Declension of articles. Articles in German Declension of German articles

How often have you promised yourself to start doing something next Monday, next month... next year? But then either they didn’t even try to get down to business, or they soon abandoned everything. It’s the same with learning a foreign language: at first we are full of enthusiasm, and then the first difficulties begin to arise - and we begin to look for an excuse for ourselves not to do anything.

And if many people learned the English language with grief, then the cases in the German language scare away almost everyone at the very beginning of learning. However, if you think about it, everything is not so scary at all. After all, our native language is Russian. And it has as many as six cases and three singular genders. Besides, forget about her. And in German everything is the same, but there are only four cases, how can you not cope? So let's start figuring it out right now.

Unlike Russian, cases in German are expressed using articles, and not As for adjectives and pronouns, their endings are consistent across cases, but priority in their expression is still given to articles. The endings rather reflect the noun being defined. So, there are the following cases of the German language:

As mentioned above, cases in German are expressed through articles, so for ease of understanding I offer you a table with the change of articles by case.

* - the ending -s is also added to the noun;

** - the ending -n is added to the noun.

Now that we have dealt with the basic questions regarding how cases are used in the German language, it’s time to get down to the most interesting part - prepositions. After all, they are often the ones who influence the use of one case or another. And they are not difficult to learn!

As you can see, cases in German can still be studied, and their use is even more logical than in Russian. So go for it - and remember that everything here depends only on you.

Articles in German have important grammatical functions. They express gender, number, case and the category of definiteness and indeterminacy of the noun they precede.

Types of articles

German language articles divides in three categories: singular der or ein- for the masculine gender, das or ein– for average, die or eine– for feminine and for plural – article die.

Articles der, das, die – certain And ein, eine – uncertain. The category of certainty says that the subject being discussed is isolated from many similar things and is known to the interlocutors, i.e. contextual or unique.

The indefinite article in German carries novelty information about an object in a given context, introduces interlocutors to a new object that has appeared in the field of communication and is replaced in repeated use by a definite article. For example:

Ich sehe da ein Mädchen. Das Mädchen weint.
I see (some) girl there. She's crying.

It is easy to see what shades of information both articles convey: in the first case, the girl has just appeared in our context, we do not know her yet, she is one of many for us, some kind of girl in other words. In the second sentence we already use definite article in German, because we continue to talk about that girl, the specific girl who is standing there, so in the translation we can easily replace the word “das Mädchen” simply with the word “she”, since it is already clear who we are talking about.

German article table

It is very important to understand the logic when the subject is not yet defined and when it already becomes defined, i.e. acquaintances, in each specific situation, otherwise even misunderstandings may arise in communicating with Germans. You cannot use only definite or indefinite articles, both of them carry their own grammatical and semantic functions and loads in the language system. Therefore, for clarity, below German article table to begin with, in the nominative case (who? what?).

Declension of articles in German by case

We use the nominative case when we answer the question “who?”, “what?”, i.e. we call an object, in other words, it itself produces an action, being a subject. If the action is directed at an object, and it acts as the object of this action, then the noun begins to change according to cases. Declension of articles in German is unthinkable without the participation of the article, unlike in Russian, where the very form of the word changes due to the ending or other methods of word formation. Therefore, as “Our Father” you need to know the following tables of declination of articles:

Declension of the definite article

Casus Case	Maskulinum Masculine	Neutrum Neuter gender	Feminine Feminine	Plural Plural
Nominative Wer? Was? Who? What?	der	das	die	die
Genitiv Wessen? Whose?	des	des	der	der
Dativ Wem? Wo? To whom? Where?	dem	dem	der	den
Akkusativ Wen? Was? Whoa? Whom? What? Where?	den	das	die	die

Declension of the indefinite article

Casus Case	Maskulinum Masculine	Neutrum Neuter gender	Feminine Feminine	* Plural Plural
Nominative Wer? Was? Who? What?	ein	ein	eine	keine
Genitiv Wessen? Whose?	eines	eines	einer	keiner
Dativ Wem? Wo? To whom? Where?	einem	einem	einer	keinen
Akkusativ Wen? Was? Whoa? Whom? What? Where?	einen	ein	eine	keine

* Since the indefinite article ein came from the numeral eins= one, then in the plural ein is inappropriate, but according to a similar pattern the negative is declined kein= none, for plural – keine= none.

