Learn German

German Articles

• Introduction

  German has three words — der, die and das — for the definite article the. To make matters more confusing for someone learning German, these three definite articles change spelling according to the case of the noun that they appear with in a sentence. The same is true for the indefinite articles. Just as English has two indefinite articles — a and an — that you use with singular nouns, German also has two indefinite articles (in the nominative case): ein for masculine- and neuter-gender words and eine for feminine-gender words. Another similarity with English is that the German indefinite article ein/einedoesn’t have a plural form. Depending on how you’re describing something plural, you may or may not need to use the plural definite article. Consider the following generalized statement, which requires no article: In Zermatt sind Autos verboten. (Cars are forbidden in Zermatt [Switzerland].) The following table shows you the definite articles and the corresponding indefinite articles (nominative case):

  Gender/Number	Definite (the)	Indefinite (a/an)
  Masculine	der	ein
  Feminine	die	eine
  Neuter	das	ein
  Plural	die	(no plural form)

  In German language, there are three definite articles for nouns in singular: der for masculine nouns, die for feminine nouns and das neutral nouns. German native speakers know mostly intuitively what the article of each noun is. However, non-native speakers need to memorize the articles. There are several rules and guidelines determining the articles of some categories of nouns. But beware exceptions.
• Rules for Article ‘Der’
  The following nouns have the article der:

  • Nouns for masculine persons and functions/professions: Vater, Pilot, Arzt;
  • Names of seasons: Frühling, Sommer, Herbst, Winter;
  • Names of months: Januar, Juli, Dezember;
  • Names of days of the week: Montag, Dienstag, Sonntag;
  • Names of compass directions: Nordwest(en), Süd(en);
  • Names of precipitations: Regen, Schnee, Hagel;
  • Names of car brands: Audi, BMW, Mercedes;
  • Names of trains: IC;
  • Nouns derived from verbs without suffix: Gang, Fang;

  The following categories of nouns have mainly the article der:

  • Names of alcoholic beverages: Cognac, Wein, Whiskey; exceptions: das Bier;
  • Names of rivers outside Europe: Amazonas, Mississippi;
  • Names of mountains: Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro; exception: die Zugspitze;

  Furthermore, nouns with the suffixes below have the article der:

  • –er (nouns derived from verbs): Fahrer, Lehrer;
  • –ismus: Kapitalismus, Journalismus;

  Most of nouns with the following suffixes have the article der:

  • –ant: Demonstrant, Elefant; exceptions: das Croissant, das Restaurant;
  • –ling: Lehrling, Schützling; exceptions: das Dribbling, das Bowling;
  • –ner: Rentner, Schaffner, Zöllner; exceptions: das Banner, die Wiener (Wurst);
  • –or: Motor, Traktor; exceptions: das Gegentor, das Chlor;

  Beware: this is applicable only to nouns in singular. All nouns in plural have the article die.

  Beware: diminutives have always the article das: der Kopf → das Köpfchen.

  Rules for Article ‘Die’

  The following nouns have the article die:

  • Nouns for feminine persons and functions/professions: Mutter, Friseuse, Ärztin;
  • Names of motorcycle brands: Harley Davidson, BMW (only motorcycle), Yamaha;
  • Names of planes and ships: Boeing 747, Titanic;
  • Cardinal numbers: Eins, Drei;

  The following categories of nouns have mainly the article die:

  • Names of plants and trees: Birke, Chrysantheme, Rose; exceptions: der Ahorn, das Veilchen;

  Furthermore, nouns with the suffixes below have the article die:

  • –falt: Vielfalt;
  • –heit: Freiheit, Sicherheit;
  • –keit: Möglichkeit, Schnelligkeit;
  • –schaft: Freundschaft, Mannschaft;
  • –t (nouns derived from verbs): Fahrt, Tat;
  • –ung: Leitung, Zeitung;

  Foreign nouns with the suffixes below have the article die:

