Learning German language

As in the French language you have to learn the gender of things You are right about the Tür, though nothing would indicate it being female it is "Die Tür", meaning "sie" in conclusion. While it is "Der Fernseher" - what's so male about a TV?

so Fernseher would get 'er'? that was my original questions do objects get the sie/er pronoun or es.

Der Fernseher ist teuer. Er kostet viertausend Euro.

Yes they do Fernseher would be substituted by the pronoun, "er"
The German word for girl, to me, seems one of the hardest to find out the gender. While a girl is clearly female, it is neuter in the language.
Das Mädchen spielt draußen. Es lacht dabei.

yes, SEXISM. Also with the word that I was taught in school that no one uses now: das Fräulein. Probably hasn't been used since the 19th century

EDIT: excluding this though http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A4ulein_Wunder

hey
whats the difference between "brennt" and "verbrennen"
ehmmm if i say "Das Haus brennt" and "Das Haus verbrennen"
its the same meaning? what would be? "this house burns"?

Generally they are used in quite the same way, but looking at your sentence no one would actually say "Das Haus verbrennt." There's no rule against it, yet things that big don't burn this way ... For me verbrennen ist used with smaller things, like wood. And "brennen" has much more meanings, like biting on the skin, cauterize in a chemical way -- for none of these you would use "verbrennen". Still, the general "rule" would say that you can use both in the same way. If you're not sure, rather use "brennen".

Originally Posted by Steena

Generally they are used in quite the same way, but looking at your sentence no one would actually say "Das Haus verbrennt." There's no rule against it, yet things that big don't burn this way ... For me verbrennen ist used with smaller things, like wood. And "brennen" has much more meanings, like biting on the skin, cauterize in a chemical way -- for none of these you would use "verbrennen". Still, the general "rule" would say that you can use both in the same way. If you're not sure, rather use "brennen".

ahhh okay
i made that example about "Haus" xD
Der himmel brennt
Die traume verbrennt

i noticed the difference in there xD
the sky burns
the dreams burn
is allright?

If you keep in mind that it is "Die Träume verbrennen", it sounds OK.

is this correct?

Alle sind groß, ausser einem Mann, der klein ist.

Yes
außer is commenly written with the sharp s as well.

how does 'sich' change the verb's meaning? What is the difference between gehen/sich gehen and fallen/sich fallen etc

The difference is that the latter doesn't exist
"sich" is an indicator of a reflexive verb, which gehen and fallen are not
You cannot fall or walk yourself.

I can read or write German quite correctly but the problem comes when I'm asked to form sentences. Can you please suggest some way i can understand the genders of the nouns? is there any specific rule regarding the use of der, die and das? Please help.

I think most people have exactly the same difficulty...the problem is just that there really are no specific rules to say when der, die or das is used. What people usually do is look at what kind of gender fits for the specific object/noun which typically results in a funny use of articles. I'm afraid only reading and remembering the correct articles for every single noun will help. Mind you, however, even German people occasionally get mixed up with them.

Thanks for helping me, Cosmonaut! I'm learning this language at school level, actually. My teacher too said the same, but I found it quite difficult to remember the proper articles' uses. Too bad; I'll have to learn the harder way... but at least it'll help me in the exams. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Suveer

Thanks for helping me, Cosmonaut! I'm learning this language at school level, actually. My teacher too said the same, but I found it quite difficult to remember the proper articles' uses. Too bad; I'll have to learn the harder way... but at least it'll help me in the exams. Thanks again!

If you're good at memorization the book I use has a list of endings for each gender so:

Masculine (der): -ant (Konsonant); -ast (Kontrast); -ich (Teppich), -ig (Hoenig), -ismus (kapitalismus); -ling (Fruehling); -or (Motor), -us (Rhythmus)

Feminine (die): -a (Pizza); -anz (Eleganz); -rei (Bucherei); -heit/-keit (Krankheit); -gie (Biologie), -ik (Panik), -in (Lehrerin), -schaft (Partnerschaft), -sion (Explosion), -taet (Universitaet), -ung (Regierung), -ur (Natur)

Neuter (das): -chen (Maedchen), lein (Buechlein), -ma (Drama), -tel (Viertel), -um (Album)

There are exceptions but they work most of the time:
they say -ant is Masculine but Restaurant is Neuter,
and -anz is supposed to be Feminine but Tanz is Masculine etc.

The only one you can count on is that all plural nouns are die (Feminine)

Hi Nuttyone,
I have never been aware of this! :-) But you are totally right !

COncering the word RESTAURANT it might be different as it is a french word or a lean word from latin.

And concerning TANZ, here it ia a complete word Tanz/Dance, "anz" is not an ending as in the other words you have mentioned above.

Hey, this was really useful... It's somewhat like a rule. Thanks, TheNuttyOne! I hope I can use this in my tests...

am schlechtesten / der schlechteste
am besten / der beste

What's the difference, when are they used?

Schlecht / schlecht / am schlechtesten
BAD - worse - the worst


Gut / besser / am besten
good / better / the best


These words are used if you compare something.
Although I am german I only can explain it to you in this simple way, I cannot do it grammatically. But these words are used the same way as in English/American.

Hope my answer did help you a little bit further