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[Palculator]

Its "der Gerät" unless you arent referring to that one video

Spoiler

its "das Gerät" obviously

As a native speaker you really just know the genders....so weird...

Oh, lol. I had actually completely forgotten about 'der Gerät'. My bad. Also yeah, you just know them after a while. It was confusing learning Italian because they have gendered nouns too, but of course plenty of them have different genders. At least theirs have rules to them, though.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

I would disregard articles. It's impossible to learn them all unless you are a native. Just focus on everything else and nobody in Germany will mind an incorrectly used article. My father immigrated in the 80s, is a doctor and 100% fluent in anything other than articles. It's virtually impossible to know them all unless you know them by instinct like a native.

 

[SPCTRE]

That's actually because "Mädchen" is the diminutive ("Verniedlichung") of "die Maid" or "die Magd", and people started using "Mädchen" primarily. It was probably "die Magd" originally, as its diminutive, "das Mägdchen", is the closest to "das Mädchen". Diminutives always end on "-lein" or "-chen" and have the "das" article. For "der Junge" (boy) it would be "das Jungchen".

EDIT: Hmm, found this:

However, I draw my actual evidence again from the Duden of 1930. There and in older German texts you can sometimes find the word “die Maid” (feminine gender) which has somewhat of a connotation of “young virgin/unmarried woman” in modern German, also see “maid” on Wiktionary. In the Duden from 1930 you will find:

Maid (Mädchen) w.; _, _en || Maidenschule (Landwirtschaftsschule für Frauen)

Astonishing, isn’t it? The diminutive form isn’t mentioned alphabetically where it would be expected – instead we find “Mädchen” as a derived form under “Maid”.​

welcome to Etymology, it's a fascinating field if you're into languages

 

[Hektor]

Der, die, das.
Wer, wie, was.
Wieso, weshalb, warum.
Wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm.

Articles are great. Especially when Anglizisms are involved. A friend of mine always used to say "die gamecube". *shudder*

 

[scamander]

Pretty sure both work and I've heard people use them. The second example here doesn't sound very wrong, does it? The first one is fine too; I don't consider either incorrect or odd.

They 'work' both and the second one is definitely in use, but only the first one is grammatically correct.

 

[Palculator]

Articles are great. Especially when Anglizisms are involved. A friend of mine always used to say "die gamecube". *shudder*

I go for what the German word would have. 'Cube' = 'Würfel' => 'der GameCube'.

With Facebook being as popular as it is I hear people say 'like' sometimes. That's cool and all, but you run into problems because those words don't do well with German tenses: 'geliked' or 'geliket'?

 

[VAD]

I 've had German classes for 9 years and I still can't have a conversation with German people

 

[sphinx]

I just thought how do to describe it to someone not speaking German, but I actually can't. It's like you say, learning by listening..

and worst thing is Löffel and Gabel both end with "el" so as a foreigner I'd think "these words should have the same article, right? just like words ending with "heit" and "keit" are femenine".

Der Löffel
Die Gabel

oh, That's pretty cool, Germany, it makes your language sooo exciting!

 

[Koozek]

Der, die, das.
Wer, wie, was.
Wieso, weshalb, warum.
Wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm.

Articles are great. Especially when Anglizisms are involved. A friend of mine always used to say "die gamecube". *shudder*

Wait, you say "der/das GameCube"?

Now that I think about it, I use "die" for every console. Die PlayStation, die Super Nintendo, die N64, die Xbox etc. Only exception I remember, right now, would be "das Master System".

 

[Koozek]

I go for what the German word would have. 'Cube' = 'Würfel' => 'der GameCube'.

With Facebook being as popular as it is I hear people say 'like' sometimes. That's cool and all, but you run into problems because those words don't do well with German tenses: 'geliked' or 'geliket'?