  • –ade: Hitparade, Marmelade;
  • –age: Garage, Passage;
  • –anz: Eleganz, Dominanz;
  • –enz: Existenz, Tendenz;
  • –ik: Kritik, Musik;
  • –ion: Diskussion, Koalition;
  • –tät: Identität, Qualität;
  • –ur: Agentur, Reparatur;

  Most of nouns with the following suffixes have the article die:

  • –e: Grenze, Lampe; exceptions: der Junge, der Friede;
  • –ei: Abtei, Metzgerei; exceptions: das Ei, der Papagei;
  • –ie: Diplomatie, Psychologie; exceptions: der Junkie, der Hippie;
  • –in: Ärztin, Studentin; exceptions: das Benzin, der Harlekin;

  Beware: diminutives have always the article das: die Hand → das Händchen.

• Rules for Article ‘Das’
  The following nouns have the article das:

  • Diminutives (–chen, –lein): Kaninchen, Fräulein;
  • Nouns derived from infinitives: Essen, Schreiben;
  • Nouns derived from adjectives: Gute, Böse;
  • Names of colors: Rot, Gelb, Blau;

  The following categories of nouns have mainly the article das:

  • Almost all of the 112 known chemical elements: Aluminium, Kupfer, Uran; 6 exceptions: der Kohlenstoff, der Sauerstoff, der Stickstoff, der Wasserstoff, der Phosphor, der Schwefel;
  • Names of metals: Blei, Messing, Zinn; exceptions: die Bronze, der Stahl;
  • Fractions: Drittel (⅓), Viertel (¼); exception: die Hälfte (½);

  Furthermore, nouns with the suffixes below have the article das:

  • –ial: Material, Potenzial;

  Most of nouns with the following suffixes have the article das:

  • –ment: Instrument, Parlament; exceptions: der Konsument, der Zement;
  • –nis: Ergebnis, Tennis; exceptions: die Fahrerlaubnis, die Wildnis;
  • –o: Auto, Konto; exceptions: die Avocado, der Euro;
  • –tum: Quantum, Ultimatum; exceptions: der Reichtum, der Irrtum;
  • –um (nouns of Latin origin): Publikum, Museum, Stadium;

  Beware: this is applicable only to nouns in singular. All nouns in plural have the article die.

German Definite Articles by Gender (Nominative Case)

German Definite Article (English meaning)	Gender (Abbreviation Seen in Dictionaries)	German Example (English meaning)
der (the)	masculine (m)	der Löffel (the spoon)
die (the)	feminine (f)	die Gabel (the fork)
das (the)	neuter (n or nt)	das Messer (the knife)
die (the)	plural (pl)	die Menschen (the people)

Some categories of nouns are consistently masculine, feminine, or neuter. For instance, noun gender usually follows the gender of people: der Onkel (the uncle) and die Schwester (the sister). In many other cases, the noun categories have to do with the ending of the noun. The following two tables provide some fairly reliable categories of nouns and their genders.

Common Genders by Noun Ending (Or Beginning)

Usually Masculine (der)	Usually Feminine (die)	Usually Neuter (das)
-er (especially when referring to male people/jobs)	-ade, -age, -anz, -enz, -ette, -ine, -ion, -tur (if foreign/borrowed from another language)	-chen
-ich	-e	-ium
-ismus	-ei	-lein
-ist	-heit	-ment (if foreign/borrowed from another language)
-ner	-ie	-o
	-ik	-tum or -um
	-in (when referring to female people/occupations)	Ge-
	-keit
	-schaft
	-tät
	-ung

Common Genders by Noun Subject

Usually Masculine (der)	Usually Feminine (die)	Usually Neuter (das)
Days, months, and seasons: der Freitag(Friday)	Many flowers: die Rose (the rose)	Colors (adjectives) used as nouns: grün (green) das Grün (the green)
Map locations: der Süd(en) (the south)	Many trees: die Buche (the beech)	Geographic place names: das Europa(Europe)
Names of cars and trains: der Audi (the Audi) and der ICE(the Intercity Express)	Names of aircraft and ships: die Boeing 767 (the Boeing 767), die Titanic (the Titanic)	Infinitives used as nouns (gerunds): schwimmen(to swim) das Schwimmen(swimming)
Nationalities and words showing citizenship: der Amerikaner (the American)	Cardinal numbers:eine Drei (a three)	Young people and animals: das Baby (the baby)
Occupations: der Arzt(the doctor)		Almost all the chemical elements and most metals: das Aluminium(aluminum) and das Blei(lead)
Names of most mountains and lakes:der Großglockner(the highest mountain in Austria)
Most rivers outside of Europe: der Amazonas (the Amazon)