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Learning a certain set of words in the German language is only half the task that faces everyone who is going to master this discipline. For beginners, information that explains the role of grammar in language will be useful. It is she who helps to connect words with each other and build phrases.

Without grammar and its many rules, it would be impossible to understand each other - speech would look like a simple set of words. Therefore, when mastering German, you should not neglect its detailed study.

Case and declension of the article in German

In the dictionary we see words that are presented in the nominative case - they answer the question “who?” or “what?” When reading these words, we name objects that themselves produce actions, i.e. are subjects.

If an action is directed towards an object, it is its object. In this case, the noun begins to change by case. There are four cases in German:

• Nominative(nominative case) – answers the questions: wer? (Who?) was? (What?);
• Genitiv(genitive or possessive case) – wessen? (whose? whose? whose?);
• Dativ(dative) - wem? (to whom?) wann? (When?) wo? (Where?) wie? (How?);
• Akkusativ(accusative) - wen? was? (who? what?) wohin? (Where?).

In the German language, declension occurs with the obligatory use of the article, and you need to memorize word variants along with it.

How to incline nouns with articles?

If in the Russian language it is possible to inflect nouns, adjectives and other parts of speech without an article, then in German the article, despite its “official” purpose, is mandatory in this process. The fact is that in Russian, when declension, the ending of the word changes, and in German, the ending of the article changes.

Declension of the definite article in the table

Tables showing how articles are declined need to be memorized well. This will help you avoid mistakes in constructing phrases and speak correctly on a particular topic. Declension of the definite article:

Casus Case	Maskulinum Masculine	Neutrum Neuter gender	Feminine Feminine	Plural Plural
Nominative Wer? Was?	der	das	die	die
Genitiv Wessen?	des	des	der	der
Dativ Wem? Wo? To whom? Where?	dem	dem	der	den
Akkusativ Wen? Was? Whoa? Whom? What? Where?	den	das	die	die

Declension of the indefinite article

Casus Case	Maskulinum Masculine	Neutrum Neuter gender	Feminine Feminine	*Plural Plural
Nominative Wer? Was?	ein	ein	eine	keine
Genitiv Wessen?	eines	eines	einer	keiner
Dativ Wem? Wo? To whom? Where?	einem	einem	einer	keinen
Akkusativ Wen? Was? Whoa? Whom? What? Where?	einen	ein	eine	keine

Peculiarities

Conjugating nouns in German is not a difficult topic, because it is enough to learn the endings of articles in one case or another. In some cases, nouns are inflected with special features:

• in the genitive case, masculine and neuter nouns acquire the ending -(e)s: (des Tisches, des Buches);
• in the plural of the dative case, the noun receives the ending -(e)n: den Kindern;
• There is no indefinite article in the plural: this is because the article ein comes from the numeral eins - one, and it is inappropriate in the plural. The negation of kein - none for the plural will look like keine - none.

Easy exercises on declension will help you quickly consolidate your knowledge on the topic of cases in the German language. To make it easier to carry them out, let’s look at this topic using the example of declension of specific nouns in two sentences:

• Die Kinder spielen in dem (=im) Wald. – Children play (where? – Dativ) in the forest, i.e. noun der Wald is in the dative case (hence the article DEM).
• Die Kinder gehen in den Wald. – The children are going (where? – Akk.) to the forest. In this case, der Wald is in Akk. – den Wald.

In order to fully master cases in German, be sure to practice composing sentences on different topics and with different articles.

Case (Kasus)	masculine (Masculinum)	feminine gender	neuter (Neutrum)	Plural (Plural)
Nominative (Nominative) W er? W as? (Who what?)	D er Vater	Die Mutter	D as Kind
Genitive (Genitiv) W ess en? (Whose?)	D es Vater s	Der Mutter	D es Kinde s
Dative (Dativ) W em? (To whom?)	D em Vater	Der Mutter	D em Kind	D en Bucher n
Accusative (Akkusativ) W en? W as? (Who? What?)	D en Vater	Die Mutter	D as Kind

Lack of article in nouns

The following are used without the article:

Proper names, names of cities, countries and continents:

Schiller ist der bekannte deutsche Dichter. Schiller is a famous German poet. Moscow ist eine große Stadt. Moscow is a big city. Russland liegt in Norden. Russia lies (is located) in the north. Ural ist die Grenze zwischen Europa und Asia. The Urals are the border between Europe and Asia.

