Der Die Das: A Guide to Learn German Articles for Every Gender (with Examples)
Der Die Das: one of the biggest challenges your German language learning journey will give you. In German, nouns have genders. Each noun is classified as masculine, feminine or neuter. Der die das correspond to these genders.
Lingster Academy made an introductory video about der die das, and in this lesson, they explain the most important things about these German articles:
On Effortless Conversations, we go deeper into explaining these 3 very important words, because without them, you can’t survive in German!
1. Der die das: articles in German explained
When you’re learning new nouns in German, it’s essential to also learn their definite articles because the gender can affect other parts of the sentence. Whenever you’re learning new German vocabulary, you have to learn the German article, too!
Der – definite article for masculine nouns
| German | English |
|---|---|
| der Mann | the man |
| der Tisch | the table |
| der Stuhl | the chair |
| der Baum | the tree |
| der Hund | the dog |
| der Apfel | the apple |
| der Zug | the train |
| der Tag | the day |
| der Freund | the friend (male) |
| der Schuh | the shoe |
| der Himmel | the sky |
| der Bruder | the brother |
| der Vater | the father |
| der Sohn | the son |
| der Lehrer | the teacher (male) |
Die – definite article for feminine nouns
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Frau | the woman |
| die Lampe | the lamp |
| die Katze | the cat |
| die Rose | the rose |
| die Uhr | the clock/watch |
| die Banane | the banana |
| die Straße | the street |
| die Woche | the week |
| die Freundin | the friend (female) |
| die Tasche | the bag |
| die Wolke | the cloud |
| die Schwester | the sister |
| die Mutter | the mother |
| die Tochter | the daughter |
| die Lehrerin | the teacher (female) |
Das – definite article for neuter nouns
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Kind | the child |
| das Buch | the book |
| das Haus | the house |
| das Auto | the car |
| das Jahr | the year |
| das Fenster | the window |
| das Wasser | the water |
| das Mädchen | the girl |
| das Bett | the bed |
| das Tier | the animal |
| das Brot | the bread |
| das Problem | the problem |
| das Zimmer | the room |
| das Spiel | the game |
| das Fahrrad | the bicycle |
2. Why is it important to learn German articles?
You have to learn der die das for different reasons in German.
First of all, the gender of any German noun affects other parts of the sentence. The endings of adjectives and the forms of pronouns change according to the gender of the noun they are describing.
Second, using the correct article helps you clear which specific noun you’re talking about. If you mix up the gender, it can create confusion – don’t worry, native speakers will still understand you, but they will hear your little mistakes.
Third, this language has 4 German cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive. All of these German cases affect the article and the endings of nouns and adjectives.
3. German natural noun gender and grammatical gender
Every noun has a grammatical gender. Keep in mind, that the grammatical gender doesn’t necessarily correspond to the natural gender of the object or being the noun represents.
Assigned grammatical gender refers to the specific grammatical gender added to a noun by the rules of the language. This assigned gender must be memorized because it doesn’t always follow a logical or natural pattern.
Natural gender vs assigned gender
Sometimes, the German noun gender aligns with natural gender, but in many cases, especially for inanimate objects or abstract concepts, the gender is based on a random choice.
When the grammatical gender is the same as the natural gender:
- Der Mann (the man) is masculine.
- Die Frau (the woman) is feminine.
When the grammatical gender does not correlate with a natural gender, it becomes an assigned gender, and must be learned as part of the vocabulary.
- Der Tisch (the table) is masculine.
- Die Katze (the cat) is feminine.
- Das Haus (the house) is neuter.
4. Tips for learning German noun genders
You can easily get lost in assigning der die das to German nouns. Here are a few tips for learning them easily:
Learning der noun endings
- Male Persons and Animals: der Vater (the father), der Hund (the dog)
- Days, Months, Seasons: der Montag (the Monday), der Januar (the January), der Sommer (the summer)
- Weather Elements: der Regen (the rain), der Schnee (the snow).
Note: die Sonne (the sun) is an exception. - Nouns Ending in -er, -en, -el (often, but not always): der Lehrer (the teacher), der Apfel (the apple), der Löffel (the spoon).
Gender rules for die
- Female Persons and Animals: die Mutter (the mother), die Katze (the cat)
- Nouns Ending in -e (many, but not all): die Blume (the flower), die Straße (the street).
Note: der Junge (the boy) is an exception. - Nouns Ending in -heit, -keit, -ung, -schaft, -ion, -tät, -ik: die Freiheit (the freedom), die Möglichkeit (the possibility), die Wohnung (the apartment), die Freundschaft (the friendship), die Nation (the nation), die Universität (the university), die Musik (the music).
- Most Nouns Ending in -e: die Lampe (the lamp), die Tasche (the bag).
Common patterns for das
- Young People and Animals: das Kind (the child), das Kätzchen (the kitten).
- Nouns Ending in -chen, -lein (diminutives): das Mädchen (the girl), das Häuschen (the little house).
- Nouns Ending in -ment, -um: das Experiment (the experiment), das Zentrum (the center).
- Infinitives Used as Nouns: das Essen (the eating/food), das Lesen (the reading).
5. Using German articles in different German cases
As mentioned previously, the German language uses a case system to show the function of a noun in a sentence. This affects der die das, too. Let’s look at how the 3 German articles look in different German cases:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der | die | das | die |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die |
| Dative | dem | der | dem | den |
| Genitive | des | der | des | der |
And how all of this would look in these cases:
Nominative
- Masculine: Der Mann liest. (The man reads.)
- Feminine: Die Frau kocht. (The woman cooks.)
- Neuter: Das Kind spielt. (The child plays.)
- Plural: Die Kinder lernen. (The children learn.)
Accusative
- Masculine: Ich sehe den Mann. (I see the man.)
- Feminine: Ich sehe die Frau. (I see the woman.)
- Neuter: Ich sehe das Kind. (I see the child.)
- Plural: Ich sehe die Kinder. (I see the children.)
Dative
- Masculine: Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. (I give the man the book.)
- Feminine: Ich gebe der Frau die Blume. (I give the woman the flower.)
- Neuter: Ich gebe dem Kind das Spielzeug. (I give the child the toy.)
- Plural: Ich gebe den Kindern die Bücher. (I give the children the books.)
Genitive
- Masculine: Das Buch des Mannes ist alt. (The man’s book is old.)
- Feminine: Das Buch der Frau ist neu. (The woman’s book is new.)
- Neuter: Das Spielzeug des Kindes ist kaputt. (The child’s toy is broken.)
- Plural: Die Spielsachen der Kinder sind teuer. (The children’s toys are expensive.)
6. Practice the German articles (der die das) with us!
Fill in the blanks with the correct German definite article, and pay attention to the German cases!
If you’re looking for more, no worries! Click the button below, and we’ll send you the Full Practice Worksheet Library.
7. Learn German definite articles with Conversation Based Chunking
If you want to learn more about German articles, you can check out our dedicated article on them, so you can see how they function in different use cases. You can also read more about German cases.
But here’s the trick: if you want to learn the German der die das, and want to say goodbye to problems related to it, you can use the Conversation Based Chunking method.
It’s a method that says goodbye to grammar, and instead, focuses on the natural building blocks of the language. If you sign up now, you’ll get an essential German chunking guide, the best resources to learn German, and you’ll even have access to our Full Practice Worksheet Library.