Like: Für dieses aus dem Englischen ins Deutsche eingewanderte Verb ist Facebook verantwortlich – genau genommen der »Like«-Button. Hat man den »Gefällt mir«-Button gedrückt, hat man einen Beitrag, ein Bild oder die Rotkel-Facebook-Seite geliked … gelikt oder doch etwa geliket?

Wie also wird die Partizipform von liken gebildet? Die einzig korrekte Regel der Flexion eingedeutschter Verben gibt es nicht, dafür aber eine Empfehlung der Duden-Redaktion; diese bevorzugt die gleichen Regeln wie für die deutschen Verben.

Die Grundformel zur Bildung von Partizipformen schwacher Verben lautet: ge + Wortstamm + t. Der Wortstamm ist das, was übrig bleibt, wenn man die Vor- und Nachsilbe und die Flexionsendung abzieht; bei liken ist der Wortstamm lik. Nach dieser Formel lautet die Partizipform von like gelikt (ge + lik + t = gelikt). Klingt komisch, ist aber so.

Nach diesem Muster werden auch andere Partizipien schwacher Verben gebildet: faken/gefakt, tunen/getunt, managen/gemanagt, mobben/gemobbt, crashen/gecrasht, booten/gebootet, flirten/geflirtet, posten/gepostet, downloaden/gedownloadet, dealen/gedealt, mailen/gemailt, joggen/gejoggt, clicken/geclickt, shoppen/geshoppt, twittern/getwittert.​

 

[Palculator]

I 've had German classes for 9 years and I still can't have a conversation with German people

Wo und warum lernst du Deutsch?

Only exception I remember, right now, would be "das Master System".

That's because it's 'das System' in German too! I don't see why the gender of the hyperonym should dictate that of others. Of course it's 'die Konsole' but that doesn't mean all consoles are female.

Like: Für dieses aus dem Englischen ins Deutsche eingewanderte Verb ist Facebook verantwortlich – genau genommen der »Like«-Button. Hat man den »Gefällt mir«-Button gedrückt, hat man einen Beitrag, ein Bild oder die Rotkel-Facebook-Seite geliked … gelikt oder doch etwa geliket?

Wie also wird die Partizipform von liken gebildet? Die einzig korrekte Regel der Flexion eingedeutschter Verben gibt es nicht, dafür aber eine Empfehlung der Duden-Redaktion; diese bevorzugt die gleichen Regeln wie für die deutschen Verben.

Die Grundformel zur Bildung von Partizipformen schwacher Verben lautet: ge + Wortstamm + t. Der Wortstamm ist das, was übrig bleibt, wenn man die Vor- und Nachsilbe und die Flexionsendung abzieht; bei liken ist der Wortstamm lik. Nach dieser Formel lautet die Partizipform von like gelikt (ge + lik + t = gelikt). Klingt komisch, ist aber so.

Nach diesem Muster werden auch andere Partizipien schwacher Verben gebildet: faken/gefakt, tunen/getunt, managen/gemanagt, mobben/gemobbt, crashen/gecrasht, booten/gebootet, flirten/geflirtet, posten/gepostet, downloaden/gedownloadet, dealen/gedealt, mailen/gemailt, joggen/gejoggt, clicken/geclickt, shoppen/geshoppt, twittern/getwittert.​

Thanks for this, this blog seems super interesting. Also, 'gelikt' does look super weird but at least it makes sense.

 

[Bedameister]

Now that I think about it, I use "die" for every console. Die PlayStation, die Super Nintendo, die N64, die Xbox etc. Only exception I remember, right now, would be "das Master System".

Alter du sagst doch bitte nicht die Gamecube.
Das is der Gamecube, basta!
Und der N64
Der Gameboy
Der Nintendo DS
...

 

[Dictator93]

It's missing Der Gerät though

trololol

 

[scamander]

I 've had German classes for 9 years and I still can't have a conversation with German people

Hast du es versucht?

Wait, you say "der/das GameCube"?

Now that I think about it, I use "die" for every console. Die PlayStation, die Super Nintendo, die N64, die Xbox etc. Only exception I remember, right now, would be "das Master System".

