How to put articles correctly in German. Definite article

Articles in German have important grammatical functions. They express gender, number, case and the category of definiteness and indeterminacy of the noun they precede.

Types of articles

German language articles divides in three categories: singular der or ein- For masculine, das or ein– for average, die or eine– for feminine and for plural – article die.

Articles der, das, die – certain And ein, eine – uncertain. The category of certainty says that the subject being discussed is isolated from many similar things and is known to the interlocutors, i.e. contextual or unique.

The indefinite article in German carries novelty information about an object in a given context, introduces interlocutors to a new object that has appeared in the field of communication and is replaced in repeated use by a definite article. For example:

Ich sehe da ein Mädchen. Das Mädchen weint.
I see (some) girl there. She's crying.

It is easy to see what shades of information both articles convey: in the first case, the girl has just appeared in our context, we do not know her yet, she is one of many for us, some kind of girl in other words. In the second sentence we already use definite article in German, because we continue to talk about that girl, the specific girl who is standing there, so in the translation we can easily replace the word “das Mädchen” simply with the word “she”, since it is already clear who we are talking about.

German article table

It is very important to understand the logic when a subject is not yet defined and when it already becomes defined, i.e. acquaintances, in each specific situation, otherwise even misunderstandings may arise in communicating with Germans. You cannot use only definite or indefinite articles, both of them carry their own grammatical and semantic functions and loads in the language system. Therefore, for clarity, below German article table to start with nominative case(who? what?).

Declension of articles in German by case

We use the nominative case when we answer the question “who?”, “what?”, i.e. we call an object, in other words, it itself produces an action, being a subject. If the action is directed at an object, and it acts as the object of this action, then the noun begins to change according to cases. Declension of articles in German is unthinkable without the participation of the article, unlike in Russian, where the very form of the word changes due to the ending or other methods of word formation. Therefore, as “Our Father” you need to know the following tables of declination of articles:

Declension of the definite article

Declension of the indefinite article

* Since the indefinite article ein came from the numeral eins= one, then in the plural ein is inappropriate, but according to a similar pattern the negation is declined kein= none, for plural – keine= none.

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An article in German is a special part of speech that accompanies a noun. For many people starting to learn German, a very important part of speech - the article - is incomprehensible. There is no analogue in Russian for this part of speech. But in order to understand at least a little the importance of articles in the German language, you first need to understand why they are needed and what function they play.

In Russian we say: dogs A, dogs at, from dogs Ouch and so on.

In German, we can say that the role of our ending is played by the article. It shows the gender, case and number of the noun.

For example:

These are dogs A. - Das ist ein Hund.
I see dogs at- Ich sehe einen Hund.
He goes for a walk With dogs Ouch. - Er geht mit dem Hund spazieren.

As you may have noticed, endings do not change in German. Articles are used instead of endings. The German article is placed directly before a noun. If there is a definition before the noun, the article is placed before the definition.

Das ist ein interessantes Buch. - This is an interesting book.

What articles are there in German?

There are 4 types of articles in German:

indefinite article

definite article

zero article

negative article

Table of declination of the definite and indefinite article

There are four cases (Kasus) in German:

Nominative (nominative) wer? was? - Who? What?

Akkusativ (accusative) wen? was? - whom? What?

Dativ (dative) wem? welcher Sache? - to whom? what?

Genitiv (genitive) wessen? - whom? what?

In this table you see the forms of the definite and indefinite article for the masculine, neuter, feminine and plural. Please note that there is no indefinite article in the plural. Definite article the plural is the same for all genders - DIE.

All nouns in German are writtencapitalized And used withuncertain or definitearticle. Sometimes the article is not used.

In German, the article not only gives information about the definiteness/indeterminacy of the noun, but also indicates the gender, number and case of the noun, bowing .

When to use which article?

On our website there is an opportunity pronunciation there is any German text. To do this simply highlight German text or a word anywhere on our site And click the "Play" button at the bottom right(white triangle in black circle). You will then hear the text spoken in German.

