der, die, das

We are really making an effort to get back into German. And by “we” I do mean both myself and Aleksander! He’s reminding me once again of it being German time in the afternoon. We’re reading more German books at naptime. And we’re watching German shows or talking about his musical shows in German – he still likes to go back to “Baby Mozart” and “Classical Baby”, neither of which has much spoken text. We’re also playing Candy Land in German (but I have a few words and phrases I still need to look up!)

I’ve noticed a few things about Aleksander’s language. I’ve been wondering about the use gender and when he will use the appropriate article (der, die, das) with the nouns. So I’ve been paying a little bit of attention to that and emphasizing the articles when we talk about objects. The funny thing is that he has been generalizing with just one … but in the wrong case! He’s calling everything “den” (masculine accusative). I wonder when he’ll sort this all out? I do hope he gets a feel for it. I still have trouble, since I’ve had to memorize all the noun genders as I’ve learned new words – and I often forget. It’s one of the most frustrating things for me in German.

The other thing I’ve noticed is a potential effect of German on his English! It has to do with word order and his use of “also”. In English, I might say, “He also wears a hat.” You put the “also” before the verb. But in German, you can’t do this – the verb has to be in the second position. And so I’ve noticed Aleksander saying, “He wears also a hat.” I can’t say for sure that this is German interference, but it sure sounds like it!

And that’s all I have time for today. I am trying to make the effort not only to speak more German with Aleksander but to write about it all here, too!

About these ads