Please explain words with some examples. Thanks a lot.
2007-05-23 19:43:33 · 7 answers · asked by Sky Boy 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
They are the German words for "the" (for masculine and feminine wirds respectively: there is also a neuter form: das).
This is the reason they are used so frequently.
Der Mann - the man; der Garten - the garden
Die Frau - the woman; die Schule - the school;
Das buch - the book; das Mädchen - the girl.
The terms "masculine", "feminine" and "neuter" are purely grammatical terms and have nothing to do with sex; although the words for male living beings are usually grammatically masculine nouns and female living beings are usually grammatically feminine nouns, this does not always apply, as the word for "girl", which is neuter, demonstrates, as does das Pferd - the horse. In addition, although my inanimate objects - like das Haus, the house, das Buch - the book, das Wort - the word - etc, are neuter, many are also grammatically either masculine or feminine: der Wagen - the car, der Garten - the garden - are masculine; die Schule - the school, Die Tur - the door - are feminine.
Die - is ALSO used as the word for "the" for all plural nouns: die Häuser - the houses, die Frauen - the women, die Bücher - the books, die Männer - the men, etc.
Just as a matter of interest, you may have noticed from the examples I have given that all nouns (and not just names of people and places) begin with a capital letter in German.
2007-05-23 22:05:29 · answer #1 · answered by GrahamH 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
They are 2 of the 3 determinative articles in German language. All the 3 mean "the"
Der is used for masculine, die for female and das for the neuter.
the son = der Sohn
the mother = die Mutter
the book = das Buch
2007-05-24 02:54:57 · answer #2 · answered by martox45 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/learn-german-online/beginners/summary.php
Check out this website.
German has 3 different articles for the nominative singular, "der" for male, "die" for female, "das" for neuter words.
In the plural it is "die" for all 3 genders.
Every word has one of these grammatical genders.
Grammatical gender seems to be allocated quite randomly, apart from the obvious words, but even there you get exceptions "das Mädchen" (= the girl ) has neuter as grammatical gender.
That's why you have to learn its gender with every new noun.
German has 4 cases, i.e. the form of the word, and especially the article, changes with the noun's fuction within the sentence, so "der" is not only the nominative male form of the article, but also the genitive and dative form of the female article.
"Die Mutter ist froh." = The Mother is happy.
"Ich gebe der Mutter Blumen" = I give flowers TO my mother.
"Die Rosen der Mutter sind rot" = My mother'S roses are red.
Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but German is a complicated language to learn ;-)
2007-05-24 04:56:16 · answer #3 · answered by haggesitze 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Der (male) /die (female) / das ( neutral) = The, the definite singular article.
The choice of which one should be use at time is defined by substantive's gender
Der Mann - the man
Die Frau - the woman
Das Kind - the child
2007-05-24 10:23:05 · answer #4 · answered by M.M.D.C. 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it means "the" so that's why they are used so often :
der for masculine noun : der Mann (the man)
die for feminine noun : die Fraue (the woman)
das for neutral noun : das Mädchen (the girl)
die for the plural form : die Kinder (the children)
2007-05-24 02:54:57 · answer #5 · answered by ? 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They are the masculine and feminine forms of the article "the".
Der is the masculine form and die is the feminine form.
Der Vater-the father
Die Mutter-the mother
2007-05-24 02:53:51 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
the book is das Buch
2007-05-24 04:03:50 · answer #7 · answered by Lucy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