Bestimmter Artikel I (Nominativ & Akkusativ) Singular

	Nominativ	Akkusativ
MASKULIN	der (Tisch)	den (Tisch)
FEMININ	die (Schule)	die (Schule)
NEUTRUM	das (Kleid)	das (Kleid)

  Plural

	Nominativ	Akkusativ
MASKULIN	die (Tische)	die (Tische)
FEMININ	die (Schulen)	die (Schulen)
NEUTRUM	die (Kleider)	die (Kleider)

Unbestimmter Artikel I (Nominativ & Akkusativ Singular

	Nominativ	Akkusativ
MASKULIN	ein (Tisch)	einen (Tisch)
FEMININ	eine (Schule)	eine (Schule)
NEUTRUM	ein (Kleid)	ein (Kleid)

Plural

	Nominativ	Akkusativ
MASKULIN	– (Tische)	– (Tische)
FEMININ	– (Schulen)	– (Schulen)
NEUTRUM	– (Kleider)	– (Kleider)

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.]]>

The Customized Super Intensive German Language Courses have all the features of the professional language courses.

Personalpronomen I (Nominativ)

	Singular	Plural
1. PERSON	ich	wir
2. PERSON	du Sie (Höflichkeitsform)	ihr Sie (Höflichkeitsform)
3. PERSON	er (maskulin) sie (feminin) es (neutrum)	sie

Konjugation Präsens I

	Singular	Plural
1. PERSON	ich geh-e	wir geh-en
2. PERSON	du geh-st Sie geh-en	ihr geh-t Sie geh-en
3. PERSON	er geh-t sie geh-t es geh-t	sie geh-en

Konjugation Präsens II (sein)

	Singular	Plural
1. PERSON	ich bin	wir sind
2. PERSON	du bist Sie sind	ihr seid Sie sind
3. PERSON	er ist sie ist es ist	sie sind Konjugation Präsens III (haben)

	Singular	Plural
1. PERSON	ich habe	wir haben
2. PERSON	du hast Sie haben	ihr habt Sie haben
3. PERSON	er hat sie hat es hat	sie haben

 Conjugation:To be verb, to have, to become

sein – to be (zine)

I am	ich bin	ikh bin	I was	ich war	ikh var
you are (familiar)	du bist	doo bihst	you were (familiar)	du warst	doo varst
he/she/it is	er/sie/es ist	air/zee/ess isst	he/she/it was	er/sie/es war	air/zee/es var
we are	wir sind	veer zint	we were	wir waren	veer vah-ren
you (plural) are	ihr seid	eer zide	you (plural) were	ihr wart	eer vart
they/you (formal) are	sie/Sie sind	zee zint	they/you (formal) were	sie/Sie waren	zee vah-ren

haben – to have (hah-ben

I have	ich habe	hah-buh	I had	ich hatte	hah-tuh
you have	du hast	hahst	you had	du hattest	hah-test
he/she/it has	er/sie/es hat	haht	he/she/it had	er/sie/es hatte	hah-tuh
we have	wir haben	hah-ben	we had	wir hatten	hah-ten
you have	ihr habt	hahbt	you had	ihr hattet	hah-tet
they/you have	sie/Sie haben	hah-ben	they/you had	sie/Sie hatten	hah-ten

werden – to become (vair-den)

I become	ich werde	vair-duh	I became	ich wurde	voor-duh
you become	du wirst	veerst	you became	du wurdest	voor-dest
he/she/it becomes	er/sie/es wird	veert	he/she/it became	er/sie/es wurde	voor-duh
we become	wir werden	vair-den	we became	wir wurden	voor-den
you become	ihr werdet	vair-det	you became	ihr wurdet	voor-det
they/you become	sie/Sie werden	vair-den	they/you became	sie/Sie wurden	voor-den

