German oven racks

I thought all the case endings in German would be the hardest part. As it turns out, they're not that crucial. Because even if you make lots of mistakes with cases, you can still get the main meaning.

Another problem is all the rules for word order. But that's fairly logical, once you get used to it.

The hardest part is the verbs and all their separable and inseparable prefixes. I have a hard time seeing any connection between the base word and the resulting meanings you get after adding a prefix. It seems I will have to just memorize every single verb.

The next hurdle is learning the gender of nouns. This has turned out harder than I expected. There are several guidelines that give you a pretty good idea for many words, but there are many you just have to memorize. I memorize them by making pictures in my mind, and by associating similar words of the same gender.
If fluss, river, is masculine, then you know also that Bach, brook will also be masculine. Same with mountain and hill, Berg and Hügel. Many weather words are masculine. Thunder and lightning (der Donner, der Blitz) are both masculine, as well as rain, hail, snow, fog, wind and sunshine. (der Regen, der Hagel, der Schnee, der Nebel, der Wind and der Sonnenschein.

If Kuh, cow, is feminine, and she is, then you know that milch, milk, is, too. And also Ziege, goat, because she also gives milk. Die Kuh, die Milch, die Ziege.
Other things are feminine because they spread or reproduce or multiply or extend. Butter (die Butter) is feminine because it spreads. Die Fabrik, factory is feminine because it produces a million pencils. Die Bank -- Banks spread (they have branches). Die Flut, the flood, is when the water spreads.
Potatoes multiply. You plant one and in the fall after the leaves die down, you have no idea what is under the surface until you stick in your Shaufel, which is feminine, and you turn up all the Kartoffeln underneath. I hang a string of feminine glocken, bells, on my feminine shovel to celebrate the occasion.

Neuter nouns sometimes group together conveniently, such as house/Haus, window/Fenster, and table/Tisch. Glass and water, Glas und Wasser. The folk/das Volk in the village/das Dorf, plant grass/das Gras on the grave/das Grab.
Things that are unbearably cute, animals/Tieren, Babies/Babys, children/Kinder, and little girls/ Mädchen, are neuter, because their cuteness surpasses any idea of gender.
Basic shapes are neuter -- das Dreieck, das Viereck, and das Achteck.
Basic materials are neuter -- das Kupfer, das Gold, das Metall, das Holtz, das Papier, das Leder, das Garn, das Feuer, das Eis (copper, gold, metal, wood, paper, leather, yarn, fire, ice.)
Basic necessities are neuter -- egg, bread, book, bath, bed -- Ei, Brot, Buch, Bad, Bett. As well as life and light -- das Leben, das Licht. And if you like, auto, money and internet (Auto, Geld, Internet). For me, das Piano or das Klavier.

Parts of the body are all different, but it is not hard to group together eye, ear, and face, das Auge, das Ohr, and das Gesicht. For other neuters, think of sitting with your chin on your knee -- Kinn and Knie are both neuter. Also leg, das Bein.
For feminine it's hand, fist, and shoulder, die Hand, die Faust, and die Schulter. Put your fist on your nose to remember die Nase.
That leaves back, stomach, thumb, finger, head, which are masculine. Picture yourself pinching your belly with your thumb and finger (your Bauch with your Daumen and Finger), while you try to bend your head (der Kopf) to touch your back (der Rücken).
So you can see, if you know the gender of one word, with these pictures in your mind, you can remember the gender of several others.

You can associate masculine words to a man, feminine words to a woman. You have to do this with knife, fork and spoon because they are all different.
So you picture a huge knife (das Messer) on the wall of das Haus, which you already know is neuter.
Dad uses the spoon (der Löffel) to stir his coffee (der Kaffee). Mom holds the fork (die Gabel) because it's a tuning fork and she using it to tune her violin (die Geige).

By the way, did you know that oven racks are very musical?
Hang one on a string, ding the rack, and listen to the sound traveling from the string to your ear.
Amazing! I dare you to try it! Also set a ticking clock on the piano bench (or a wooden table) and put your ear to the table. Good for home-schooling moms to demonstrate how sound travels through a solid.