German articles, explained
Short guides with tables and examples, for learners from A1 to B1.
- Der, die or das? 30 rules for German articlesHow to tell der, die or das from a noun's ending or meaning: 30 rules with examples, from -ung (always die) to -chen (always das), and how sure each is.
- German plural endings: -n, -e, -er, -s and the umlautGerman plural endings explained: -n, -e, -er, -s, umlauts and no change, how often each comes and which nouns take it. In the plural, every noun is die.
- Accusative in German: when der becomes denThe German accusative: only der changes, to den. With the article table, who-does-what examples, the accusative prepositions and the most common mistake.
- Dative in German: dem, der, dem and who gets somethingThe German dative: der and das become dem, die becomes der, the plural becomes den with an -n. With giving examples, dative prepositions and zum, zur, im.
- Genitive in German: des, der and the -s endingThe German genitive: der and das become des and the noun adds -s or -es, die and the plural become der. When it's -es, and when Germans say von instead.
- Surprising German articles: das Mädchen, der KäseWhy a girl is das Mädchen and cheese is der Käse: articles that seem wrong, exceptions to the -e rule, and words whose meaning changes with the article.
Remember it with a picture
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