SYNCHRONOUS AND DIACRON TOOLS THAT MAKE SENSE OF MANIPULATION

Abstract

Nouns in most world languages are either masculine or feminine. German takes one step farther by including a third gender: neuter. Der is the masculine definite article ("the"), the feminine, while das is the neuter form. Many years have passed for German speakers to figure out if wagen (vehicle) is der, die, or das. It's der wagen, but newcomers to the language may struggle to figure out which form to employ. Don't make the mistake of associating gender with a certain meaning or concept. It is the word that stands for the actual item that has gender in German, not the actual person, place, or thing. As a result, a "car" can be das auto (neuter) or der wagen (car) (masculine).