Die Playstation, der Super Nintendo, der N64, die Xbox

Sagst du auch "die Müller" oder "die DM", nur weil es sich um Drogerien handelt?

 

[Palculator]

Das Super Nintendo.

 

[SPCTRE]

I go for what the German word would have. 'Cube' = 'Würfel' => 'der GameCube'.

it takes a while for a loan word to arrive at a genus - as everything with languages, it's a fluid process and it's still relatively early times for many anglicisms, so there isn't a consensus yet in a lot of cases

there are, roughly, four basic principles for chosing articles you can go by:

• semantic (natural genus such as "die" Queen, or, like you suggested, going by the closest lexical analogue such as "der" Cube because "der" Würfel)
• phonological (mostly when there's a "convenient" rhyme analogue such as "der" Crack because Dreck/Schreck/etc.)
• by grapheme (similar spellings such as "der" Trouble, because "der" Trubel)
• by etymology (if there actually is a shared etymology, which can happen since English and German are part of a shared family of languages, i.e. a related word such as "die" Army, meaing "das Heer" but related to "die" Armee)

some combinations just sound horrible tho -

Spoiler

especially with the Dreamcast

 

[Auto-Reply]

Bau mal den Sofa grade!

Kommt mal vor der Tür!

 

[scamander]

Der Super Nintendo oder das SNES

(...der Gamecube, die Wii, die Wii U, der Game Boy, der Nintendo DS, der 3DS...)

 

[lightchris]

Wait, you say "der/das GameCube"?

Der Gamecube: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_GameCube
Nintendo themselves called it that (in German).

I go for what the German word would have. 'Cube' = 'Würfel' => 'der GameCube'.

That's usually correct.

 

[Palculator]

it takes a while for a loan word to arrive at a genus - as everything with languages, it's a fluid process and it's still relatively early times for many anglicisms, so there isn't a consensus yet in a lot of cases

there are, roughly, four basic principles for chosing articles you can go by:

• semantic (natural genus such as "die" Queen, or, like you suggested, going by the closest lexical analogue such as "der" Cube because "der" Würfel)
• phonological (mostly when there's a "convenient" rhyme analogue such as "der" Crack because Dreck/Schreck/etc.)
• by grapheme (similar spellings such as "der" Trouble, because "der" Trubel)
• by etymology (if there actually is a shared etymology, which can happen since English and German are part of a shared family of languages, i.e. a related word such as "die" Army, meaing "das Heer" but related to "die" Armee)

some combinations just sound horrible tho -

Spoiler

especially with the Dreamcast

Huh, I never considered picking articles based on sounding similar to German words or being written similarly.

Also, in our household we always called it 'das Nintendo' and subsequently 'das Super Nintendo' and 'das Nintendo 64' as well. But since there's almost nothing in the word 'Nintendo' that indicates gender it's kind of a Nutella thing, I guess. Can't think of something that follows from the above right now either.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

it takes a while for a loan word to arrive at a genus - as everything with languages, it's a fluid process and it's still relatively early times for many anglicisms, so there isn't a consensus yet in a lot of cases

there are, roughly, four basic principles for chosing articles you can go by:

• semantic (natural genus such as "die" Queen, or, like you suggested, going by the closest lexical analogue such as "der" Cube because "der" Würfel)
• phonological (mostly when there's a "convenient" rhyme analogue such as "der" Crack because Dreck/Schreck/etc.)
• by grapheme (similar spellings such as "der" Trouble, because "der" Trubel)
• by etymology (if there actually is a shared etymology, which can happen since English and German are part of a shared family of languages, i.e. a related word such as "die" Army, meaing "das Heer" but related to "die" Armee)

some combinations just sound horrible tho -

Spoiler

especially with the Dreamcast

I'm sure the author would appreciate being credit with what you translated from their article.

