The use of the definite article in German. Indefinite article

Before we start talking about the noun in German, let's talk about an equally important part of speech - the article. The article is a service part of speech in the German language and carries information about the gender, case and number of the noun, and also indicates whether the subject has been discussed before or is mentioned for the first time.

So, in German there are two types of articles: definite (der, die, das) and indefinite (ein, eine, ein). If there is no article, we can talk about a zero article.

Example: Das ist ein Buch. Das Buch ist ziemlich gut. - This is a book. The book is pretty good.

Articles, as a rule, are not translated into Russian.

Indefinite article

The indefinite article is used when we are talking about an unfamiliar, indefinite object mentioned for the first time.

The indefinite article, like the definite article, changes according to cases. There are four cases in German.
Nominative(N) [nominatif] – answers the questions: wer? (who?) was? (What?)
Genitiv(G) [genitif] – wessen? (whose? whose? whose?)
Dativ(D) [datif] - wem? (to whom?) wann? (when?) wo? (where?) wie? (How?)
Akkusativ(Akk) [akuzatif] - wen? was? (who? what?) wohin? (Where?)

The rules for declension of the indefinite article in the singular are given in the table. Plural of the indefinite article No.

As you can see, the declension of the masculine and neuter indefinite article differs only in one case - the accusative. Declension of the article with nouns female The easiest way to remember is that the nominative case is the same as the accusative, and the genitive case is the same as the dative.

Along with the form, you need to remember the rules for using the indefinite article. So, the indefinite article is used:

Before nouns that are mentioned for the first time.

Ich habe eine Wohnung. Auf dem Tisch steht ein Teller. - I have an apartment. There is a plate on the table.

Before nouns that form part of a complex nominal predicate(verb + noun). For example:

Before a noun in comparison.

Sie ist schön wie eine Rose. - She is as beautiful as a rose.

After the verbs “haben”, “brauchen” and after the phrase “es gibt”.

Wir haben ein Auto. Ich brauche eine Jacke. Hier gibt es eine Schule. — We have a car. I need a jacket. There is a school here.

Before nouns that denote profession, nationality, rank, if they are preceded by a defining word - for example, an adjective:

Er ist ein fleißiger Student. — He is a diligent student.

Remember! If there is no qualifying word before a noun denoting profession, nationality or rank, then the article is NOT used.

Definite article

The definite article indicates an object that is already familiar or known. The definite article is also declined according to cases.

Please note that in the case of the declension of the definite article, the masculine and neuter forms coincide only in the genitive and dative cases.

The indefinite article is also used according to some rules, which are given below. So, the indefinite article is used:

Before a noun that was used before.

Wie haben ein Hund. Der Hund ist groß. - We have a dog. The dog is big.

Before a noun that is known or determined by the situation or context.

Die Lehrerin sagt, “Öffnet die Lehrbücher.” - The teacher says: “Open your textbooks.”

Before a noun, after which there is some clarifying information, usually expressed by another noun with a preposition, a noun in genitive case or adverb.

Das ist das Buch meines Bruder. - This is my brother's book.
Das Buch auf dem Tisch ist ein Lehrbuch. — The book on the table is a textbook.
Der Mann links ist mein Vater. - The man on the left is my father.

Adjective in superlatives or ordinal numbers.

Das ist die größte Wohnung. — This is a big apartment.

Das ist das erste Haus. - This is the first house.

Before nouns that denote unique objects or phenomena: die Sonne (sun), der Mond (moon), etc.

Die Erde ist rund. - The earth is round.

To check how well you have understood the rule about articles, try to complete the following exercises. Don't be afraid to peek at the tables - we're just learning!

Lesson assignments

Exercise 1. Answer the questions.

Which article is used after the verbs “haben” and “brauchen”?
How many articles are there in German?
What article is used with nouns denoting unique objects or phenomena?
Name the form of the definite article male dative case.
What questions does the genitive case answer?

Exercise 2. Complete the table with the correct form of the article.

Answer 1:

Indefinite article.
Two: definite and indefinite. (Possible answer: three, if we take into account the zero article, i.e. its absence.)
Definite article.
Whose? Whose? Whose?

Instructions

Use the definite article in the following cases:

When the subject being spoken about is known to both the speaker and the listener. For example: Das Kind ist gleich eingeschlafen;
- when the subject is the only possible one in a given situation or of its kind, or is somehow highlighted (defined in a sentence). For example: Die Erde bewegt sich um die Sonne;
- with the names of rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, mountains, streets, for example: der Stille Ozean;
- collective meaning, for example: Die Gesellschaft hat sich geändert.

