Articles

So most of the languages one can learn today have more than a few definite or indefinite articles.  For example in German you have der, die, das, den, dem, des, ein, einer... and the list goes on, or in Spanish: El, la, lo, los...etc  There are a few languages (especially the character based languages ie: Chinese and Japanese) that don't have them, but if you happen to be learning a language where these articles do exist be sure to learn them from the get go!  I know for a fact that when I started learning German I neglected to learn the articles along with my vocabulary even though my instructor told us we should (and even sometimes quizzed us on them as part of the vocab), and it really put me in a bad spot later on in the language learning process.  I admit that I struggle with grammar even these days being the equivalent of a fourth year college German student, and having neglected to learn the articles, or at least a way to be able to guess relatively accurately what they would be based on the word has made my continuous attempts to improve my grammar that much more difficult.  Instead of being able to focus solely on the grammar structure I am trying to learn/practice, I have to spend time trying to guess the right article, or looking it up which detracts from the process of creating those connections in the brain responsible for being able to do said grammar.

So today's moral of the story is: Learn your articles! lest you be thrown into the pit of stressed annoyance! >_>