German Articles

If you don’t know it yet articles in German change depending on the case used in the sentences. If you’re not familiar with that then please check the German Cases page before proceeding to this page.


German Definite Articles

The definite articles in German refer to specific persons, objects, ideas…etc. and they are : der, die, das, die (plural) they all mean the expression “the” in English, der is used for masculine nouns, die is used for feminine nouns, das is used for neuter nouns, and finally die used also for plural nouns.

German Definite Article

Masculine

der Mann (the man)

Feminine

die Frau (the woman)

Neuter

das Brot (the bread)

Plural

die Männer (the men), die Frauen (the women), die Brote (the breads)

Well, that’s not all; the form we went through above is only for the nominative case. Now let’s have a look at all the rest:

German Definite Articles

masculine

feminine

neuter

plural

 

Nominative case

der

die

das

die

the

Accusative case

den

die

das

die

the

Dative case

dem

der

dem

den

to the

Genitive cases

des

der

des

der

of the

Here are some examples:

Nominative: der Mann ist hier (the man is here)

Accusative: Ich grüße den Mann (I greet the man)

Dative: Ich gebe dem Mann ein Buch (I give the book to the man)

Genitive: Ich habe das Buch des Mannes (I have the book of the man)

You may have noticed how the definite article changes each time the case changes. So try to memorize the table above by heart, I’m sure it’s not that hard.


German Indefinite Articles

The indefinite articles in German refer to unspecified persons, objects, ideas…etc. and they are: ein, eine, ein, they all mean the indefinite article “a, an” in English, ein is used for masculine nouns, eine is used for feminine nouns, ein is used for neuter nouns, and there is no plural for the indefinite article.

German Indefinite Article

Masculine

ein Mann (a man)

Feminine

eine Frau (the woman)

Neuter

ein Brot (a bread)

Again, that’s not all; the form we went through above is only for the nominative case. Now let’s have a look at all the rest:

German Indefinite Articles

masculine

feminine

neuter

 

Nominative case

ein

eine

ein

a, an

Accusative case

einen

eine

ein

a, an

Dative case

einem

einer

einem

to a, to an

Genitive cases

eines

einer

eines

of a, of an

Here are some examples:

Nominative: ein Mann ist hier (a man is here)

Accusative: Ich grüße einen Mann (I greet a man)

Dative: Ich gebe einem Mann ein Buch (I give the book to a man)

Genitive: Ich habe das Buch eines Mannes (I have the book of a man)

So the same thing happens to the indefinite article, it changes each time the case changes. So try to memorize the table above by heart as well. Good luck!

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