The indefinite article should be used in cases where:

An item from a series of similar ones. For example: Hast du ein Worterbuch?;
- the noun is the nominal part of the nominal predicate. For example: Zeuthen ist eine Stadt in Deutschland;
- the noun acts as a direct object after haben (to have) and es gibt (there is, there is). For example: Es gibt hier ein Geschenk.

There is no article (zero article) when:

The noun is plural and denotes an indefinite number of objects. For example: Hast du weichen Spielzeuge?;
- a noun denotes material or substance. For example: Ich bevorzuge Kaffee;
- a noun denotes a property, quality or state. For example: Sie haben Hunger;
- a noun is a nominal part of a compound nominal predicate and expresses professional, social and other similar affiliation. For example: Ich bin Artz;
- a noun is a nominal part of a compound nominal predicate and denotes a temporary. For example: Es ist Freitag;
- the noun follows the preposition ohne (without) or the conjunction als (as, as). For example: Mein Kind liest ohne Hilfe.

Sources:

definite article in German
Rules for determining the article in German

Articles exist in many European and Asian languages. They are definite and indefinite. Every student of Romance and Germanic languages faces the need to distinguish between them. These short words can appear before or after nouns, either singular or plural. To correctly convey the meaning of a foreign phrase, you need to know how one article differs from another and when which one is used.

You will need

- text in a foreign language.

Instructions

Having received the task of translating a piece of text or composing a story yourself, remember what articles it contains. There are two of them, a and the. The article a is called definite, the - indefinite. The secret to using them lies in the . If you are talking about something that has already been mentioned before, use the article a. The same applies to situations if, in a conversation with an interlocutor, you name a very specific and, moreover, known to you object. In opposite situations, put the.

Try to answer the question about what kind of flower or pencil we are talking about. If the words “some”, “any”, “unknown” can be placed in front of a noun, then we are talking about “an object in general”. In this case, the indefinite article is used. Definite is used if an object can be designated as “this”, “that same”, “the one that I showed you”, “the one that we have already talked about”.

In a number of languages, articles are used in both singular and number. In Romance languages they also have a gender category. But they are distinguished in the same way as in. The Spanish un, una, unos and unas come from the Latin numeral for one. Before nouns you can put the words “one of”, “some”, “some” in the appropriate gender. If you see the words el, la, los and las before nouns, this indicates that this item or items have already been discussed before or the interlocutors know about them.

In some languages, it is the articles that make it possible to distinguish, which often sound exactly the same and their exact meaning can only be established by belonging to a certain gender. In a language, singular and plural nouns sometimes sound exactly the same. The number can be determined by a short word that comes before the main one. Le and les sound different. Listen carefully to foreign speech and catch the sound that ends this small but important part of speech.

You may not be understood if you start using nouns without articles. In many cases, only this modest part of speech allows us to determine what is being said about the noun. Nothing like that before adjectives and verbs. It happens that verbs look and sound exactly the same as nouns. The absence of an article can greatly change the meaning of a phrase, often even to the exact opposite. Therefore, before you say a phrase, remember whether you have ever talked about this subject before or not.

Look at the entire offer. If there are any details about a given object, there may be a definite article before it. For example, if you need to translate the phrase “there is a tree growing in front of the house,” then in both cases you put a or, say, un. It can be said about a house that it is located on such and such a street and there is just a tree growing in front of it. In this case, the article before the word “house” in almost any Western European language will be definite. The tree remains unknown, somehow, “a tree in general.” If, for example, it has a broken top or a forked trunk, the situation changes. This is a tree you already know, unlike any other. That's why el or the comes before it.

Video on the topic

I.G. Knyazeva, German language teacher, MBOU Secondary School No. 15 Art. Rogovskaya

Article in German

An article is a function word that comes before a noun. The article in German is declined and indicates to us the gender, number and case of the noun. In German there are definite articles die, der, das, die(plural) and indefinite ein, eine, ein. The indefinite article does not exist in the plural.

Declension of the definite and indefinite articles in German

Case	Singular
	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter gender		Plurals for all genders
	Def.	Undefined	Def.	Undefined	Def.	Undefined	Plurals for all genders
Nominative	der	ein	die	eine	das	ein	die
Genitiv	des	eines	der	einer	des	eines	der
Dativ	dem	einem	der	einer	dem	einem	den(-n)
Akkusativ	den	einen	die	eine	das	ein	die

The possessive pronouns mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer and the negative pronoun are declined as the indefinite article kein in singular parts, used instead of the article.
Demonstrative pronouns are inflected like the definite article. dieser- this, diese - this, these, diesels - This ; jenes - That, jener- That, jene - ta, those ; solcher- such, solche - such, such, solches - such an interrogative pronoun welcher- Which? welche - which? which? welches - which?

