How to use German pronouns for Gender nouns?

Question

So, I'll try to make this as least confusing as possible.....I'm working with German pronouns and I ahve a few questions....I will use three examples...Der Hund (The Dog) Die Tür (The Door) and Das Buch (The Book).... Now if I constructed the sentences: Ich sehe den Hund, Ich sehe die Tür, and Ich sehe das Buch...(I see the dog, I see the door, I see the book)...and then substituted the Direct Object with Pronouns. When substituting the pronouns, would I match the pronoun and noun with the Gender of the nouns. In English I would replace each Direct object with "It' in German would I just use "es" or would I need to use Ich sehe ihn, Ich sehe sie, Ich sehe es.....? I know this is really confusing..... Basically...If I have a masculine noun that is not actually a man would I use the masculine pronoun in place of it?

Answer 1

Yes. Realize that the terms "masculine, feminine and neutral" are really just different pronoun forms, rather than referrals to a particular gender. While they are used for people in the appropriate gender, realize that der Hund is der Hund, even if it is a female dog.

Answer 2

You are on the right track. There are a few good answers, too. My addition: If you use a generic term for an animal, the "gender" of the generic is being used. If you are specific, it changes accordingly.. Example: DER Hund (generic), ER. Specific: DER Rüde (male dog), ER; DIE Hündin (female dog), SIE.

Answer 3

Yes... if a dog is a female it'd be der hund, and even though you may be talking about a female dog you'd call it er. e.g.
er isst -
she eats (dog is female)
And yes, the pronouns have to match.
e.g.
Er ist gross. (He is big)
Ich sehe ihn. (I see him)
Ich helfe ihm. (I help him (dative case is used as helfen always takes it))

Sie ist klein
Ich sehe sie
Ich helfe ihr

Es ist cool
Ich sehe es
Ich gebe ihm

Answer 4

Yes, concerning the dog, you can say Ich sah ihn. (accusative) because of the gender. Or you can say Ich gebe ihm (dative) etwas zu essen. ...because of the gender.

Pronouns always match the gender of the word, whether inanimate or animate.