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Definite and Identifinite Articles

V.Let's practice - Definite and indefinite articles exercises

II.Practical examples - Definite an indefinite articles in German

I.Theory: Definite an indefinite articles in German

Select the correct answer

Mr. Puddle: The same as in English: the definite article → the (der, die, das) and the indefinite article → a/an (ein, eine, ein), each one corresponds to the gender of nouns and vary differently within the cases (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive).

Mr. Puddle:

In German, each noun has a gender: masculine, feminine or a neuter, this isn’t only in German but also in many other languages, whereas in English people use two types of articles (the/ a,an) without labeling words according to their gender.

Mr. Puddle: Well, it’s a word generally used before a noun (an object in the real world) and it functions as a grammar label for the nouns’ gender. Miss Hairball!

Mr Puddles: The grammar cases are instruments we use to understand the relationship between the subject and the object within a given sentence, we’re going to study all the cases in the upcoming lessons!

Lady Hairball: I’m confused, Mr.Puddle! What are these cases and why do we need them?

Lady Hairball: But what types of articles does German have?

Lady Hairball: Mr. Puddle, what about genders?!

Lady Hairball: Mr. Puddle! What is an article?

IV. Purrrfection explained! - Definite an indefinite articles in German

» There are numerous ways that will help you learn these genders. Don't worry about it too much. It's that little thing that beginners worry about, but as you progress it becomes natural at some point.

We've also prepared numerous tools on this site for you to achieve your goal:

Check this tool from QuickDic. It will give you the gender right away!
Play our gender exercises. Here is the LTO ( Lesson Teaching Order) we've made with love and dedication. In the right side of the page, you can see there's a vocabulary data-base for A1 - C1. Each vocabulary lesson has a theoretical part and 3 exercises that allows you to play with genders from that category. Ready to play with the genders?!
Give yourself time. You will start to learn more and more as you read more texts and get used to different aspects of the language, such as the endings of German cases.

III. Tips & Tricks : How to learn them easily? - Definite an indefinite articles in German

Indefinite Article in German

Definite Article in German

THE

» Indefinite articles follow the same rules, but, as you remember from English, this applies only to non-specific nouns. That means there is no A & AN or, rather, there is an indefinite article for each gender.

» Let's check some practical examples. Here are a few words that you may learn:

A dog » Ein Hund
A cat » Eine Katze
A house » Ein Haus

Yes, you've noticed well. Masculine and neuter genders use the same article for indefinite articles in Nominative case. This makes things way easier!

The dog » Der Hund
The cat » Die Katze
The house » Das Haus

Der (masculine), Die (feminine), Das (neuter)= THE

This is what we call the definite article.

» Do you remember how in English we use THE for pointing out to specific nouns? German does that too, but in its own way. A lot of languages, German included, use what's called the "genders" of nouns. That means, each noun has a gender. It can be Masculine, feminine or neuter.

» This gets a little tricky because each time we use a noun in German, we must use its gender (article) too.

» Sadly, there are no obvious ways in which you can guess what's the right gender for a noun. So yeah, you're thinking about it right. Each noun must be learned along with its own gender.

Indefinite article in english:

A & AN

Definite article in english:

THE

A, AN

THE

» When you start learning German, one important thing you should know is the gender of nouns.

» There are masculine, feminine and neuter nouns and one important tool to recognize those nouns is the article.

Sometimes, some words don't make any sense! You would expect the world "Girl " to be a feminine noun, right? Well, not really! It's neuter! Why? Well, you sometimes should learn the gender by heart...

Let's check the theoretical part:

Cats are lovely and may prove to be a good company for you while learning or struggling with German.

Here's the perfect place for animal lovers and German learners!

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