Indefinite article has the following forms:

ein- for the masculine singular - ein Hund (dog)
ein- for the neuter singular - ein Loch (hole)
eine- for feminine singular - eine Maus (mouse)

But don't forget that these articles are inflected. If you forgot, look again at the article declination table.

In the plural, designations for unspecified persons or objects are used without an article.

Indefinite article ein or eine used

• with nouns, which we call for the first time:

Möchten Sie eine Banana? - Would you like ( one) banana?

Das ist ein Buch. - This is a book.
Das Buch ist sehr interessant. - This book is very interesting.

• after the verb haben if the noun is in the accusative case.

Ich habe einen Hund und eine Katze. -
I have ( one) dog and ( one) cat.

• after a speech turn es gibt(is, available)

In meiner Stadt gibt es einen Schönen Park und ein Theater. -
In my city there is (is available) ( one) beautiful park and ( one) theater.

• when there is a comparison and the conjunction wie (like) is used:

Sie singt wie ein Vogel. - She sings like a bird.

Definite article has the following forms:

der- for the masculine singular - der Hund (dog)
das- for the neuter singular - das Loch (hole)
die- for feminine singular - die Maus (mouse)
die- for the plural - die Hunde (dogs)

Definite article der, die or das used

• with nouns that we know, which we are not talking about for the first time.

Mmm, die Banane ist le cker. - Mmm, ( this) banana is delicious.

Das ist ein Buch. - This is a book.
Das Buch ist sehr interessant. - This book is very interesting.

• when talking about a subject, the only possible in this situation:

Ist der Director schon da? - Is the director already here?

Mein Kind kommt bald aus der Schule. - My child will come home from school soon.

Director at the company one, and the school the child goes to, too one.

• when talking about the only subject in its own way:

a) names of celestial bodies:

die Sonne - sun
der Mond - moon, month
die Erde - Earth
die Venus - Venus
der Merkur - Mercury, etc.;

b) names of countries of the world, seasons, months and days of the week:

der Norden - north
der Sommer - summer
der Januar - January
der Montag - Monday, etc.;

In combination Anfang, Ende, Mitte The article is not used with the name of the month:

Anfang Januar fahren wir ins Gebirge. - At the beginning of January we are going to the mountains.

c) names of oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, for example:

der Stille Ozean - Pacific Ocean
das Schwarze Meer - Black Sea
der Don - Don
der Ladoga-See - Lake Ladoga;

d) names of streets, squares, avenues:

der Newski-Prospekt
der Roßplatz
die Käthe-Kolwitz-Straße, etc.;

e) names of mountains, winds, deserts:

der Ural - Ural
der Nordost - north-east
die Sahara - Sugar, etc.;

• with a superlative adjective or ordinal number:

die klügste Antwort - the smartest answer
der erste Schnee - first snow;

Use zero article You just have to memorize it!

• The article is missing when uncountable nouns And abstract concepts are something that cannot be touched or seen.

For example: Zeit- time, Lust- wish, Glück- happiness, Hunger- hunger and similar words.

It’s true, it’s impossible to calculate!

Ich habe Zeit- I have time.
Ich habe Hunger- I'm hungry.

Also used without an article

• professions :

Ich bin Arzt- I am a doctor.
Meine Freundin ist Informatikerin. - My friend is a computer scientist.
Er ist Student. - He's a student.

nationality

Ich bin Russin. - I'm Russian.
Sie ist Spanierin. - She's Spanish.
Sie sind Chinese. - They are Chinese.

• religious affiliations

Ich bin Catholic. - I am Catholic.
Seid Ihr Buddhisten? -Are you Buddhists?
Sie sind Christen. - They are Christians.

• names of cities, countries and continents:

Ich komme aus Germany. - I'm from Germany.
In einem Monat fahre ich nach Kiev. - In a month I will go to Kyiv.

