Friday, March 18, 2005, 23:39 GMT
Damian,
Although I've forgotten all my German grammar, I recall being quite at ease with it (including der, die, das + nominative, accusative, genitive, dative) because I found myself just unawaredly aping what Germans were saying. The toughest part comes with discovery and first steps (usually made in your home-country school-system, not in Germany). Once you're plunged in a German-speaking bath, all problems seem to vanish as fast as they appeared.
Maybe <das Buch> is neutral because it was so in Old German. Then you'd ask : "why was it so in OG ?". I don't know. May be all that can be traced back to Indo-European ? "Why was it so in IE ?". Well, that's a good question that needs thinking out...
Although I've forgotten all my German grammar, I recall being quite at ease with it (including der, die, das + nominative, accusative, genitive, dative) because I found myself just unawaredly aping what Germans were saying. The toughest part comes with discovery and first steps (usually made in your home-country school-system, not in Germany). Once you're plunged in a German-speaking bath, all problems seem to vanish as fast as they appeared.
Maybe <das Buch> is neutral because it was so in Old German. Then you'd ask : "why was it so in OG ?". I don't know. May be all that can be traced back to Indo-European ? "Why was it so in IE ?". Well, that's a good question that needs thinking out...