{"id":11471,"date":"2020-02-13T12:50:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T12:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11471"},"modified":"2020-03-11T08:44:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T08:44:28","slug":"german-articles-all-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-articles-all-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"German Articles: All You Need To Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

German\u00a0Artikel\u00a0<\/em>(articles) seem quite confusing. The infamous\u00a0der\/die\/das<\/em> scheme spooks many students – but fear not, there is some logic to it all. Let’s have a look at this today!<\/p>\n

First, an overview<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Der\/die\/das! (Image by author)<\/p><\/div>\n

Want to go deeper? Check out our free eBook on German basics here!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Artikel\u00a0<\/em>belong to their\u00a0corresponding\u00a0Nomen\u00a0<\/em>(noun). They’re helpful to identify what\u00a0Nomen\u00a0<\/em>is being referred to, but also that a definitive number is referred to. English simply gives you this information with “the”:<\/p>\n

The men work hard. (Compare this with “men work hard” – the article refers to a specific group of men).<\/p>\n

Could German go with simply one\u00a0Artikel<\/em>, too? Sure. In fact, it is a handy tip for people that simply need to get a quick understanding of spoken German to omit this whole hassle of getting the\u00a0Artikel\u00a0<\/em>right and just go with “de” as a substitute for any\u00a0Artikel<\/em>. Try it, you’ll see that from context, you will still be able to understand the sentence. Here’s an example:<\/p>\n

Die Frauen laufen den Marathon mit der Armbanduhr.\u00a0<\/em>(The women run the marathon with the wristwatch.)<\/p>\n

De Frauen laufen de Marathon mit de Armbanduhr<\/em><\/p>\n

Definite Case<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But there is a reason for these different\u00a0Artikel<\/em>.\u00a0Nomen\u00a0<\/em>in German have different Geschlechter <\/em>(genders): maskulin, feminin, neutrum <\/em>(masculine, feminine, neuter). These three\u00a0Geschlechter <\/em>take different forms for each\u00a0of the four F\u00e4lle <\/em>(cases): Nominativ, Genitiv, Dativ, Akkusativ <\/em>(nominative, genitive, dative, accusative). All of these can of course also be singular\u00a0<\/em>(singular) or\u00a0plural\u00a0<\/em>(plural). Let’s put that in a table!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Singular<\/td>\nNominativ\u00a0<\/strong>(nominative):<\/p>\n

der<\/strong> Mann\u00a0(the man)<\/p>\n

die<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(the woman)<\/p>\n

das<\/strong> Kind\u00a0(the child)<\/td>\n

Genitiv\u00a0<\/strong>(genitive):<\/p>\n

des<\/strong> Mannes<\/strong>\u00a0(of the man)<\/p>\n

der<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(of the woman)<\/p>\n

des<\/strong> Kindes<\/strong>\u00a0(of the child)<\/td>\n

Dativ<\/strong> (dative):<\/p>\n

dem<\/strong> Mann\u00a0(to the man)<\/p>\n

der<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(to the woman)<\/p>\n

dem<\/strong> Kind\u00a0(to the child)<\/td>\n

Akkusativ<\/strong> (accusative):<\/p>\n

den<\/strong> Mann\u00a0(the man)<\/p>\n

die<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(the woman)<\/p>\n

das<\/strong> Kind\u00a0(the child)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Plural<\/td>\ndie<\/strong> M\u00e4nner\u00a0(the men)<\/p>\n

die<\/strong> Frauen\u00a0(the women)<\/p>\n

die<\/strong> Kinder\u00a0(the children)<\/td>\n

der<\/strong> M\u00e4nner\u00a0(of the men)<\/p>\n

der<\/strong> Frauen\u00a0(of the women)<\/p>\n

der<\/strong> Kinder\u00a0(of the children)<\/td>\n

den<\/strong> M\u00e4nnern<\/strong>\u00a0(to the men)<\/p>\n

den<\/strong> Frauen\u00a0(to the women)<\/p>\n

den<\/strong> Kindern<\/strong>\u00a0(to the children)<\/td>\n

die<\/strong> M\u00e4nner\u00a0(the men)<\/p>\n

die<\/strong> Frauen\u00a0(the women)<\/p>\n

die<\/strong> Kinder\u00a0(the child)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As you can see in the plural: It’s the same for each\u00a0Geschlecht<\/em>! Now that makes things a lot easier.<\/p>\n

Only in the Dativ<\/em>,\u00a0the maskulin <\/em>and neutrum <\/em>forms gain an -n <\/em>in the plural at the end of the Nomen <\/em>(den<\/strong> M\u00e4nnern<\/strong>; den<\/strong> Kindern<\/strong><\/em>).<\/p>\n

In the singular, the\u00a0Genitiv\u00a0<\/em>is the only one that adds –<\/strong>(e)s<\/strong><\/em>1<\/a><\/sup>why is the (e) in parentheses? Even though most nouns ending with -e are feminine, masculine or neuter nouns ending with -e don’t add an additional -e in the Genitiv<\/em>. For example: der Anfang des<\/strong> Endes <\/strong><\/em>(the beginning of the end).<\/span> at the end of the\u00a0maskulin\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0neutrum<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wanna know more about the\u00a0F\u00e4lle<\/em>? Click here to read that post!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Indefinite Case<\/strong><\/h3>\n