Exceptions: die Schweiz (Switzerland), die Türkei (Turkey), die USA (USA), der Iran (Iran), die Niederlande (Netherlands) and others

materials and substances:

das Haus aus Holz- house made of wood
die Tasche aus Leder- leather bag
Trinken Sie Kaffee germ? - Do you like coffee?

diseases:

Ich habe Grippe. - I have the flu.
Er hat Fieber. - He has a fever.

plural, if a singular noun is used with an indefinite article (the absence of an article indicates an indefinite set of named objects):

Da steht ein Haus. - Here is the house.
Da stehen Hauser. - Here are the houses.

We strongly recommend that you learn German nouns immediately with articles, since articles play an important role in the correct construction of sentences. For example, learn the word “lamp” not as “Lampe”, but as “die Lampe”.

In addition to the definite and indefinite articles, the German language also has a number of pronouns that carry information about the gender, number and case of the noun. These are demonstrative pronouns (dieser - this, jener - that, etc.), possessive pronouns(mein - mine, dein - yours, etc.) and a negative pronoun (negative article) kein. Such pronouns are used instead of the article and are declined as a definite or indefinite article.

Demonstrative pronouns are also declined like the definite article. dieser - this, jener - that, solcher - such is the interrogative pronoun

Oh, this German language - it contains such a phenomenon as articles. Articles in German are of the following types: definite, indefinite, negative, zero. Definite articles are die, das, der– each of which is responsible for a specific genus. The indefinite article is ein. Negative – kein.

How does the definite article in German differ from the indefinite article?

The indefinite article is placed before nouns, which have not yet been discussed - and which is mentioned for the first time. (Except for special cases, which you will read about below).

Das ist eine Katze. – This is a cat.

The definite article is used before a word that has already been discussed. Here we are again about the cat, but we met her in the last sentence, which means:

Die Katze ist schwarz. – This cat is black.

The indefinite article is also used if the speaker does not know whether there is any food in this place at all. given time item he needs: Wo ist hier ein Telefon?-Where is the phone here?

The definite article is used when you are asking for something specific, describing something specific, mentioning something specific.

Here's a comparison:

Gib mir ein Messer.

Gib mir das Messer.

What is the difference between these two examples? Both of them can be translated as: give me the knife. Only in the first option, the person asking doesn’t care what kind of knife they give him - any one will suit him. But in the second case: the person asking has in mind a specific knife that he sees - and maybe even points at.

Articles in German can also be inflected according to cases and numbers. Here's the definite article:

I will not tell you which words are used in which of the listed genders within the framework of this note. Wait for the next article about the gender of German nouns.

And here is the indefinite article:

The negative article is the same indefinite article, but with the letter k at the beginning. That's why I didn't want to draw a separate table... BUT! There is a very important difference between them. Therefore, catch the third sign:

Notice the main difference? That's right - the plural with a negative article is used!

By the way, read about negation in German.

Tables with declination of articles need to be known by heart - this the beginning began, which will be very useful in the future. In principle, the endings of all the listed articles are similar - and there is nothing wrong with them. If you are really depressed and too lazy to learn this, try dropping the genetive - the last line in each tablet - you can make up for it later, but at first you can do without it.

And one more hint: a woman in dative and genitive turns into a man!

There are a few more rules: when it is necessary to use the definite article, and in which cases - the indefinite article. Sometimes the article is completely absent... These are the cases we will now consider.

The definite article in German

Definite article in German it is usually placed before:

• Famous buildings: das Brandenburger Tor – Brandenburg Gate der Eiffelturm – Eiffel Tower.
• one of a kind concepts : die Sonne- Sun, die Erde - Earth
• names of some countries: der Iraq, die USA
• geographical names : die Alpen– Alps, der Rhein– Rain
• names of organizations: das Finanzamt– financial department
• historical eras and events: die deutsche Wiedervereinigung – German reunification
• titles: der Papst- Pope, die Queen- queen
• superlative adjectives: der beste Schüler– best student

Indefinite article put:

• after the verbs haben, brauchen and the phrase es gibt: Hast du eine Schwester? – Do you have a sister?
• when comparing: Sie spricht Deutsch wie eine Deutsche.– She speaks German like a German.
• in designs: so ein, ein solcher, solch ein.