Those four principles are indeed a rather good guide as to attributing articles to anglicisms but to my knowledge no actual rules have been established. "Wrongly" attributing an article to some unavoidable anglicism in a German term paper would likely not be regarded as an error since there are no conclusive rules the lecturer could plead for. At least to my knowledge (studied English and German in 2011 and 2012).

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Wait, you say "der/das GameCube"?

Now that I think about it, I use "die" for every console. Die PlayStation, die Super Nintendo, die N64, die Xbox etc. Only exception I remember, right now, would be "das Master System".

Die Cube? Die Station und die Box macht ja Sinn, die Cube aber mal überhaupt nicht.

 

[SPCTRE]

I'm sure the author would appreciate being credit with what you translated from their article.

Oh for sure, sorry for not including my source!

 

[MrCow]

hm vorher waren alle Nintendo Konsolen männlich und dann sagen plötzlich alle die Wii .. ich hab immer der Wii gesagt (klingt eh wie das männliche Geschlecht, oder der willi) aber jetzt sag ich auch die Wii weil man sonst komisch angeguckt wird

 

[Koozek]

Alter du sagst doch bitte nicht die Gamecube.
Das is der Gamecube, basta!
Und der N64
Der Gameboy
Der Nintendo DS
...

Ewww@"der GameCube/N64". I agree with "der Gameboy/NDS", though.

 

[Dagobert Duck]

Ewww@"der GameCube/N64". I agree with "der Gameboy/NDS", though.

Das NES /SNES, aber der Super Nintendo, der N64, der Gamecube, die Wii, die Wii U

die eigentliche Frage ist "der Dreamcast oder die Dreamcast"?

 

[Palculator]

Die.

 

[Koozek]

Das NES /SNES, aber der Super Nintendo, der N64, der Gamecube, die Wii, die Wii U

die eigentliche Frage ist "der Dreamcast oder die Dreamcast"?

#TeamDie

 

[SPCTRE]

Der Dreamkasten #TeamGrapheme

Spoiler

it has to be Die

 

[Barnaby_Jones]

One thing I found odd when I moved here was when I was reading The Hobbit and in German, Bilbo Baggins is translated to Bilbo Beutlin. I've never understood why or how a name can be changed otherwise I'd be Herr Entewert. Anyone able to clue me in to that one?

 

[SPCTRE]

One thing I found odd when I moved here was when I was reading The Hobbit and in German, Bilbo Baggins is translated to Bilbo Beutlin. I've never understood why or how a name can be changed otherwise I'd be Herr Entewert. Anyone able to clue me in to that one?

AFAIR, Tolkien himself was involved with the German translation (he had pretty specific preferences for certain translation of certain proper nouns/names), including Beutlin for Baggins.

 

[Dagobert Duck]

AFAIR, Tolkien himself was involved with the German translation (he had pretty specific preferences for certain translation of certain proper nouns/names), including Beutlin for Baggins.

Bag=Beutel? Makes sense if you ask me...

 

[WorriedCitizen]

Pro-Tip: Memorize genders the moment you learn the vocubulary as if they are part of the word and you're good. That's what i did when i learned some Swedish. e.g. learn spoon=der Löffel, fork=die Gabel instead of spoon=Löffel, fork=Gabel

 

[ZombAid82]

If you want to start riots among native German speakers ask for the gender of Nutella.

Definitely "Die" because it is sweet as hell!
Dreamcast was sexy as Hell, "Die" is the only logical answer!
Gamcube was raw power at the time, "Der" only makes sense!

 

[SLV]

Watch the whole of DBZ German dub, no need to thank me.

Spoiler

RTL 2 is how I learned german

 

[fwoibles]

Watch the whole of DBZ German dub, no need to thank me.

Spoiler

RTL 2 is how I learned german

Nobody should have to go through such peril, RTL2 is the arse end of the abyss of doom of death.

 

[Bedameister]

Nobody should have to go through such peril, RTL2 is the arse end of the abyss of doom of death.

