TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
From:David Dubin <David_Dubin -at- NOTES -dot- PW -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 19 Dec 1995 13:33:27 EST
In a recent post, Alexander von Obert states, "In German the grammatical gender
is very obvious from the way German is constructed..."
He is partly correct, it is only obvious to native German speakers! German has
all three genders in the language; feminine, masculine, and neutral. The
pronouns can change based on case; nominative, genitive, dative and accusative.
The plural of nouns also changes the gender. For example, "der Mann" is the
man. However, the plural of "mann" is "maenner", which takes the feminine
pronoun, "die".
Another interesting and strange example is the word "Bundeswehr", which, in
essence, means Federal Forces (or Army). One would think that it would be
masculine, but it is feminine because the word, "wehr" is feminine. In German,
a word always takes the gender of the noun, not the nouns or adjectives
modifying it.
BTW, how is this for an interesting German word:
Rheinflussdampfsschiffsfahrtskapitaen.
David Dubin
This has been one man's opinion yours may vary with mileage ..und
sprachfaehigkeit
