Nouns and the definite article
GoalI can choose der, die or das for common people and objects.
Every German noun carries a gender, and that gender decides which form of the definite article — der, die or das — stands in front of it. Learn a noun together with its article and you lock in both facts at once, the way der Mann, die Frau and das Kind each travel with their own little word. In this first lesson you meet a handful of everyday people and things and pin the correct article onto each of them. Do not try to reason the gender out from the meaning; simply store the article as part of the word itself.
der, die, das: gender and the definite article (Nominativ)
Every German noun has a gender — der (masculine), die (feminine) or das (neuter) — and the plural is always die. Always learn a noun together with its article.
Read the full grammar pageDeclension table
- Case government
- Article agreement
- Orthography
| maskulin | feminin | neutral | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | der | die | das | die |
| Akkusativ | den | die | das | die |
| Dativ | dem | der | dem | den |
| Genitiv | des | der | des | der |
Words in this lesson
Practice
___ Frau ist nett.
Wie heißt ___ Kind?
Finished the lesson?