The Art of Articles by Edward Swick, M.A.
There are two kinds of articles in German: definite articles and indefinite articles. Definite articles identify a specific noun or group of nouns (the boy, the cars). Indefinite articles identify a noun or group of nouns in general (a boy, cars). German articles must agree with the noun in gender and number.
Definite Articles
The German definite article has three basic forms in the singular and one basic form in the plural, all having the meaning “the”:
der |
masculine/singular |
der Mann (the man) |
die |
feminine/singular |
die Frau (the woman) |
das |
neuter/singular |
das Kind (the child) |
die |
plural |
die Kinder (the children) |
<B>Alert!</B></h2>
<p>Don't confuse the singular feminine article <B>die</B> with the plural article <B>die</B>. When nouns become plural, their definite article is <B>die</B>, no matter what gender they were in the singular. The following singular nouns der Mann, die Lampe and das Haus become <B>die Männer</B>, <B>die Lampen</B>, and <B>die Häuser</B> in the plural.</p>
</div>
<h2><B>Indefinite Articles</B></h2>
<p>The German indefinite articles correspond to the English articles “a” and “an” and are also used for the number “one.” There are two forms of the German indefinite article, and, like English, the indefinite form of the plural is a plural noun standing alone without any article.</p>
<table frame="all" width="100%">
<tgroup cols="3">
<colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="40%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><p><B>ein<markup role="dot"/></B></p></td>
<td><p>masculine/singular<markup role="dot"/></p></td>
<td><p><B>ein Mann</B> (a man)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<entry/>
<td><p>neuter/singular<markup role="dot"/></p></td>
<td><p><B>ein Kind</B> (a child)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><B>eine<markup role="dot"/></B></p></td>
<td><p>feminine/singular<markup role="dot"/></p></td>
<td><p><B>eine Frau</B> (a woman)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<entry/>
<td><p>plural<markup role="dot"/></p></td>
<td><p><B>Kinder</B> (children)</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<p>The indefinite article is also used to enumerate one of something: <B>Ich habe ein Buch und zwei Hefte.</B> (I have one book and two notebooks.) When referring to someone's profession with verbs like <B>sein</B> (to be) and <B>werden</B> (to become), unlike English, no article is required: <B>Ich bin Professor</B>. (I am a professor.)</p>
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