Definite and Indefinite Articles in German
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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 | |||||
| masc | fem | neut | plural | ||
| Nom case | der | die | das | die | the |
| Accus case | den | die | das | die | the |
| Dative case | dem | der | dem | den | to the |
| Genitive
case |
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 | ||||
| masc | 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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