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I like today's Word of the Day:  
der Freundeskreis

circle of friends

Mein Sohn hat einen sehr großen Freundeskreis.

My son has a large circle of friends.

Here's part of their blurb about that:  Learn a new word every day!

Sometimes we're flooded with so much information that we don't have time to absorb it all.
Word of the Day gives you 24 hours to meditate on a single word.
Read it, hear it, see a sample sentence, and grow your vocabulary - one word at a time.

Also, here's a sample of a blog article you might link to (if the topic interests you, they provide the link)

JabbaLab language blog

Thu, May 10th 2012

German Masculine Nouns Posted in: German Grammar German Masculine Nouns Should I use der, die or das? This is one of the first questions that you will ask when learning German. The first thing you need to understand is that it is not related to the perceived gender of the noun it is attached to. Here are a couple of quick examples: der Rock – the skirt die Hose – the trousers As you can see, traditionally a skirt is worn by women so your first instinct would be that it is a female item and therefore would use die. Also, trousers are associated more with men and therefore you would normally perceive the gender as male and use the der article. As you can see from the above two examples these are the opposite to what you would expect. Therefore it is important to get the idea out of your mind straight away that the articles der, die or das have anything to do with the noun itself, rather it is to do with the word. As a general rule, you should learn the correct der, die or das article by heart with each noun as you learn them. That means when learning a word, learn the article too and test yourself on the noun including the article. If you get the article wrong then re-learn it until you get it right. However there are a few general rules you can learn to help you in those situations where you don’t know whether to use der, die or das. The good news is: There are guidelines which will make it easier to choose between them. In this post we will be looking at the guidlines for der words Guidlines for Masculine Nouns 1. People/Animals All nouns which refer to a male person or animal are der words. Here is a list of the most common ones: German English der Mann man der Vater father der Junge boy der Opa grandad der Onkel uncle der Stier bull der Eber boar der Hengst stallion 2. Male Occupations Job titles which refer to a male person are der words. Here are some examples: German English der Lehrer teacher der Bäcker baker der Fotograf photographer der Polizist policeman der Rechtsanwalt lawyer der Zahnarzt dentist der Soldat soldier der Priester priest 3. Days, Months, Seasons and Points of the Compass There are some groups of words that are also mostly der words such as days, months, seasons, points of the compass. Here are some examples: German English der Sommer summer der Frühling spring der Montag Monday der Samstag Saturday der Juni June der Oktober October der Westen west der Süden south There are however few exceptions. For example: das Jahr – year, die Woche – week etc 4. Chemical Elements, Minerals and Stones There are some groups of words that are also mostly der words such as chemical elements, minerals and stones. Here are some examples: German English der Sauerstoff oxygen der Kohlenstoff carbonate der Wasserstoff hydrogen der Diamant diamond der Smaragd emerald der Rubin ruby der Rosenquarz rosy quartz der Bernstein amber There are however few exceptions. For example: das Kalzium – Calcium, die Kohle – coal etc. 5. Certain Endings Nouns that end in the following are always der nouns: ismus ner ich ling ig Here are some examples: German English der Egoismus egoism der Rentner pensioner der Gärtner gardener der Stich sting der Wellensittich budgerigar der Feigling coward der Essig vinegar der Pfennig penny The nouns that end in the following are also usually der nouns: er ist Here are some examples: German English der Keller cellar der Teller plate der Bauer farmer der Fernseher TV der Polizist policeman der Pianist pianist der Atheist atheist der Optimist optimist