4 ms·
That's because of a systematic rule that all words ending in the "chen" morpheme are neuter.
by umanwizard 6y ago
That's because of a systematic rule that all words ending in the "chen" morpheme are neuter.
- _Microft 6y agoTo expand on that: -chen is usually indicating a diminutive form of another word. Some examples (also observe how that affects the vowel in the first syllable): die Wurst, das Würstchen (the sausage, the small sausage) der Mann, das Männchen (the man, the little man) der Becher, das Becherchen (the cup, the small cup; this is an example in which the first vowel is phonetically close enough to the following "e" in "-chen" that no vowel change occurs (we do not even have umlauts for "i" or "e" in german)).
- mattkrause 6y agoSure, there's a certain logic to it. I just think it's an unimpeachable example of the disconnect between biological and grammatical gender.