German Articles

If you're trying to learn German Articles you will find some useful resources including a course about Definite and Indefinite Articles... to help you with your German grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn German. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!

German Articles

Articles are words often used before nouns. They determine their grammatical case, gender and singular/plural.

In German nouns are often accompanied by an article. These can either be definite or indefinite, the number and the gender.

 

In German you have three different genders:

-          Masculine (m)

-          Feminine (f)

-          Neuter (n)

 

and two numbers:

-          Singular

-          Plural

 

as well as four cases:

-          Nominative (*I am referring to this one in this lesson.)

-          Genitive

-          Dative

-          Akkusative

 

For more details on the cases, see lesson “cases”.

The matter of grammatical gender in German is quite different from other languages.
The definition of the gender of nouns does not entirely depend on its sex.


For example:

 

the woman = die Frau (f)
but
the girl = das Mädchen (n)

 

Both are of feminine gender, but still the articles are different.

In German we have 3 different words for “ocean” or “sea” and each of them has its own gender: der Ozean (m), das Meer (f), die See (n).

 

It is not always the best choice to simply transfer the gender from one language into another. It can often go wrong, as this example shows:

 

Spanish: el sol (m) and la luna (f)
German: die Sonne (f)
and der Mond (m)


The genders are the opposite way around! The sun is masculine in Spanish, whereas it’s female in German and the Spanish moon is female, whereas the German one is masculine. In English they are all referred to with “the”. The genders… Enough to drive you crazy!

 

You have no choice as to memorise the German nouns directly with their article and to learn them by heart.

Note that all nouns in German are written with a capital letter. This rule also includes proper names, cities, countries, rivers, mountains, animals, etc…

 

Article

Feminine

Masculine

Neuter

Definite article

die Frau
(the woman)

der Mann
(the man)

das Kind
(the child)

Plural

die Frauen
(the women)

die Männer
(the men)

die Kinder
(the children)

Indefinite article

eine Frau

ein Mann

ein Kind

Plural

Frauen

Männer

Kinder

 

The definite article in plural is always “die”, no matter the gender.
(I am referring to the case “Nominative” here. See more on this subject in lessons “Cases”.)

The indefinite article in singular for the masculine and neuter gender is always “ein”.
There is no plural existing for the indefinite articles.

Here are some more examples:


Article

Feminine

Masculine

Neutral

Definite article

die Katze
(the cat)

der Hund
(the dog)

das Tier
(the animal)

Plural

die Katzen
(the cats)

die Hunde
(the dogs)

die Tiere
(the animals)

Indefinite article

eine Katze

ein Hund

ein Tier

Plural

Katzen

Hunde

Tiere

Learning the German Articles displayed below is vital to the language. German articles are words that combine with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Generally articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun. Examples are "the, a, and an". Here are some examples:

English ArticlesGerman Articles
articlesArtikel
theder, die, das
aeiner, eine, ein
oneeins
someeinige
fewwenige
the bookdas Buch
the booksdie Bücher
a bookein Buch
one bookein Buch
some bookseinige Bücher
few booksein paar Bücher

Notice the structure of the Articles in German.

List of Articles in German

Below is a list of vocabulary where you can use the Definite and Indefinite Articles in German. Try to practice but also memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your German vocabulary.

English VocabularyGerman Vocabulary
FoodLebensmittel
almondsMandeln
breadBrot
breakfastFrühstück
butterButter
candySüßigkeiten
cheeseKäse
chickenHuhn
cuminKreuzkümmel
dessertDessert
dinnerAbendessen
fishFisch
fruitObst
ice creamEis, Eiskrem
lambLamm
lemonZitrone
lunchMittagessen
mealMahlzeit
meatFleisch
ovenBackofen
pepperPfeffer
plantsPflanzen
porkSchweinefleisch
saladSalat
saltSalz
sandwichSandwich, Butterbrot
sausageWurst
soupSuppe
sugarZucker
supperAbendessen
turkeyPute
appleApfel
bananaBanane
orangesOrangen
peachesPfirsiche
peanutErdnuss
pearsBirnen
pineappleAnanas
grapesTrauben
strawberriesErdbeeren
vegetablesGemüse
carrotKarotte
cornMais
cucumberGurke
garlicKnoblauch
lettuceBlattsalat
olivesOliven
onionsZwiebeln
peppersPaprika
potatoesKartoffeln
pumpkinKürbis
beansBohnen
tomatoesTomaten

Definite and Indefinite Articles have a very important role in German. Once you're done with German Articles, you might want to check the rest of our German lessons here: Learn German. Don't forget to bookmark this page.

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