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GRAMMAR
2
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| NOUNS — Part 6 |
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Some
basic rules to determine the gender of a
noun
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For
the thousands of nouns in which gender has no biological correlate,
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Feminine are... |
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...names of most trees, fruits, and flowers. die
Eiche (oak), die Tomate |
...numbers as nouns. die Vier (4), die Zehn (10) |
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Masculine are... |
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...days,
months, and seasons.
der Montag, der April, |
...points
of the compass der Norden, der Sturm |
...minerals. der Granit |
...most currencies. der Euro, der Dollar |
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Neuter are... |
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...infinitives used as nouns. das Lesen
(reading), |
...most
metals and das Gold, das Uran, das Silber |
...letters of the alphabet. das A |
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Another
way to identify the gender of a noun is to look for specific suffixes.
For example, all nouns with the suffix "-lein" or "-chen"
are neuter. You'll learn about these suffixes in Chapter 6.
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