In German, as in Russian, every noun has a gender. And how is this genus expressed? With the help of the article!

Important: it is not at all necessary that the same word in German and Russian will have the same gender.

All nouns in German are always preceded by a function word - a definite or indefinite article.

Today we will focus on the definite article in detail. So, as you can see from the table:
article der- for the masculine singular
article das- for neuter singular
article die- for feminine singular
article die- for plural

Since the gender of a noun in German and Russian often does not match, we always learn that word together with the article: not just "Tisch", but "der Tisch". Otherwise, you simply cannot build a sentence correctly without knowing the gender of the noun.

Declension of the definite article.

The definite article changes depending on the case, so we see in which case the given noun is:

Hints hinting which article to use (what gender the noun has)

So, as you already understood, we learn all new words along with the article.

But is there a way to determine what kind of noun and what article to use? Yes, there are some tips to keep in mind!

Feminine gender (die):

1. Nouns ending in -ung, -schaft, -keit, -heit, -in, ei.

die Acht ung- respect

die Freund schaft- friendship

die Einsam keit- loneliness

die frei heit- Liberty

die Freund in- girlfriend

die Backer ei– bakery

2. foreign words ending in -age, -ade, -ät, -ie, -ik, -ion, etc.

die Band age– bandage

die Ball ade- ballad

die Facult at- faculty

die Akadem ie– academy

die Akrobat ik- acrobatics

die Diskuss ion- discussion (exceptions: das Stad ion, der Sp ion)

Masculine (der):

1. Nouns ending in -er, -ling, -s.

der Lehr er- teacher

der fremd ling- alien

der Fuch s- fox

2. Foreign words ending in -al, -ant, -or, -ier, ist, etc. (most often they mean the names of persons)

der admiral - admiral

der Demonstration ant- demonstrator

der Agitat or- agitator

der bank ier - banker

der Art ist - artist

3. Seasons, months, days, hours and days (exception - die Nacht)

der Sommer - summer

der February - February

der Abend - evening

4. Cars

der Audi - Audi

der Ferrari - Ferrari

der Abend - evening

5. Natural phenomena

der Sturm - storm

der Nebel - mist

Anyone who is just starting to learn German is faced with the problem of articles. It is difficult for a Russian speaker to understand this topic, because in our speech we do not use anything similar to articles in German. In this article, we simply and simply answer the most common questions among beginners on this topic.

There are several types of articles in German: definite, indefinite and zero. Let's consider each of them in order.

Definite article

There are only four of them:

Der - for masculine nouns (der);

Die - for feminine (di);

Das - for the middle gender (das);

Die is plural (di).

They are used in the following cases:

1. When we know what is at stake. If this subject has already been discussed before. For example: der Hund (a certain dog, which has already been mentioned).
2. To denote phenomena that are one of a kind, analogues of which do not exist in nature (die Erde - Earth).
3. To designate many geographical objects: rivers, cities, mountains, seas, oceans, streets, and so on (die Alpen - Alps).
4. If our noun is preceded by (der dritte Mann - the third person), or an adjective (der schnellste Mann - the fastest person).

Indefinite article

Ein - masculine and neuter (ayin);

Eine - feminine (Aine).

There is no article for the plural in this case.

In German, it is used in cases:

1. When we talk about objects unfamiliar to us (ein Hund - some kind of dog that we hear about for the first time).
2. After the phrase “es gibt” (literally “there is”), for simplicity, we can draw an analogy with the English “there is” (Es gibt einen Weg - there is a road here).
3. For species or class designations (Der Löwe ist ein Raubtier - a lion is a predatory animal).
4. With the verbs Haben (to have) and Brauchen (to need). For example: "Ich habe eine Arbeit" - I have a job.

Zero article

Not all articles in German actually exist. There is such a thing as In fact, this is the absence of the article at all. So, we don't write anything before a noun if:

1. It denotes a profession or occupation (Sie ist Ärztin - she is a doctor).
2. Before many proper names(London ist die Hauptstadt von Großbritannien - London is the capital of Great Britain).
3. To denote the plural (Hier wohnen Menschen - people live here).
4. When designating any chemical, material (aus Gold - from gold).