Zero article

The article is absent in the following cases:

• before nouns denoting material: aus Gold- made of gold, aus Wolle- made of wool
• before the names of languages: Deutsch- German, Italienisch – Italian
• before the names of most countries, names of cities and continents: Germany, Cologne, Africa
• when contacting: Kinder!!!– Deeeeti!!! Freunde!!!- Friends!!!
• in the names of religious holidays: Ostern- Easter, Weihnachten- Christmas.
• in stable combinations and proverbs: Übung macht den Meister– Practice makes perfect, zu Fuß- on foot
• often when listing: Neue Wohnhäuser, Schulen, Krankenhäuser wird gebaut. – New houses, schools, hospitals are being built.
• before uncountable nouns: Liebe- Love, Luft- air
• before proper names (although in some regions they really like to give human names definite articles): Guten Tag, Frau Müller!- Good afternoon, Frau Müller!
• before professions and nationalities in the following phrases: Sie ist Friseurin.- She is a hairdresser. Er ist Franzose. - He is French.

Anyone who is just starting to learn German is faced with the problem of articles. It is difficult for Russian speakers to understand this topic, because in our speech we do not use anything similar to articles in German. In this article, we clearly and simply answer the most common questions among beginners on this topic.

There are several types of articles in German: definite, indefinite and zero. Let's consider each of them in order.

Definite article

There are only four of them:

Der - for masculine nouns (der);

Die - for the feminine gender (di);

Das - for the neuter gender (das);

Die - plural (di).

They are used in the following cases:

1. When we know what we are talking about. If this subject has already been discussed before. For example: der Hund (a certain dog, which has already been mentioned).
2. To denote phenomena that are one of a kind, for which there are no analogues in nature (die Erde - Earth).
3. To designate many geographical objects: rivers, cities, mountains, seas, oceans, streets and so on (die Alpen - Alps).
4. If our noun is preceded by (der dritte Mann - the third person), or an adjective (der schnellste Mann - the fastest person).

Indefinite article

Ein - masculine and neuter gender (ain);

Eine - feminine gender (aine).

For plural in in this case there is no article.

In German it is used in the following cases:

1. When we talk about objects unfamiliar to us (ein Hund is some kind of dog that we hear about for the first time).
2. After the phrase “es gibt” (literally “there is”), for simplicity, we can draw an analogy with the English “there is” (Es gibt einen Weg - there is a road here).
3. For designations of species or class (Der Löwe ist ein Raubtier - lion - a predatory animal).
4. With the verbs Haben (to have) and Brauchen (to need). For example: “Ich habe eine Arbeit” - I have a job.

Zero article

Not all articles actually exist in the German language. There is such a thing as essentially no article at all. So, we don't write anything before a noun if:

1. It denotes a profession or type of activity (Sie ist Ärztin - she is a doctor).
2. Before many proper names (London ist die Hauptstadt von Großbritannien - London is the capital of Great Britain).
3. To denote the plural (Hier wohnen Menschen - people live here).
4. When designating any chemical substance or material (aus Gold - made of gold).

Almost always in Russian and the corresponding articles in German differ from each other. For example, if our “girl” is feminine, then in German it is neuter – “das Mädchen”. That is, like a “girl”. There is a set of endings that can be used to make it easier to determine the gender of a noun, but for the most part there is only one way out - remember.

Another difficulty is the declension of articles in German. Just as in Russian we don’t say: “I see a girl,” so in German. Each article is declined according to its case. The task is made easier by the fact that there are only four cases: Nominativ (nominative), Genetiv (genitive), Dativ (dative) and Akkusativ (like the accusative). You just need to remember the declination. For your convenience, we provide the table below.

