edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
- 1Try
- 2Learn
- 3Practise
- 4Check
The rule, in three lines
German has three genders and the article tells you which: der for masculine, die for feminine, das for neuter. They do not follow meaning, so you learn the word with its article attached. What does help is the ending: -ung, -heit, -keit and -schaft are always die; -chen and -lein are always das.
The usual slip. Learning a noun without its article. German gender does not follow meaning: the sun is die Sonne, the moon is der Mond. And the word for «girl», das Mädchen, is neuter, because the ending -chen decides, not the person it names.
Why it catches you out. English has no grammatical gender at all, so an English speaker does not pick the wrong article — they learn the noun with no article and then have nothing to fall back on. Learn die Sonne in one piece, the way you would learn a phone number: the article is part of the word.