is, you have to use either 'der', 'die' or 'das' for 'the'. The same goes for when you say 'a [insert noun here]'. Then you have to use 'ein', or 'eine'. Quite confusing at first, so I will try to explain it simply. If you know French (And maybe there's another language like this, but I wouldn't know) you'll know what I'm talking about.
Der (Said like 'dear')
'Der' is used for masculine words. It means 'the', so when you say a masculine noun, you have to say 'der'.
Examples of common masc. nouns:
Der Name (name)
Der Bruder (brother)
Der Vater (father)
Der Zug (train)
Der Hund (dog)
If you don't want to say 'the', but 'a', for masculine nouns, you say 'ein'.
For example,
Ein Name, ein Bruder, ein Hund, and so on.
'Der' can also mean 'he'.
Die (Dee)
'Die', also meaning 'the' is used for feminine words.
Examples of common fem. nouns:
Die Schule (school)
Die Arbeit (work)
Die Schwester (sister)
Die Mutter (mother)
Die Stadt (town)
Again, if you want to say 'a', you say 'eine'.
For example,
Eine Schule, eine Schwester, eine, Stadt, etc.
'Die' can also mean 'he'. Now for the last one!
Das (Dass)
'Das' means 'that', but when used with 'das' nouns, it also means 'the'.
Examples of common 'das' nouns:
Das Auto (car)
Das Haustier (pet)
Das Wochenende (weekend)
Das Frühstück (breakfast)
The 'a' that is used for 'das' nouns is the same as for masc. nouns. It is also 'ein'.
Example,
Ein Auto, ein Haustier, and so on...
Also in lesson 2, I will go over the words for I, you, he, she etc.
I = ich
You = du
He = er
She = sie
One = man
We = wir
You = die/Ihr (plural of you - also polite way of saying single you)
They = die(or sie)
I haven't gone into much detail on this yet, but it's so difficult to know where to start with the teaching really. I hope these are clear, and again, please ask for any help you want. I hope I've remembered everything!