Almost always in Russian and the articles corresponding to it in German differ from each other. For example, if our “girl” is feminine, then in German - middle - “das Mädchen”. It means "girl". There is a set of endings with which you can make it easier to determine the gender of a noun, but for the most part there is only one way out - to remember.

Another difficulty is the declension of articles in German. Just as we don't say "I see a girl" in Russian, so it is in German. Each article is inflected for cases. The task is facilitated by the fact that there are only four cases: Nominativ (nominative), Genetiv (genitive), Dativ (dative) and Akkusativ (like accusative). Declension just needs to be remembered. For your convenience, we provide a table below.

As for the indefinite articles, they are inclined according to the same principle. For example, the masculine article ein in Akk would be einen, simply adding -en to it. This happens with all the other articles.

Everything is much more complicated.

There is an article here der for masculine nouns die- for women das- for medium and die- for plural nouns. But the form of these articles varies depending on the context, and they sometimes take the form dem or den.

Don't be intimidated - with a fair amount of practice, you will begin to understand how to use articles on an intuitive level (at least that's how I reassure myself).

Top tip for learning der, die and das: memorize nouns with articles!

And now to the rules.

Although using der, die, and das before each noun seems completely unsystematic, there is still a certain logic:

• If the word ends in -or, -ling, -smus or -ig, the masculine article is always used with it der, as with der Tor (gate), der Feigling (cow), der Journalismus (journalism), and der Honig (honey), respectively.
• If the word ends in -ung, -keit, -schaft, -tät, -ik, -tion, -heit or -ei, with it the feminine article is always used die. For example, die Ahnung (idea), die Möglichkeit (opportunity), die Wissenschaft (science), die Qualität (quality), die Semantik (semantics), die Situation (situation), die Dunkelheit (darkness) and die Bäckerei (bakery).
• Very often (though not always) words ending in -e also used with the article die, such as die Lampe (lamp).
• Article die always used with plural nouns (with the exception of the dative case, which we will return to later).
• If the word ends in -chen, -ma, -um, -ment, -lein or -tum, then the article is used with it das, as in das Würstchen (sausage), das Schema (diagram), das Christentum (Christianity), das Medikament (medicine), das Fräulein (lady), and das Eigentum (property).
• Article das also often used with technical, mechanical, and scientific nouns.

At least now you have something to focus on. Indeed, there are many more German words with other endings. Unfortunately, you can only find out their gender and, accordingly, which article to use with them using a dictionary.

Things get more complicated when you encounter any case other than the nominative.

Accusative (Akkusativ)

In the accusative case, the article der changes to den. Fortunately, the rest of the articles remain the same.

Let's see how it works. To make everything very clear with the family, let's talk about men and women. Take the sentence "A woman hit a man" (Note that we don't encourage violence of any kind, but it happens sometimes, doesn't it?)

"Man" is definitely masculine, der Mann, and "woman" is feminine, die Frau. Since a woman beats a man (oh, crazy world!), then there is an accusative case. Remember: the only article that changes in the accusative case is the masculine article. The result is the following: Die Frau schlug den Mann.

Dative case (Dativ)

If the noun in the sentence is in the dative case, then the article changes again: der on dem, die on der, das on dem And die for plural in den.

Let's look at a few examples to put everything in its place.

"I waited in line for five hours."
The noun "queue" in German is feminine die Schlange. Because in the dative case, die becomes der, the sentence would be:
Ich habe funf Stunden in der Schlange gewartet.

Another example: "The glass is on the table."
In the dative case there is a masculine noun der Tisch (table). Thus, the proposal is as follows:
Der Becher ist auf dem Tisch.

"Oranges under the sofa." (How did they get there?!)
In the dative case, the neuter article das Sofa changes to dem. And the proposal in full will be as follows:
Die orange sind unter dem sofa.

Genitive case (Genitiv)

Belonging to someone or something can be expressed using the preposition von: das Auto von Tom (Tom's car).

But in writing it is better to use the genitive case, in which the articles change as follows: der on des, die on der, das on des And die for plural in der, for example: das Kleid der Frau "woman's dress", das Auto des Mannes "man's car". (When everyone gets what they need, you can do without physical assault, right?)

