As an English speaker learning German, I face endless confusion and frustration with many of the short question words that are “False Friends”

Such as:

Wer (where) - Actually means who.

Wo (Who) - Actually means where.

Wie (We) - Actually means how.

Was (was) - Actually means what.

Also (also) - Actually means so.

Will (will) - Actually means to want.

And the completely arbitrary gender assignments!

For example.

The year is: Das Jahr, a neuter word.

The month is: Der Monat, a masculine word.

And the week is: Die Woche, a feminine word.

And then there’s directly counter-intuitive examples of words that seem like they Should be a gender other than what they are, such as:

The little girl - Das Mädchen (Neuter, not feminine)

Breasts - Der Busen (Masculine! Boobs is masculine!)

Person - Die Person (Feminine! Why isn’t this word neuter?!"

  • Eq0
    6·
    3 months ago

    Yep. I know German quite well, but French and Italian better. My brain just picks a random gender every time. Usually not even consistent

    • Fawkes@lemmy.zipOPM
      2·
      3 months ago

      That seems like the best option imo. Just decide on the spot which gender you want the word to be and go with it! I really don’t think it matters if my refrigerator is a man or woman lol.

      • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        19 days ago

        In German there are some rules to this:

        • All non-living things that end with -e are always feminine. Coffee ends in and -e in German, but is a plant, and therefore living, so that’s why the rule doesn’t apply. But otherwise it applies fully. (Except that “the end” is “das Ende”, and building is “das Gebäude”. But still, the exceptions number in one or two. Otherwise all non living words ending with -e are feminine. “Die Straße” for a street. “Die Dose” for a can.
        • Everything with -chen is always neutral. This rule is so stupidly strong that even the word for “girl”, “mädchen” is not feminine. Girls are not female in German because they end with -chen, think about that!

        There are other rules as well, but these two are the easiest ones.
        Plus there’s the “don’t learn just ‘das Mädchen’. Learn ‘kleines Mädchen’” that I mentioned in another comment above!