German grammar with the natural gender of what is described. However, since the diminutive forms ending in "-chen" or "-lein" are grammatically neuter, there exist several notable counterexamples such as "das Mädchen" ("girl") and "das Fräulein" ("miss"). Thus these are not illogical, whereas "das Weib" (old, regional or anthropological: woman; a cognate of the English "wife") is really an exception. Furthermore, in German, the gender of nouns without natural gender is not predictable. For example, the three common pieces of cutlery all have different genders: "das Messer" ("knife") is neuter, "die Gabel" ("fork") is feminine, and "der Löffel" ("spoon") is masculine. Students
David Messer David Messer David Messer is an Australian cartoonist. He is best known for his comic book adaptations of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and "The Tempest", both published in Australia by Random House in late 2005. Each book features the full text, complete with footnotes, and close to 1,000 illustrated panels per book. He has produced a full-colour version of "Romeo and Juliet". Other books he has illustrated include Malcolm Knox's humorous history of Australia, "Australia in 1788 Words or Less", Paul Clitheroe's "Make Your Fortune by 40" and "Why Should I?" (a guide to the law for children). Messer has also contributed