German articles#Definite article
{{Short description|None}}
{{German grammar}}
German articles are used similarly to the English articles, a and the. However, they are declined differently according to the number, gender and case of their nouns.{{cite book |last1=Donaldson |first1=Bruce |title=German: An Essential Grammar |date=24 January 2007 |orig-date=8 January 2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781134225439 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/German_An_Essential_Grammar/wLF-AgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=18 May 2025 |doi=10.4324/9780203018583 |via=Google Books|chapter=Chapter 5: Articles and Other Determiners}}
Declension
The inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. German articles{{snd}}like adjectives and pronouns{{snd}}have the same plural forms for all three genders.{{cite book |last1=James Ham |first1=Roscoe |last2=Newton Leonard |first2=Arthur |title=Brief German Grammar |date=1908 |publisher=Ginn & Co. |page=17 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Brief_German_Grammar/7WE4AQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv |access-date=18 May 2025 |via=Google Books}}
=Indefinite article=
This article, ein-, is used equivalently to the word a in English. Like its English equivalent (though unlike Spanish), it has no direct form for a plural; in this situation a range of alternatives such as einige (some; several) or manche (some) would be used.
| class="wikitable"
|+ Indefinite article endings (mixed) ! ! Masculine !! Feminine !! Neuter !! Plural |
| Nominative
| ein || eine || ein || - |
|---|
| Accusative
|einen || eine || ein || - |
| Dative
| einem || einer || einem || - |
| Genitive
| eines || einer || eines || - |
The same endings are used for the negative indefinite article-like word (kein-), and the adjectival possessive pronouns (alias: possessive adjectives, possessive determiners), mein- (my), dein- (your (singular)), sein- (his), ihr- (her and their), unser- (our), euer/eur- (your (plural)), Ihr- (your if addressing an authority figure, always capitalised).
=Definite article=
This table gives endings for the definite article, equivalent to English the.
| class="wikitable"
|+ Definite article (strong) ! ! Masculine !! Feminine !! Neuter !! Plural |
| Nominative
| der || die || das || die |
|---|
| Accusative
| den || die || das || die |
| Dative
| dem || der || dem || den |
| Genitive
| des || der || des || der |
The so-called "der words" (Der-Wort) take similar endings. Examples are demonstrative pronouns (dies-, jen-) (this, that), the relative pronoun (welch-) (which), jed- (every), manch- (many), solch- (such).{{cite book |last1=Whittle |first1=Ruth |last2=Klapper |first2=John |last3=Glöckel |first3=Katharina |last4=Dodd |first4=Bill |last5=Eckhard-Black |first5=Christine |title=Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide |date=March 2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781136835520 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Modern_German_Grammar/wS-tAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=18 May 2025 |orig-year=1996|via=Google Books|at=24. Determiners}}
| class="wikitable"
|+ Definite article-like endings (strong) ! ! Masculine !! Feminine !! Neuter !! Plural |
| Nominative
| -er || -e || -es || -e |
|---|
| Accusative
| -en || -e || -es || -e |
| Dative
| -em || -er || -em || -en |
| Genitive
| -es || -er || -es || -er |
- This is essentially the same as the indefinite article table, but with the masculine nominative -er, and the neuter nominative and accusative -es.
For further details as to the usage of German cases, see German grammar.