Study tips

Vocabulary, Article and Gender
It helps to memorize the article of the noun whenever you repeat vocabulary. It is of little use knowing the German equivalent of - say - 'table' when you do not know the noun's gender.
Our suggestion: Pretend that the article is a fixed part of the word, as if 'table' didn't mean 'Tisch', but 'der Tisch' or even 'dertisch'...

The Principle of 80/20
Studies show that 80% of a language learner's mistakes are caused by 20% structures and rules which are not quite clear.
Identify mistakes which occur regularly. Use your study materials to do so.
Draw a colorful chart on the topic with basic rules and some example sentences and place it over your desk or above the kitchen sink or any other place that you pass regularly.
Your subconscious will memorize the rule almost without you noticing.

Talk to yourself!
Do you fell self conscious when a chance to speak German presents itself? It might help to walk around your room talking to yourself - in German!
This way you will get rid of your inhibitions and get used to German pronunciation.

Give yourself a break!
Have you repeated a vocabulary list over and over again and still can't remember the words in it? You need to give yourself a break!
It is much more effective to repeat vocabulary regularly and repeatedly for a short period of time, than devoting a whole afternoon to one single list.

Don't avoid the German language!
Is there a cultural center in your hometown which organizes German language readings, films or provides a small German language library? Or even a cinema which shows subtitled German films?
Find out and use the opportunity to get frequent exposure to the German language.

Reward yourself!
Learning German ought to be fun. It helps to decide in advance on a topic (a chapter in your study book, a certain amount of vocabulary or some pages in a German language novel) and reward yourself after finishing it.
That's a good tip for your motivation!

Organise your study place!
Studying works best when you feel good about your study place. Select a certain part of your apartment, where you like to be. Also, organise your study materials in a way that ensures they are concise and clear. Different colors are often helpful!

Neuters nouns

Neuters:
Diminutives (signaled by the sufix -chen or -lein) generic animal names that includes both sexes, cities, countries (but: die Schweiz, die Türkei, die Tschechoslowakei, die USA (plural), metals (but: der Stahl), letters of the alphabet, colours, languages, an abstract idea derived from an adjective. Nouns ending in -um -tum (but: der Reichtum, der Irrtum), nouns ending -en that are derived from a verb, (other nouns ending in -en tend to be masculine.).

Examples in German:
Europe - Europa
Helgoland - Helgoland
the beautiful Saxonia - das schِne Sachsen
our dear Germany - unser liebes Deutschland
sleeping - das Schlafen
the meal - das Essen
buying - das Einkaufen
the girl - das Mädchen

Femine nouns

Femine:
Female persons, female animals, names of fruits (but: der Apfel, das Ananas), names of flowers and trees, names of a rivers (but: der Rhein, der Main, der Neckar, der Inn) numbers used as a nouns.Nouns ending in -ei -ie -in -ion -ik -tät -heit -keit -schaft -ung, -e when the word has two syllables (except das Auge, das Ende, der Käse, der Name, der Glaube, and male persons or animals), -t or -e when the noun is derived from a strong verb stem.

Examples in German:
the Mrs. - die Frau
the sister - die Schwester
the lady doctor - die Ärztin
the candidate - die Kandidatin
the flower - die Blume
the road - die Straße
the map - die Karte
the unity - die Eins
the thirteen - die Dreizehn
the million - die Million
sister - die Schwester
lady - die Dame
aunt - die Tante
daughter - die Tochter
mother - die Mutter
teacher(female) - die Lehrerin
salesclerk(female) - die Verkäuferin

Masculine nouns

Masculine:
Male persons, animals days of the week, months and seasons, alcoholic beverage (but: das Bier!), geographical directions and most phenomena connected to the weather.Nouns ending in -ig -ing -ast -ling -ich -or -us -m (usually), -er when derived from a verb, nouns derived from the stem of a strong (irregular) verb and not end in -t or -e.

Examples in German:

the man - der Mann
the father - der Vater
the American - der Amerikaner
the teacher - der Lehrer
the boss - der Chef
the psychologist - der Psychologe
Monday - der Montag
April - der April
the winter - der Winter
the north - der Norden
the butterfly - der Schmetterling
the carpet - der Teppich
the Tutor - der Tutor
communism - der Kommunismus
brother - der Bruder
uncle - der Onkel
son - der Sohn
teacher(male) - der Lehrer
salesclerk(male) - der Verkنufer

Noun - Deutsch

All German nouns belong to one of three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example: Peter [Peter], Koffer [suitcase], Firma [company], Buch [book] are also nouns. Nouns in German are easy to identify because they are all capitalized.

Examples in German:

Our son is driving to the city by car.
Unser Sohn fنhrt mit dem Auto in die Stadt.

Sohn (son), Auto (car), Stadt (city) are nouns.

NOUNS TYPES:

Proper nouns are names of specific people, things, locations, or ideas:

Karl =Karl
the United Nations = die Vereinten Nationen
Communism = Kommunismus

Common nouns are names of general 'categories' of people, objects, places, or concepts:

boy = Junge
organisation = Organisation

Countable nouns are names of anything that can be counted:

one suitcase = ein Koffer
three books = drei Bücher
many thanks = vielen Dank

Uncountable nouns name what cannot be counted:

wine = Wein
air = Luft

The gender is most easily identified by the noun's definite article in the nominative case: der (masculine), die (feminine and plural), and das (neuter).

Masculine
the man - der Mann
the table - der Tisch
the rock - der Stein

Femenine
the woman - die Frau
the sun - die Sonne
the question - die Frage

Neuter
the child - das Kind
the fire - das Feuer
the book - das Buch

Source : anonymous