Using the indefinite article in German

At the first mention of an object, person, concept	Ich sehe ein Auto.
After the verbs haben, brauchen, turnover es gibt	Er hat einen Bruder. Ich brauche ein Lehrbuch. Es gibt ein Museum in unserer Stadt.
When comparing	Sie spricht deutsch wie eine Deutsche.
If the noun is nominal Part of the predicate and used with a definition	H.Heine ist ein groβer deutscher Dichter.

Use of the definite article in German

When mentioned again	Ich sehe ein Auto. Das Auto ist neu und schön.
If the concept is one of a kind	die Sonne, die Erde, die Welt, der Norden
In a specific situation	der Lehrer sagt:“Komm an die Tafel!“
With nouns in the genitive case	das Buch des Vaters
With ordinal numbers	der erste September, der zweite Tag
with superlative adjectives	Die schönste Frau, der beste Schüler
If place names are preceded by a definition and if the place name is masculine or feminine	Das schöne Wien, die Schweiz
If a proper name is used with a definition	Der junge Beethoven

Using the zero article in German

Before a plural noun, if the singular would have an indefinite article	Hier liegen ein Buch und ein Heft. Hier liegen Bücher und Hefte.
When designating a profession, nationality, religions, with the verbs sein and werden, and also after als	Ich bin Arzt. Er wird Ingenieur. Er ist Türke. Er ist Catholic. Sie arbeitet als Lehrerin.
When contacting	Kinder! Freunde!
Before proper names	Goethe, Schiller
Before the names of countries and cities of the neuter gender	Germany, Berlin
Often before real and abstract nouns	Ich trinke Milch germ. Mit Interesse lesen wir ein Märchen.
In stable phrases and proverbs	Tag und Nacht, zu Fuβ, Eile mit Weile, Übung macht Meister
In advertisements, signs, movies, book titles	Sportwaren “Krieg und Frieden”
In the names of religious holidays	Weihnachten, Ostern
Often when listing	Schulen, Kindergärten, Krankenhäuser wurden gebaut.

The presence of an article (art.) is a feature that distinguishes the German language from many others.

Art. – this is an auxiliary part of speech that means:

grammatical features of a noun (noun). Therefore, it occurs when any word is substantivized: leben – das Leben (to live – life); fünf – die Fünf (five – five);
gender, case, number: der Lehrer (teacher), des Lehrers (teachers), die Lehrer (plural);
indicates the meaning of certainty and uncertainty of a noun. in a sentence: Das ist ein Buch. Das Buch ist sehr interessant. - This is a book. The book is very interesting.

There is a definite article (definitive article) ( singular: der, die, das; plural: die) and indefinite art. (ein, eine, ein; no plural).

Def. art. in German it is used:

before (trans.) noun, denoting something unique, unique: die Erde - Earth, der Mond - Moon, die UNO - UN;
lane noun denoting a specific object in a given situation: Monika saß auf der Couch. – Monica sat down on the sofa. Er wäscht sich die(seine) Hände, den Kopf. - He washes (his) hands and head. Sie wohnen in der Gartenstraße. – They live on Sadovaya Street.
lane noun denoting an object or person known to the interlocutors: Wie war der Konzert? – How was the concert? Gefällt Ihnen der Film? – Do you like the film?
lane nouns that are remembered in conversation or text: Ein Hund stand auf einmal vor meiner Tür. Der Hund war klein mit langen Ohren. “A dog suddenly appeared in front of my door. The dog was small with long ears.
lane abstract concepts that are used for generalization: die Jugend - youth, die Heimat - Homeland, Das Leben kann so wunderschön sein! – Life can be so wonderful!
lane a noun that is qualified by an adjective or subordinate clause: Wir mieten die Wohnung im ersten Stock. – We rent an apartment on the second floor. Sie hatte das Gefühl, krank zu sein. “She had a feeling that she was sick.”
before geographical names (names of seas, lakes, mountains, etc.) and before the names of some countries: die Alpen - Alps, der Bodensee - Bodensee, der Ural - Ural, das Europa - Europe, der Süden - South, das Afrika — Africa; Italien - Italy, Frankreich - France, Russland - Russia, but: der Iran - Iran, die Schweiz - Switzerland, die Ukraine - Ukraine, die Philippinen - Philippines and others.
in front of some proper names: der Marienplatz – Mariinskaya Square, die Berliner Philharmoniker – Berlin Philharmonic.
if a noun denotes the entire type of given objects or persons: Die Rose ist eine Blume. - A rose is a flower. Der Mensch ist sterblich - Man is mortal. Watt hat die Dampfmaschine erfunden – Watt invented the steam engine.
colloquially before names: Die Meiers wollen umziehen. - The Mayers want to move.