Well, you can take a breath. It's not that bad. Remember that the article in many cases depends on the ending of the noun, memorize these endings and practice, practice and practice again.

And repeat like a mantra: “100 million German speakers have mastered this. And I can too.”

The article in German is a special part of speech that accompanies a noun. For many beginners to learn German, a very important part of speech - the article - is incomprehensible. There is no analogue in Russian for this part of speech. But in order to understand at least a little the importance of articles in German, you first need to understand why they are needed at all and what function they play.

In Russian we say: dogs A, dogs at, from dogs Ouch and so on.

In German, we can say that the article plays the role of our ending. It shows the gender, case and number of the noun.

For example:

It's dogs A. - Das ist ein Hund.
I see dogs at- Ich sehe einen Hund.
He goes for a walk With dogs Ouch. - Ergeht mit dem Hund spazieren.

As you can see, the German endings do not change. Instead of endings, the article is used. The German article is located directly before a noun. If there is a definition before the noun, the article is placed before the definition.

Das ist ein interested in Buch. - It's an interesting book.

What articles are there in German?

There are 4 types of articles in German:

indefinite article

definite article

zero article

negative article

Declension table for definite and indefinite articles

There are four cases in German (Kasus):

Nominative (nominative) wer? was? - Who? What?

Accusative (accusative) wen? was? - whom? What?

Dative (dative) wem? Welcher Sache? - to whom? what?

Genitive (genitive) wessen? - whom? what?

In this table you see the forms of the definite and indefinite article for the masculine, neuter, feminine and plural forms. Note that there is no indefinite article in the plural. The definite article in the plural is the same for all genders - DIE.

All nouns in German are writtencapitalized And used withindefinite or certainarticle. Sometimes the article is not used.

In German, the article not only gives information about the definiteness / indefiniteness of the noun, but also indicates the gender, number and case of the noun, bowing down.

When to use which article?

Our website has the option pronunciation have any German text. For this it's simple highlight german text or a word anywhere on our site And click on the bottom right "Play" button(white triangle in a black circle). After that, you will hear the text spoken in German.

Indefinite article has the following forms:

ein- for the masculine singular - ein Hund (dog)
ein- for the neuter singular - ein Loch (hole)
eine- for the feminine singular - eine Maus (mouse)

But do not forget that these articles are inflected. If you forgot, then look again at the article declension table.

In the plural, the designations of indefinite persons or objects are used without the article.

The indefinite article ein or eine used

• with nouns which we call for the first time:

Mochten Sie eine banana? - Do you want ( one) banana?

Das ist ein Buch. - This is a book.
Das Buch ist sehr interessant. - This book is very interesting.

• after the verb haben if the noun is in the accusative case.

Ich habe einen hund und eine Katze. -
I have ( one) dog and ( one) cat.

• after speech esgibt(have, have)

In meiner Stadt gibt es einen schönen Park und ein Theatre. -
In my city there is (there is) ( one) nice park and one) theater.

• when there is a comparison and the conjunction wie is used (as):

Sie singt wie ein Vogel. - She sings like a bird.

Definite article has the following forms:

der- for the masculine singular - der Hund (dog)
das- for the neuter singular - das Loch (hole)
die- for the feminine singular - die Maus (mouse)
die- for the plural - die Hunde (dogs)

The definite article der, die or das used

• with nouns that we know, about which we are not talking for the first time.

Mmm, die Banana ist lecker. - Mmm, ( this) The banana is delicious.

Das ist ein Buch. - This is a book.
Das Buch ist sehr interesting. - This book is very interesting.

• when talking about a subject the only possible in this situation:

East der Director schon da? - Is the director already here?

Mein Kind kommt bald aus der Schule. - My child will come home from school soon.

Director at the company one and the school the child goes to one.

