The gender for a noun is very important as it dictates the correct form of the word to be used in a sentence. For example, when referring to a table in English we say 'the table' whereas in German you would say 'der Tisch'. Der is the masculine form of 'the'. Die (pronounced 'dee') is used with feminine nouns and das with neutral nouns.
Der Tisch (the table)
Die Lampe (the lamp)
Das Boot (the boat)
In dictionaries the gender of a German noun is always given. In German courses this is usually written by teachers in shorthand like this:
-r Tisch
-e Lampe
-s Boot
Der, die, das are known in grammar as articles, more specifically they are known as definite articles. Der, Die, Das is a headache for many English speakers. The only thing you can do is learn them for each noun.
It is important to know that the above only applies if the noun is referring to one thing eg. a or the table.
If you are referring to more than one (eg. the tables) you must remember two rules:
The first rule is easy to remember and easy to use. Always use die when referring to more than one of the same thing, simple.
The second rule is easy to remember but tricky to use since the plural form of a noun does not follow many rules and must just be learned. This is actually how it is also in English:
book -> books
child -> children
leaf -> leaves
cherry -> cherries
English is not easy to learn either ;)
Some examples of plurals for nouns are:
Lampe -> Lampen
Tisch -> Tische
Boot -> Boote
So, to say 'the lampes, the tables, the boats' we would say 'die Lampen, die Tische, die Boote'.
In German courses teachers once again use same shorthand above including the plural form like so:
-r Tisch, -e
-e Lampe, -n
-s Boot, -e
A good reference online for information about the correct form of nouns is the German version of Wictionary:
http://de.wiktionary.org
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