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In former times, the 2nd person plural ("Ihr" ; like the French « vous ») or the 3rd person singular ("Er" He, "Sie" She) and their corresponding possessive adjectives and verb forms were used. The 3rd person plural as polite form of address as it is used today became standard during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Words for objects without obvious masculine or feminine characteristics like 'bridge' or 'rock' can be masculine or feminine. German nouns are declined (change form) depending on their grammatical case (their function in a sentence) and whether they are singular or plural. German has four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.
Mann is a German, Dutch, Jewish (Ashkenazic), English, Irish or Scottish surname, of Germanic origin. It means 'man', 'person', 'husband'. In the runic alphabet, the meaning 'man', 'human', is represented by the single character ᛗ. Mann (or Maan) is also an Indian surname found among the Jats in Punjab. [1] [2] [3]
All German nouns are included in one of three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine or neuter.While the gender often does not directly influence the plural forms of nouns, [1] [2] there are exceptions, particularly when it comes to people and professions (e.g. Ärzte/Ärztinnen).
The grammar of the German language is quite similar to that of the other Germanic languages.Although some features of German grammar, such as the formation of some of the verb forms, resemble those of English, German grammar differs from that of English in that it has, among other things, cases and gender in nouns and a strict verb-second word order in main clauses.
The man coming round the corner is a thief. is best translated to a relative clause, e.g. Der Mann, der gerade um die Ecke kommt, ist ein Dieb. However, it might be translated literally which would result in what some call a very German sentence, e.g. Der gerade um die Ecke kommende Mann ist ein Dieb.
In German, the first-person and third-person plural and second-person plural-polite forms are identical for all verbs in every tense. Sie in the second person is used to address one or more people of high status. As a summary of German tenses, moods and aspects:
German articles and pronouns in the genitive and dative cases directly indicate the actions of owning and giving without needing additional words (indeed, this is their function), which can make German sentences appear confusing to English-speaking learners.