• when talking about the only subject of a kind:

a) names of celestial bodies:

die sonne - the sun
der Mond - moon, month
die Erde - Earth
die Venus - Venus
der Merkur - Mercury, etc.;

b) the names of the countries of the world, seasons, months and days of the week:

der Norden - north
der Sommer - summer
der January - January
der Montag - Monday, etc.;

In combination Anfang, Ende, Mitte The article is not used with the name of the month:

Anfang Januar fahren wir ins Gebirge. - At the beginning of January we go to the mountains.

c) names of oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, for example:

der Stille Ozean - Pacific Ocean
das Schwarze Meer - Black Sea
der Don - Don
der Ladoga-See - Lake Ladoga;

d) names of streets, squares, avenues:

der Newski Prospekt
der Rossplatz
die Käthe-Kolwitz-Straße, etc.;

e) names of mountains, winds, deserts:

der Ural
der Nordost - north-east
die Sahara - Sahara, etc.;

• with a superlative adjective or ordinal number:

die klügste Antwort is the smartest answer
der erste Schnee - first snow;

Use zero article you just have to learn by heart!

• The article is missing when uncountable nouns And abstract concepts - that which cannot be touched, seen.

For example: Zeit- time, Lust- wish, Gluck- happiness, Hunger- hunger and similar words.

Indeed, it is impossible to count!

Ich habe Zeit- I have time.
Ich habe Hunger- I am hungry.

Also used without the article

• professions :

Ich bin Arzt- I am a doctor.
Meine freundin ist Informatikerin. - My friend is a computer scientist.
Erist Student. - He is a student.

nationality

Ich bin Russin. - I'm Russian.
Sie ist Spanierin. - She's Spanish.
Sie sind Chinese. - They're Chinese.

• religious supplies

Ich bin Katholik. - I am Catholic.
Seid Ihr Buddhisten? - Are you Buddhists?
Sie sind Christen. - They are Christians.

• names of cities, countries and continents:

Ich komme aus Deutschland. - I am from Germany.
In einem Monat fahre ich nach Kiev. - In a month I will go to Kyiv.

Exceptions: die Schweiz (Switzerland), die Türkei (Turkey), die USA (USA), der Iran (Iran), die Niederlande (Netherlands) and others

materials and substances:

das house aus Holz- wooden house
die Tasche aus leder- leather bag
Trinken Sie Kaffee gern? - Do you like coffee?

diseases:

Ich habe Grippe. - I have the flu.
Er hat Fieber. - He has a fever.

in plural, if in the singular the noun is used with an indefinite article (the absence of an article indicates an indefinite set of named objects):

Da Steht ein Haus. - Here is the house.
Da stehen Hauser. - Here are the houses.

We strongly recommend that you memorize German nouns immediately with articles, as articles play an important role in the correct construction of sentences. For example, learn the word "lamp" not as "Lampe" but as "die Lampe".

In addition to the definite and indefinite articles in German, there are also a number of pronouns that carry information about the gender, number and case of a noun. These are demonstrative pronouns (dieser - this, jener - that, etc.), possessive pronouns (mein - mine, dein - yours, etc.) and a negative pronoun (negative article) kein. Such pronouns are used instead of the article and are declined as a definite or indefinite article.

Demonstrative pronouns also decline like the definite article dieser - this one, jener - that one, solcher - such and interrogative pronoun

There is no such thing as just a tree in German. May be or ein Baum [ain baum] - one (any) tree, order Baum [dea baum] - that (same) tree.

In other words, before all nouns there is a function word that expresses its definiteness or indefiniteness - a definite or indefinite article. In the example above: ein is the indefinite article, and der- definite article (masculine).

Different articles correspond to different genders:

Let's look at examples:

Gibt es hier in der Nähe eine Bar? Is there (one) bar nearby?

You used the indefinite article because you don't know what a bar is and whether there is one at all. You will be answered:

Ja, ich kenne hier eine Bar. – Yes, I know (one) bar here.

This is, of course, a very specific bar. Why is the indefinite article used? The fact is that the indefinite article can mean not only some one(as in your question) but also one of(as in the answer). That is, it can express not only uncertainty, but also the belonging of a private thing to general concept: This is one of the bars..

Finally, you have already approached the bar and, surprised at its homeliness, exclaim:

East das eine Bar? - And this is a bar? And this is one of the bars?

To which your companion, without losing his composure, replies:

Ja, das ist eine Bar. – Yes, this is a bar, this is one of the bars.