These are the definite articles, by the way. What about the indefinite case, so where it is not\u00a0der Mann\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0die Frau\u00a0<\/em>but\u00a0ein Mann\u00a0<\/em>(a man) or\u00a0eine Frau\u00a0<\/em>(a woman)? Another table:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Singular<\/td>\nNominativ\u00a0<\/strong>(nominative):<\/p>\n

ein<\/strong> Mann\u00a0(a man)<\/p>\n

eine<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(a woman)<\/p>\n

ein<\/strong> Kind\u00a0(a child)<\/td>\n

Genitiv\u00a0<\/strong>(genitive):<\/p>\n

eines<\/strong> Mannes\u00a0(of a man)<\/p>\n

einer<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(of a woman)<\/p>\n

eines<\/strong> Kindes\u00a0(of a child)<\/td>\n

Dativ<\/strong> (dative):<\/p>\n

einem<\/strong> Mann\u00a0(to a man)<\/p>\n

einer<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(to a woman)<\/p>\n

einem<\/strong> Kind\u00a0(to a child)<\/td>\n

Akkusativ<\/strong> (accusative):<\/p>\n

einen<\/strong> Mann\u00a0(a man)<\/p>\n

eine<\/strong> Frau\u00a0(a woman)<\/p>\n

ein<\/strong> Kind\u00a0(a child)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

No plural, of course (since in the indefinite case, the\u00a0Artikel\u00a0<\/em>falls away, just like in English: ein Kind, Kinder <\/em>(a child, children)).<\/p>\n

As you can see, the endings for all\u00a0F\u00e4lle\u00a0<\/em>are identical to the definite case. In the negative indefinite case, you simply add a\u00a0k-\u00a0<\/em>before\u00a0ein:<\/em><\/p>\n

ein Mann\u00a0<\/em>(a man) –\u00a0kein Mann\u00a0<\/em>(no man)<\/p>\n

einer Frau\u00a0<\/em>(of\/to a woman) – keiner Frau\u00a0<\/em>(of\/to no woman)<\/p>\n

For the plural negative indefinite case (keine M\u00e4nner\u00a0<\/em>– no men), click here for an earlier post<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now you can see where “de” as a substitute for all\u00a0Artikel\u00a0<\/em>won’t work: The prepositions “to” and “of” are often included in the\u00a0Artikel\u00a0<\/em>of a\u00a0Nomen:<\/em><\/p>\n

Die Handtasche der Frau\u00a0<\/em>(the handbag of the woman)<\/p>\n

De Handtasche de Frau\u00a0<\/em>(doesn’t work! Of course, you can simplify it to\u00a0Die Handtasche\u00a0von\u00a0<\/strong>de Frau<\/em>. The problems occur more where the\u00a0Fall\u00a0<\/em>dictates the meaning of a\u00a0Pr\u00e4position<\/em>. More on this in the next post!)<\/p>\n

How can you figure out the Artikel<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Image by Agustin Fernandez at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Before we answer this question, just know that the Duden<\/a> wrote an article about the\u00a0Artikel<\/em>, and shows that 46% of\u00a0Nomen\u00a0<\/em>are feminine, 34% are masculine and 20% are neutral. Some can have multiple\u00a0Artikel<\/em>, but those are very few cases, which I discussed in another post.<\/a><\/p>\n

This question has two answers.<\/p>\n

Written Text<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Are we talking about a written text? With the above tables, you can deduce the\u00a0Geschlecht <\/em>of a\u00a0Nomen<\/em>. Here an example from my\u00a0Zeit f\u00fcr eine Geschichte\u00a0<\/em>story<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Es ist sieben Uhr drei\u00dfig. Zeit um auf zu stehen! Das Bett <\/strong>ist sch\u00f6n warm. Und mit den eisigen Temperaturen drau\u00dfen f\u00fchlt es sich noch w\u00e4rmer an. Aber Max muss raus \u2013 heute hat er einen wichtigen Termin<\/strong>. Sein Handy vibriert und klingelt\u00a0auf dem B\u00fcro am anderen Ende des Zimmers. Dort legt er es immer hin, damit er auch wirklich aufstehen muss, um es abzuschalten. Normalerweise bringt dieser nervige L\u00e4rm<\/strong> ihn sofort auf die\u00a0F\u00fc\u00dfe. Aber heute Morgen, gerade an diesem Morgen, kann Max sich einfach nicht trennen von der himmlischen W\u00e4rme seines Bettes. Seine F\u00fc\u00dfe kuscheln sich in die Decke, sein Kopf ruht sich noch ein wenig aus auf dem Kopfkissen. Sein Handy klingelt nochmals, aber jetzt ist es ein anderer Ton \u2013 ein Anruf! Max springt aus dem Bett um zu sehen wer es ist\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u00a0Geschlecht\u00a0<\/em>is\u00a0Bett<\/em>? Termin<\/em>? Or L\u00e4rm<\/em>? \u00a0You can figure it out.<\/p>\n

But many others are just very hard to deduce.\u00a0Sein Handy<\/em> could be\u00a0das Handy\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0der Handy<\/em>. This leads me to the other answer.<\/p>\n

Doing It Yourself\/Unclear From Text<\/strong><\/h3>\n

And that is partly just learning it by hard. So it is always advised to learn a\u00a0Nomen\u00a0<\/em>with its\u00a0Artikel<\/em>, so you remember it. But there are a few general rules, that you can read in earlier posts here:<\/p>\n

German nouns: gender hints<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n