Studying Der, Die, Das

I saw a glimpse of confusion in the German Language during our third day in class. We were introduced to the infamous "Der, Die, Das" which all means "The" in English. They symbolizes masculine, feminine or neuter respectively. Actually, the real tricky part is that each item word in German Language have their own gender. How to know if it male or female? That's the point, you don't. We have to memorize everything. Whew!

Thanks to my teacher and new online acquittance -- I was able to get some good tips on how to handle this:

1. Memorize by group.

-- Use a table to help you achieve this. It should like this:

Clothing	DER	DIE	DAS
	Rock	Jacke	Kleid
	(skirt)	(jacket)	(dress)
	Mantel	Bluse	T-shirt
	(polo)	(blouse)
	Pullover	Hose
	(sweatshirt)	(pants)

2. Memorize little but little.

-- Avoid mixing other unrelated stuffs inside the group. Sure, you wanted to know everything: table, kitchen items, and so on. But this will only confuse and overwhelm you. Just focus on what words you needed to learn, the rest will follow.

3. Use sticky notes.

-- Place sticky notes on items you see everyday at your home with their german word equivalent. Remembering by practicing!

Crossing my fingers now ... Good Luck!!!