He loves this bar and adds:

Die Bar ist gut. - This bar is good.

Here, as you can see, there is a definite article.
So, if you simply name or characterize something (thus raising the particular to the general), then you need to use the indefinite article:

Unser Präsident ist ein Mensch wie du und ich. “Our president is as human as you and me.

Compare:

Das ist der Mensch. - This is the same person. (Which we already talked about. Der- masculine definite article.

Here you do not name, but indicate.

True, if you name the occupation, profession or nationality, then it is better to do without the article at all:

Ich bin Geschäftsmann. - I am a businessman(verbatim: business person).
Sie arbeitet als Krankenschwester. - She is a nurse(verbatim: as a nurse, as a nurse).
Ich bin Deutscher. - I am German.

But:

Ich weiß, dass du ein Künstler bist. – I know that you are an artist (in the broadest sense).

Here we mean not so much the occupation as the characteristic of a person, the correlation of the particular with the general: you belong to the category of artists, you are one of them.

In addition, you can do without the article when it comes to feelings, substances and materials, or simply about something common, indivisible and incalculable (that is, about something that is rarely talked about one of a kind or the same):

Jeder Mensch braucht Liebe. “Every person needs love.
Die Tasche ist aus Leder. This bag is made of leather.
Ich habe Durst. - I'm thirsty. Literally: I'm thirsty(Not one thirst and not that thirst, but simply thirst).
Ich trinke Bier. - I drink beer.
Die Deutschen essen viel Schweinefleisch. The Germans eat a lot of pork.
Wir haben Gluck. - We are lucky (literally: we have happiness).
in Zukunft - in the future.

Compare, however:

Ich trinke ein Bier. I will drink one (= one mug) beer.
Ich esse ein Schweinefleisch. I will eat one serving of pork.
Ich trinke das Bier. I drink (or will drink) this beer.
Ich esse das Schweinefleisch. I eat (or eat) this pork.

Here we are no longer dealing with articles, but with independent words, words with their own stress.

Sometimes the article is needed purely formally, to clarify the case:

Ich ziehe Wein dem Wasser vor. – I prefer wine to water.
Unter dem Schnee - under the snow.

With a definite article, a word can be used not only if it denotes something specific, but also if it has a general meaning, that is, it denotes a set of specific things (general, but at the same time divisible, calculable):

Der Menschist, was er isst. - Man is what he eats.

The article may not be in the enumeration or in already established speech turns and in sayings:

mit Weib und Kind - with a wife and a child (or children) (that is, the whole family).
in Familie und Beruf - in the family and in the profession (that is, at work).
Ende gut - alles gut. - The end is the crown of business(verbatim: the end is good - all is well).
Zeit ist Geld. - Time is money.

And also in newspaper headlines, announcements, telegrams, commands (for brevity):

Bankräuber nahm Kind als Geisel. The bank robber took the child hostage.
Einfamilienhaus zu verkaufen. - Single-family house for sale.
Hande hoch! - Hands up!

The article is also omitted when naming various time periods in phrases like:

Es ist Abend. – Evening(verbatim: it is evening).
Heute ist Mittwoch. - Today is Wednesday.

As a rule, the definite article is not needed before the names, since they themselves designate certain persons:

Auf Klaus ist Verlass. - You can rely on Klaus(verbatim: there is trust).

Quite often in everyday spoken language the article is still put, which somehow enlivens the speech:

Weiß jemand, wo der Klaus ist? Does anyone know where (this) Klaus is?

The article is placed before the surname in the plural, and also if the name has a definition:

Die Meyers sind eine glückliche Familie. The Mayers are a happy family.
die kleine Susanne-little Susanna.
der grosse Goethe-great Goethe.

As for cities and countries, they mostly do without the article:

Österreich (Austria), Wien (Vienna)…

Exceptions to this rule:

die Dominikanische Republik, die Mongolei, die Schweiz, die Slowakei, die Türkei, die Ukraine, die Zentralafrikanische Republik.
der Iraq, der Iran, der Jemen, der Kongo, der Libanon, der Niger, der Sudan, der Tschad, der Vatikan