Definite Articles
Definite articles in German mark nouns as specific and signal gender, number, and case; they are essential for clear meaning. This guide goes through each article and gives quick examples.
Articles
The three genders each have a definite article in the nominative case: der for masculine, die for feminine, and das for neuter; die is also used for all plural nouns.
| German Word(s) | English Word(s) | Gender | Definite Article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hund | dog | masculine | der |
| Katze | cat | feminine | die |
| Haus | house | neuter | das |
| Bücher | books | plural | die |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 🧑🎓 Der Student sitzt im Café. | The (male) student sits in the café. |
| 👩🎓 Die Studentin liest ein Buch. | The (female) student reads a book. |
| 📖 Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. | The book lies on the table. |
| 👥 Die Studenten sprechen miteinander. | The students are talking to each other. |
Cases
Definite articles change form depending on grammatical case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), which affects sentence meaning; learning the tables helps you recognize each role.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der | die | das | die |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die |
| Dative | dem | der | dem | den |
| Genitive | des | der | des | der |
Usage
Use definite articles when referring to something specific, when a noun is known to both speaker and listener, or when talking about categories in general; omit them in certain general or unspecific contexts.
Summary
Definite articles signal gender, number, and case; der, die, and das mark masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns in the nominative, while die marks plural.
Last updated: Sun Sep 14, 2025