Help me read these symbols from dictionary (Questions About Your Target Languages) Language Learning Forum

Help me read these symbols from dictionary
Tags: German
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Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages

GermanMd Newbie Turkey Joined 4097 days ago 18 posts - 34 votes Studies: English	Message 1 of 4 06 November 2013 at 3:33pm \| IP Logged
	Hello , Please can anyone explain to me what this symbols means ? I always get them when looking for German words meaning, for example ( from pons.eu) Haus <-es, Häuser> [haus, pl ˈhɔyzɐ] NOUN nt Frau <-, -en> [frau] NOUN f Mäd·chen <-s, -> [ˈmɛ:tçən] NOUN nt Especially those between < > .. many thanks in advance 1 person has voted this message useful
jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6907 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map	Message 2 of 4 06 November 2013 at 3:54pm \| IP Logged
	That's the plural ending, as in Haus - Häuser (cf. house - houses). 2 persons have voted this message useful
ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5226 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French	Message 3 of 4 06 November 2013 at 4:00pm \| IP Logged
	Sure. The hyphen (-) between the chevrons indicates the original word in the singular nominative. In the chevrons, it's giving you, first, the genitive form, and second the plural nominative. So "Haus <-es, Häuser>" means: 1. The singular nominative is Haus (that's the first term). 2. The singular genitive is Hauses (we get that from replacing the - in the second term with the original term, Haus). 3. The plural nominative is Häuser (that's the third term--a hyphen can't be used to abbreviate like in the second term because the root has changed--it's Häus instead of Haus.) Same thing with "Frau <-, -en>." 1. Singular nominative: Frau. 2. Singular genitive: Frau. 3. Plural nominative: Frauen. I'll let you figure out Mäd·chen on your own. The symbols between the square brackets are IPA. They indicate the pronunciation of the word. 2 persons have voted this message useful
GermanMd Newbie Turkey Joined 4097 days ago 18 posts - 34 votes Studies: English	Message 4 of 4 06 November 2013 at 4:08pm \| IP Logged
	THANK YOU VERY MUCH :) .. this is easy now :) 1 person has voted this message useful

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