Haben is frequently used in expressions that would normally take to be in English. Ich habe Hunger. = I am hungry. Ich hatte Durst. = I was thirsty. Ich habe Langeweile. = I am bored. Ich hatte Heimweh. = I was homesick. Ich habe Angst. = I am afraid. In everyday speech, the final -e on the ich conjugations can be dropped: ich hab’ or hab’ ich The verb werden is also used in the future tense to mean will.]]>

In an effort to reach out to those desirous to learn and improve their language skills in German on behalf of Lingua World one of the best institutes in Coimbatore for learning foreign languages we are planning to introduce German to the people visiting the forum in a small way.

Basic German Phrases  

Guten Morgen goot-en mor-gen Good Morning	Guten Tag goot-en tahk Hello/Good Day	Guten Abend goot-en ah-bent Good Evening
Gute Nacht goot-eh nakht Good Night	Tag / Hallo / Servus tahk / hah-loh / sair-voohs Hi / Hello / Hi & Bye (Southern Germany & Austria)	Auf Wiedersehen owf vee-dair-zayn Goodbye
Grüß dich / Grüß Gott! Hello! / Greetings! (Southern Germany & Austria)	Tschüs / Tschau tchews / chow Bye!	Gehen wir! geh-en veer Let’s go!
Bis später biss shpay-ter See you later	Bis bald biss bahlt See you soon	Bis morgen biss mohr-gen See you tomorrow
Bitte bih-tuh Please	Danke (schön / sehr) dahn-kuh shurn/zair Thank you	Bitte schön bih-tuh shurn You’re welcome
Es tut mir leid. ehs toot meer lite I’m sorry	Entschuldigen Sie ehnt-shool-dih-gun zee Excuse me	Verzeihung Pardon me
Wie geht es Ihnen? vee gayt es ee-nen How are you? (formal)	Wie geht’s? vee gayts How are you? (informal)	(Sehr) Gut / So lala zair goot / zo lahlah (Very) Good / OK
Schlecht / Nicht Gut shlekht / nisht goot Bad / Not good	Es geht. ess gate I’m ok. (informal)	Ja / Nein yah / nine Yes / No
Wie heißen Sie? vee hie-ssen zee What’s your name? (formal)	Wie heißt du? vee hiesst doo What’s your name? (informal)	Ich heiße… ikh hie-ssuh My name is… [I am called…]
Es freut mich. froyt mikh Pleased to meet you.	Gleichfalls. glykh-fals Likewise.	Herr / Frau / Fräulein hair / frow / froi-line Mister / Misses / Miss
Woher kommen Sie? vo-hair koh-men zee Where are you from? (formal)	Woher kommst du? vo-hair kohmst doo Where are you from? (informal)	Ich komme aus… ikh koh-muh ows… I’m from…
Wo wohnen Sie? vo voh-nen zee Where do you live? (formal)	Wo wohnst du? vo vohnst doo Where do you live? (informal)	Ich wohne in… ikh voh-nuh in I live in…
Wie alt sind Sie? vee alt zint zee How old are you? (formal)	Wie alt bist du? vee alt bisst doo How old are you? (informal)	Ich bin ____ Jahre alt. ikh bin ____ yaa-reh alt I am ____ years old.
Sprechen Sie deutsch? shpreck-en zee doytch Do you speak German? (formal)	Sprichst du englisch? shprikhst doo eng-lish Do you speak English? (informal)	Ich spreche (kein)… ikh shpreck-uh kine I (don’t) speak…
Verstehen Sie? / Verstehst du? fehr-shtay-en zee / fehr-shtayst doo Do you understand? (formal / informal)	Ich verstehe (nicht). ikh fehr-shtay-eh nikht I (don’t) understand.	Ich weiß (nicht). ikh vise nikht I (don’t) know.
Können Sie mir helfen? ker-nen zee meer hell-fen Can you help me? (formal)	Kannst du mir helfen? kahnst doo meer hell-fen Can you help me? (informal)	Natürlich / Gerne nah-tewr-likh / gair-nuh Of course / Gladly
Kann ich Ihnen helfen? kahn ikh ee-nen hell-fen May I help you? (formal)	Kann ich dir helfen? kahn ikh deer hell-fen May I help you? (informal)	Wie bitte? vee bih-tuh What? Pardon me?
Wie heißt ___ auf Deutsch? vee heist ___ owf doytch How do you say ___ in German?	Wo ist / Wo sind… ? voh ist / voh zint Where is / Where are… ?	Es gibt… ess geept There is / are…
Was ist los? vahs ist lohs What’s the matter?	Das macht nichts. dass makht nikhts It doesn’t matter.	Das ist mir egal. dass ist meer eh-gahl I don’t care.
Keine Angst! ky-nuh ahngst Don’t worry!	Ich habe es vergessen. ikh hah-buh ess fehr-geh-sen I forgot.	Jetzt muss ich gehen. yetz mooss ikh geh-en I must go now.
Ich habe Hunger / Durst. ikh hah-buh hoong-er / dirst I’m hungry / thirsty.	Ich bin krank / müde. ikh bin krahnk moo-duh I’m sick / tired.	Ich habe Langeweile. ikh hah-buh lahn-guh-vy-luh I’m bored.
Ich möchte / Ich hätte gern… ikh merkh-tuh / ikh heh-tuh gairn I’d like…	Das gefällt mir. dahs geh-fehlt meer I like it.	Prima / Toll / Super! pree-mah / tohl / zoo-pair Great / Fantastic!
Gesundheit! geh-soont-hyt Bless you!	Herzlichen Glückwunsch! herts-likh-en glewk-voonsh Congratulations!	Sei ruhig! zy roo-hikh Be quiet! (informal)
Willkommen! vil-koh-men Welcome!	Viel Glück! feel glewk Good luck!	Schauen Sie mal! / Schau mal! show-en zee mal / show mal Look! (formal / informal)
Bitte schön? Yes? / What would you like to order?	Was darf’s sein? What can I get you? / How can I help you?	Sonst noch etwas? Anything else?
Bitte schön. Here you go. (handing something to someone)	Zahlen bitte! The check, please!	Stimmt so. Keep the change.
Ich bin satt. I’m full.	Mir ist schlecht. I feel sick.	Es tut mir weh. It hurts.
Ich liebe dich. ikh leeb-uh dikh I love you. (informal)	Du fehlst mir. I miss you. (informal)	Alles ist in Ordnung. Everything is fine.
Wie wäre es mit … ? How about…?	Was für ein…? What kind of (a)…?	Nicht wahr? [general tag question]