Def. art. in German it is also used for education:

nouns from other parts of speech: das Spazierengehen - walk, die Mutigen - daredevils, das Lesen - reading;
superlative comparison of adjectives: Tom ist der jüngste Schüler in unserer Klasse. Tom is the youngest student in our class.

You can also replace the definite article in German with the prepositions pro and je before a specific value or quantity: Der Stoff kostet zehn Euro der Meter. – Fabric costs ten Euros per meter. Er verkauft den Tomaten für zwei Euro das Pfund. – He sells tomatoes for two Euros per pound.

Oh, this German language - it contains such a thing as articles. Articles in German are of the following types: definite, indefinite, negative, zero. Definite articles are die, das, der– each of which is responsible for a specific genus. The indefinite article is ein. Negative – kein.

How does the definite article in German differ from the indefinite article?

The indefinite article is placed before nouns, which have not yet been discussed - and which is mentioned for the first time. (Except for special cases, which you will read about below).

Das ist eine Katze. – It's a cat.

The definite article is used before a word that has already been discussed. Here we are again about the cat, but we met her in the last sentence, which means:

Die Katze ist schwarz. – This cat is black.

The indefinite article is also used if the speaker does not know at all whether there is an object that he needs in a given place at a given time: Wo ist hier ein Telefon?-Where is the phone here?

The definite article is used when you are asking for something specific, describing something specific, mentioning something specific.

Here's a comparison:

Gib mir ein Messer.

Gib mir das Messer.

What is the difference between these two examples? Both of them can be translated as: give me the knife. Only in the first option, the person asking doesn’t care what kind of knife they give him - any one will suit him. But in the second case: the person asking has in mind a specific knife that he sees - and maybe even points at.

Articles in German can also be inflected according to cases and numbers. Here's the definite article:

I will not tell you which words are used in which of the listed genders within the framework of this note. Wait for the next article about the gender of German nouns.

And here is the indefinite article:

The negative article is the same indefinite article, but with the letter k at the beginning. That's why I didn't want to draw a separate table... BUT! There is a very important difference between them. Therefore, catch the third sign:

Notice the main difference? That's right - the plural with a negative article is used!

By the way, read about negation in German.

Tables with declination of articles need to be known by heart - this the beginning of time, which will be very useful in the future. In principle, the endings of all the listed articles are similar - and there is nothing wrong with them. If you are really depressed and too lazy to learn this, try dropping the genetive - the last line in each tablet - you can make up for it later, but at first you can do without it.

And one more hint: a woman in dative and genitive turns into a man!

There are a few more rules: when it is necessary to use the definite article, and in which cases - the indefinite article. Sometimes the article is completely absent... These are the cases we will now consider.

The definite article in German

Definite article in German it is usually placed before:

Famous buildings: das Brandenburger Tor – Brandenburg Gate der Eiffelturm – Eiffel Tower.
one of a kind concepts : die Sonne- Sun, die Erde - Earth
names of some countries: der Iraq, die USA
geographical names :die Alpen– Alps, der Rhein– Rain
names of organizations: das Finanzamt– financial department
historical eras and events: die deutsche Wiedervereinigung – German reunification
titles: der Papst- Pope, die Queen- queen
superlative adjectives: der beste Schüler– best student

Indefinite article put:

after the verbs haben, brauchen and the phrase es gibt: Hast du eine Schwester? - Do you have a sister?
when comparing: Sie spricht Deutsch wie eine Deutsche.– She speaks German like a German.
in designs: so ein, ein solcher, solch ein.

Zero article

The article is absent in the following cases:

before nouns denoting material: aus Gold- made of gold, aus Wolle- made of wool
before the names of languages: Deutsch- German, Italienisch – Italian
before the names of most countries, names of cities and continents: Germany, Cologne, Africa
when contacting: Kinder!!!– Deeeeti!!! Freunde!!!- Friends!!!
in the names of religious holidays: Ostern- Easter, Weihnachten- Christmas.
in stable combinations and proverbs: Übung macht den Meister– Practice makes perfect, zu Fuß- on foot
often when listing: Neue Wohnhäuser, Schulen, Krankenhäuser wird gebaut. – New houses, schools, hospitals are being built.
before uncountable nouns: Liebe- Love, Luft- air
before proper names (although in some regions they really like to endow human names with definite articles): Guten Tag, Frau Müller!- Good afternoon, Frau Müller!
before professions and nationalities in the following phrases: Sie ist Friseurin.- She is a hairdresser. Er ist Franzose. - He is French.