Yes but back then they showed a lot of great shows. I also watched it as a kid/teen.
Now it's shit of course.
Only good thing about RTL 2 is them showing Schindlers List at least once a year.

 

[Dagobert Duck]

Yes but back then they showed a lot of great shows. I also watched it as a kid/teen.
Now it's shit of course.
Only good thing about RTL 2 is them showing Schindlers List at least once a year.

What do you mean? You dont enjoy Frauentausch?

Some of the programming is so dumb its just awesome

 

[fwoibles]

What do you mean? You dont enjoy Frauentausch?

Some of the programming is so dumb its just awesome

We gathered with the same group of friends every week to watch Frauentausch (the german version of wife-swap). Beer, popcorn, and very light entertainment.

HALT STOP!!!11

 

[venomenon]

Definitely "Die" because it is sweet as hell!

Definitely "das". There's nothing feminine about a brown gooey mass.

Thinking about it... there's a certain consistency in brown gooey masses being feminine in German, though. Hm.

 

[Dagobert Duck]

We gathered with the same group of friends every week to watch Frauentausch (the german version of wife-swap). Beer, popcorn, and very light entertainment.

HALT STOP!!!11

There you go!

 

[oti]

We gathered with the same group of friends every week to watch Frauentausch (the german version of wife-swap). Beer, popcorn, and very light entertainment.

HALT STOP!!!11

I can't watch stuff like Frauentausch. It's Fremdschämen to the max.

 

[Palculator]

Definitely "das". There's nothing feminine about a brown gooey mass.

It's an Italian name, though, and those ending in "a" are usually female.

 

[fwoibles]

I can't watch stuff like Frauentausch. It's Fremdschämen to the max.

Stromberg is, Frauentausch was not. Maybe because of the company, never watched Stromberg with friends.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Fakt:
Der N64, die Playstation, die Xbox, der Dreamcast, die Wii, der Gamecube.

Fakt. F.A.K.T.

I can't watch stuff like Frauentausch. It's Fremdschämen to the max.

You should watch Teenager werden Mütter or alternatively have three sisters who tell you all about it whether you want to or not. Have you heard that Janine thought America is a city? Classic Janine lol!

Yes but back then they showed a lot of great shows. I also watched it as a kid/teen.
Now it's shit of course.
Only good thing about RTL 2 is them showing Schindlers List at least once a year.

I loved that phase when Pro7 had movies like
"Snow - When the world freezes"
followed by
"Galileo: Can the world really freeze?"

I feel like they had at least 5 of those.

 

[Dagobert Duck]

Im just realizing how many germans are here on GAF

 

[Bedameister]

Im just realizing how many germans are here on GAF

Join us
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1123653

 

[Palculator]

Im just realizing how many germans are here on GAF

Dude, we have a community thread of our own!

And you can even speak entirely in German in there!

 

[Itaremustbedangeres]

Ewww@"der GameCube/N64". I agree with "der Gameboy/NDS", though.

but it's the only logical pronunciation!!! it's der spiel(e)würfel (lit. translation for gamecube) so why not der gamecube as well?

 

[Apt101]

German is really tough, I suggest taking a proper course with an instructor. My experience with the romance languages:

Spanish is probably the easiest to learn as an English speaker. Plus there are tons of Spanish-speaking people everywhere here so it's easy to get help.

French is almost as easy, but it's the pronunciation of things that prove difficult. At least for me. I sound so stupid speaking French that it embarrasses me.

Latin is really easy to pick up, really simple structure and what not, but it feels kind of pointless.

Italian seems difficult. One of my best friends is from a huge Italian family so I heard it often in highschool and learned a bit, but I forgot it all quickly. This is another language I feel like I sound so stupid speaking I don't like to.

German was inaccessible to me. Like, it didn't seem to work like any other language I had dabbled in. Well, German and Finnish. I tried Duolingo as well, and even bought a highschool text book back in, eh, probably 2011. I gave up after a month. I just could not do it.