Ich is not actually pronounced ikh, unless you are speaking a northern dialect of German. If you are speaking a southern dialect, then it is more like ish. There is no equivalent sound in English.  In standard German, it is somewhere between ish and ikh. Technically, it is a voiceless palatal fricative and its voiced counterpart is the y sound in yes.

German Nouns and Cases

All nouns have a gender in German, either masculine, feminine or neuter.  You must memorize the gender of each noun: 1. Male persons or animals, the seasons, months, and days are all masculine, as are nouns ending in -ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or and -us. 2. Female persons or animals, and numerals are all feminine, as are nouns ending in -a, -anz, -ei, -enz, -heit, -ie, -ik, -in, -keit, -schaft, -sion, -sis, -tät, -tion, -ung and -ur. 3. Young persons or animals, metals, chemical elements, letters of the alphabet, hotels, restaurants, cinemas, continents, countries and provinces are all neuter, as are nouns that end in -chen, -icht, -il, -it, -lein, -ma, -ment, -tel, -tum, and -um.  Nouns referring to things that end in -al, -an, -ar, -ät, -ent, -ett, -ier, -iv, -o and -on, as well as most words with the prefix ge- and most nouns ending in -nis and -sal are also neuter. All nouns in German are capitalized in writing. All nouns (as well as pronouns and adjectives) have a case depending on what function they serve in the sentence.  These may seem strange, but remember that English uses cases also; however, we would say direct object instead of accusative, or indirect object instead of dative.  Although these cases may make learning new words difficult, they actually help with word order because the position of words in a sentence is not as fixed in German as it is in English.  And the reason for that is because words can occur in these four cases:  

