If you are wondering how to say the in German, then this unit is for you. In German, words (nouns to be exact) have genders, even though they do not originate from the characteristics of the object. Let’s learn more about German definite articles in the nominative and accusative cases.
Articles are a type of determiner, or word or words that precede a noun or noun phrase and serve as a reference point. There are several kinds of determiners, including articles, demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers.
The definite article is used to introduce or specify a noun. A noun can be a person, place, thing or object. The definite article (in English: ‘the’) is used to refer to specific things, as opposed to referring to things as a whole. We are basically learning to say the in German vs a. Make sure you have a good grasp of the 4 German Cases before you continue with this unit.
“The apple is red”, for example, refers to one specific apple, which happens to be red, but not all apples.
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | All Genders | ||
| Nominative | der (the) | die (the) | das (the) | die (the) | |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die | |
| Dative | dem | der | dem | den | |
| Genitive | des | der | des | der | |
When using definite articles in German, we need to keep in mind that all nouns have assigned genders. Masculine, feminine and neuter. All plural nouns take the article “die” (“den” in the dative), regardless of their gender in the singular. Plurals are not feminine; their articles simply look like the feminine ones in the nominative and accusative. In addition, these change form depending on case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive). For an additional German Cases chart, check out an article from our blog!
Examples:
Der Junge ist groß. The boy is tall.
“Junge” is a singular, masculine noun in the nominative.
Das Auto ist rot. The car is red.
“Auto” is a singular, neuter noun in the nominative.
Die Kinder spielen. The children play.
“Kinder” is a plural noun in the nominative. (“Kind” in the singular is neuter)
Articles are sometimes replaced by other determiners, such as the demonstratives “this” and “that” (plural: “these” and “those”). These demonstratives specifically refer to nouns, so they would not take the place of indefinite articles. There are several words that follow the same declension as the definite articles ‘der’, ‘die’, ‘das’ :
dies– = this
jen– = that
jed– = each/every (NOTE: the plural of ‘jed-‘ is ‘alle’ (all), and follows plural declension)
manch– = many/some
solch– = such a
welch– = which
Examples:
Diese Wohnung ist sehr schön. This apartment is very beautiful.
“Wohnung” is a singular, feminine noun in the nominative.
Manche Kinder können nicht schwimmen. Some children cannot swim.
“Kinder” is a plural noun in the nominative.