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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Fawkes@lemmy.zip to c/LanguageLearning@lemmy.zip

As an English speaker learning German, I face endless confusion and frustration with many of the short question words that are "False Friends"

Such as:

Wer (where) - Actually means who.

Wo (Who) - Actually means where.

Wie (We) - Actually means how.

Was (was) - Actually means what.

Also (also) - Actually means so.

Will (will) - Actually means to want.

And the completely arbitrary gender assignments!

For example.

The year is: Das Jahr, a neuter word.

The month is: Der Monat, a masculine word.

And the week is: Die Woche, a feminine word.

And then there's directly counter-intuitive examples of words that seem like they Should be a gender other than what they are, such as:

The little girl - Das Mädchen (Neuter, not feminine)

Breasts - Der Busen (Masculine! Boobs is masculine!)

Person - Die Person (Feminine! Why isn't this word neuter?!"

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[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 4 points 2 weeks ago

I know some Dutch. God verdomme just beats any other swear word ever. So satisfying

[-] Pipster 2 points 2 weeks ago

My favourites (especially as a microbiologist) are the swearing ilnesses. Krijgt tyfus. Kanker op. Teringlijer etc ect.

this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
28 points (100.0% liked)

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