As for indefinite articles, they are declined according to the same principle. For example, the masculine article ein in Akk will be einen, simply adding -en to it. This happens with all other articles.

Everything is much more complicated.

There is an article here der for masculine nouns, die- for women, das- for average and die- for plural nouns. But the form of these articles varies depending on the context, and they sometimes take the form dem or den.

Don't be alarmed - with a fair amount of practice, you will begin to understand how to use articles on an intuitive level (at least that's what I reassure myself).

Top tip for learning der, die and das: remember nouns along with articles!

And now to the rules.

Although the use of der, die and das before each noun seems completely haphazard, there is still a certain logic:

• If the word ends in -or, -ling, -smus or -ig, the masculine article is always used with it der, as with the words der Tor (gate), der Feigling (cow), der Journalismus (journalism) and der Honig (honey), respectively.
• If the word ends in -ung, -keit, -schaft, –tät, -ik, -tion, -heit or -ei, the feminine article is always used with it die. For example, die Ahnung (idea), die Möglichkeit (opportunity), die Wissenschaft (science), die Qualität (quality), die Semantik (semantics), die Situation (situation), die Dunkelheit (darkness) and die Bäckerei (bakery).
• Very often (though not always) words ending in -e also used with the article die, such as die Lampe (lamp).
• Article die always used with plural nouns (except for the dative case, which we will return to later).
• If the word ends in -chen, -ma, -um, -ment, -lein or -tum, then the article is used with it das, as in das Würstchen (sausage), das Schema (scheme), das Christentum (Christianity), das Medikament (medicine), das Fräulein (lady) and das Eigentum (property).
• Article das also often used with technical, mechanical and scientific nouns.

At least now you have something to focus on. True, there are many more german words with different endings. Unfortunately, you can only find out their gender and, accordingly, which article to use with them using a dictionary.

Things get more complicated when you encounter any case other than the nominative case.

Accusative case (Akkusativ)

In the accusative case, article der changes to den. Fortunately, the rest of the articles remain the same.

Let's see how it works. To make everything very clear with gender, let's talk about men and women. Let’s take the sentence “A woman hit a man” (Let’s make it clear that we do not encourage violence of any kind, but sometimes it happens, right?)

“Man” is of course masculine, der Mann, and “woman” is feminine, die Frau. Since a woman beats a man (oh, crazy world!), the accusative case takes place. Remember: the only article that changes in the accusative case is the masculine article. As a result, we get the following: Die Frau schlug den Mann.

Dative case (Dativ)

If the noun in the sentence is in the dative case, then the article changes again: der on dem, die on der, das on dem And die for plural of den.

Let's look at a few examples to make things fall into place.

“I waited in line for five hours.”
The noun "queue" in German is feminine, die Schlange. Because in the dative case die becomes der, then the sentence will be as follows:
Ich habe fünf Stunden in der Schlange gewärtet.

Another example: “The glass is on the table.”
The masculine noun der Tisch (table) is in the dative case. So the sentence comes out as follows:
Der Becher ist auf dem Tisch.

"Oranges under the sofa." (How did they get there?!)
In the dative case, the article of the neuter noun das Sofa will change to dem. The entire proposal would be as follows:
Die Orange sind unter dem Sofa.

Genitive case

Belonging to someone or something can be expressed using the preposition von: das Auto von Tom (Tom's car).

But in writing better use genitive, in which the articles change as follows: der to des, die to der, das to des And die for the plural of der eg: das Kleid der Frau "woman's dress", das Auto des Mannes "man's car". (When everyone gets what they need, there's no need to fight, right?)

Well, you can breathe out. It's not that bad. Remember that the article in many cases depends on the ending of the noun, learn these endings and practice, practice and practice again.

And repeat like a mantra: “100 million German speakers have mastered this. And I can do it too.”