You will like German. (That's not a prediction as much as a command :P)
Don't sweat the German pronunciation thing too much. Watch your "ie" and "ei" (long e and the diphthong in "eye"). Other than that, different dialects of German (as near as I can tell) completely interchange the vowels. And the consonants should not give you any troubles.
Don't trouble yourself over nouns too much, they only have plural and genitive forms. I mean, OK, there's about 5 (6?) different ways to form the plural and the genitive. But try pluralizing a noun wrong some time. Even to an English speaker, it sounds "wrong". Memorize noun gender compulsively, but you speak Spanish and Portuguese, so you knew that already. (All phallic vegetables are feminine, or at least, all the ones I've ever investigated, and I can think of a lot of phallic vegetables...)
The various forms of adjective and their associated articles (or articles and their associated adjectives, if you prefer) will bite you in the ass if you're not careful. I seem to be the only student in a class with students of 5-7 years of German under their belt who can (quickly) do it in their head (not to brag). Except half the time I can't remember the gender I need, so it's a useless skill. You have or will see a lot of charts for adjective inflections: don't bother memorizing them, instead, spend 10 minutes figuring out the pattern and memorize _that_.
I wish you luck! Remember, native speakers have no idea how to teach their languages :)
The plural stuff has nine ways, but some are just for crazy foreign words. And I actually can't tell if Manner sounds more right than Männern at first glance. I know to memorize the plural and gender stuff at the same time as the word, so I'm gonna make abnormally comprehensive flashcards.
The pronunciation is easy, but ditching an accent is always a Herculean chore. I more commonly forget the v=f thing than ie ei.
I am starting to memorize the systems of gender, but exceptions fuck me over too much.
I should be able to have the equivalent of a few years of german if I really put in some effort over the next month or so. I do love being this good.
Heh... There are no "systems" of gender. There are two exceptions to _that_ rule though: -ung and -heit/keit are feminine.
"der Mann" pluralizes as "die Männer" except for _dative_ plural, which is "den Männern" (all dative plural forms end in "n" if they didnt before). As far as there being 9 forms, I think there are 5 noun groups, but that might make 9 rules, when you count the dative business.
I can type up my German reference book's rules if you're troubled, otherwise, I recommend "Essential German Grammar" by Stern and Bleiler as soon as you can pick it up.
Well, I mean that in general things ending with er and el are masculing, and words ending with ie and um are feminine, and there are a few for neuter too.
I have a german grammar book and dictionary, they keep me alive during the dull school hours.
Don't sweat the German pronunciation thing too much. Watch your "ie" and "ei" (long e and the diphthong in "eye"). Other than that, different dialects of German (as near as I can tell) completely interchange the vowels. And the consonants should not give you any troubles.
Don't trouble yourself over nouns too much, they only have plural and genitive forms. I mean, OK, there's about 5 (6?) different ways to form the plural and the genitive. But try pluralizing a noun wrong some time. Even to an English speaker, it sounds "wrong". Memorize noun gender compulsively, but you speak Spanish and Portuguese, so you knew that already. (All phallic vegetables are feminine, or at least, all the ones I've ever investigated, and I can think of a lot of phallic vegetables...)
The various forms of adjective and their associated articles (or articles and their associated adjectives, if you prefer) will bite you in the ass if you're not careful. I seem to be the only student in a class with students of 5-7 years of German under their belt who can (quickly) do it in their head (not to brag). Except half the time I can't remember the gender I need, so it's a useless skill. You have or will see a lot of charts for adjective inflections: don't bother memorizing them, instead, spend 10 minutes figuring out the pattern and memorize _that_.
I wish you luck! Remember, native speakers have no idea how to teach their languages :)
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The plural stuff has nine ways, but some are just for crazy foreign words. And I actually can't tell if Manner sounds more right than Männern at first glance. I know to memorize the plural and gender stuff at the same time as the word, so I'm gonna make abnormally comprehensive flashcards.
The pronunciation is easy, but ditching an accent is always a Herculean chore. I more commonly forget the v=f thing than ie ei.
I am starting to memorize the systems of gender, but exceptions fuck me over too much.
I should be able to have the equivalent of a few years of german if I really put in some effort over the next month or so. I do love being this good.
Reply
"der Mann" pluralizes as "die Männer" except for _dative_ plural, which is "den Männern" (all dative plural forms end in "n" if they didnt before). As far as there being 9 forms, I think there are 5 noun groups, but that might make 9 rules, when you count the dative business.
I can type up my German reference book's rules if you're troubled, otherwise, I recommend "Essential German Grammar" by Stern and Bleiler as soon as you can pick it up.
Reply
I have a german grammar book and dictionary, they keep me alive during the dull school hours.
Reply
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