Nominative	subject of the sentence	The girl is reading.
Accusative	direct objects	We see the mountain. I bought a gift.
Dative	indirect objects	We talk to the guide. I gave my mom a gift.
Genitive	indicates possession or relationship	The book of the girl. The dog’s tail.

The nouns you look up in a dictionary will be in the nominative case. The first Step in German (ERSTE SCHRITTE DEUTSCH) Die Familie vorstellen (Introducing the family) Wen aus eurer Familie möchtet ihr vorstellen? Euren Bruder, eure Schwester … – hier lernt ihr die deutschen Bezeichnungen. Die Familie Vorstellung

• die Familie – family
• die Mutter – mother
• der Vater – father
• die Eltern – parents
• die Großmutter – grandmother
• die Oma – grandma, granny
• der Großvater – grandfather
• der Opa – grandpa
• die Tante – aunt
• der Onkel – uncle
• die Schwester – sister
• der Bruder – brother
• die Ehefrau – wife
• der Ehemann – husband
• das Kind – child
• die Tochter – daughter
• der Sohn – son
• There are three genders in German unlike English.
• Der—Masculin
• Die—Feminine
• Das—Neutral

One has to learn the Genders along with the noun. ERSTE SCHRITTE DEUTSCH Sich begrüßen – sich verabschieden (Greetings and Parting) Hier lernt ihr verschiedene Formen der Begrüßung und Verabschiedung kennen.

• Sich begrüßen – sich verabschieden
• sich begrüßen – to greet (each other)
• Guten Morgen! – Good morning!
• Guten Tag, Frau Steller! (formell) – Hello, Ms. Steller! (formal)
• Guten Abend, Herr Richter! (formell) – Good evening, Mr. Richter! (formal)
• Hallo! (informell) – Hi!/ Hello! (informal)
• sich verabschieden – to say goodbye
• Auf Wiedersehen! (formell) – Goodbye!(formal)
• Tschüss! (informell) – Bye! (informal)
• Schönen Tag noch. – Have a good day!
• Gute Nacht. – Good night.
• Schlaf gut! – Sleep well!

ERSTE SCHRITTE DEUTSCH Um Hilfe bitten (Asking for help) Hier lernt ihr, wie man auf Deutsch um Hilfe bitten kann.

• Entschuldigung. – Sorry.
• Können Sie mir helfen? – Can you help me?
• Ich habe eine Frage. – I have a question.
• Ich spreche nicht gut Deutsch. – I do not speak German well.
• Ich verstehe das nicht. – I don’t understand that.
• Was heißt das? – What does that mean?
• Wie bitte? – I beg your pardon?
• Sprechen Sie bitte langsam. – Please speak slowly.
• Wie heißt das auf Deutsch? – What does that mean in German?
• Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? – Could you please repeat that?
• Vielen Dank! – Thank you very much!

ERSTE SCHRITTE DEUTSCH Wie geht es Ihnen?  (How are you?)

• Wie geht es Ihnen? (formell) – How are you? (formal)
• Sehr gut. – Very well.
• Wie geht es dir? (informell) – How are you? (informal)
• Mir geht es super. – I’m doing very well.
• Mir geht es gut. – I’m fine.
• Mir geht es nicht so gut. – Not so well. / I’m not so well.
• Mir geht es schlecht. – I’m not doing well. / I feel bad.
• Mir geht es beschissen. (umgangssprachlich) – I feel crappy. (colloquial)
• Ich bin müde. – I’m tired.
• Ich bin krank. – I’m sick.
• Ich bin erkältet. – I have a cold.
• Ich bin gestresst. – I’m stressed out.

 ]]>