The exceptions are the following country names, which are used with an article:

In the names of countries that include their political designation, the article of political designation is used:

Die Gemeinschaft Unabhängiger Staaten. - CIS. Die EU (Europäische Union) - European Union.

Note: If proper names, names of cities, countries and continents are preceded by an adjective or followed by a definition in the genitive case, then these nouns are used with the definite article:

das alte Moskau, das Moskau der Sovjetzeit.

If a noun is preceded by a modifier expressed by a pronoun or cardinal number:

Ich habe deinen Brief bekommen. - I received your letter. Die Reisegruppe besteht aus vierzehn Menschen. - The group of tourists consists of fourteen people.

1. Uncountable concepts without definition, for example: Brot, Geld, Wärme, Luft:

Hast du Geld? - Do you have money? Die Pflanzen fühlen sich bei Wärme wohl. - Plants do well in warm conditions. Die Pflanzen fühlen sich auf derfrischen Luft wohl. - Plants do well in the fresh air.

The definition used here is frisch, therefore, the noun is used with an article.

Names of substances, liquids, objects without definition, for example: Wasser, Benzin, Alkohol, Holz, Glas, Beton:

Ich trinke Kaffee. - I'm drinking coffee. But: Ich trinke den schwarzen Kaffee. - I drink black coffee.

Names of character qualities or feelings without definition:

Ich habe Angst. But: Die grösste Angst habe ich vor Spinnen.

If designations of profession, rank, party affiliation, nation, season, part of the day, etc. are used without definition:

Diese Frau ist Arztin. - This woman is a doctor. Es ist Nacht. - Night. Er studiert Chemie. - He studies chemistry. Sie ist eine gute Verkauferin. - She's a good saleswoman.

Nouns that come after the designation of measure, weight, quantity:

Er kauft ein Kilo Wurst. - He buys a kilogram of sausage. Wir haben 20 Grad Kä lte. – It’s 20 degrees below zero here.

If the adjective in the genitive case is used before a noun:

Wessen Buch liegt auf dem Tisch? - Whose book is on the table? Brigittes Schwester backt leckere Kuchen. - Brigid's sister bakes delicious pies. But, Die Schwester von Brigitte backt leckere Kuchen.

In some stable expressions, proverbs and sayings:

Schach spielen - play chess. Fußball spielen - play football. zu Hause - at home. nach Hause - home. Frieden schlissen. - make peace. Ende gut, alles gut.

Often there is no article after prepositions ohne, ab, auß , bei, nach, vor:

Zu Weihnachten - for Christmas, ohne Hilfe - without help, vor Beginn - before the beginning, nach Ende - after the end.

Each noun in the German language has its own specific grammatical gender, which is often inherent in the noun without any apparent meaning or obvious logic to a Russian person. This makes it necessary to memorize nouns along with their accompanying articles, which, in particular, indicate this gender. In fact, there is no other way. For example, it is not easy for a Russian person to understand why the following nouns have exactly this grammatical gender: child (male) –dasKind (middle), baba (female) –dasWeib (medium), girl, girl (female) –dasMädchen (middle), rabbit (male) –dasKaninchen (medium), milk (medium) -dieMilch (female), Little Red Riding Hood (female) –dasRotkäppchen (middle), Snegurochka (female) –dasSchneewittchen (middle), Cinderella (female) –dasAschenputtel (middle), etc.

See also materials:

However, such complexity is not at all a serious obstacle to learning German. A table of the German articles themselves can be compiled to summarize the patterns of use of articles, but it does not provide any explanation for assigning the corresponding articles to certain nouns. However, there are certain endings for nouns that indicate a specific gender, for example: — heit (always female):dieEntschlossenheit; —keit (always female):dieGerechtigkeit - justice; —ung (always female):dieVereinigung - unification; — or (always male):derStator – stator; — chen (always average):dasBrötchen – bun. Let's first try to summarize in the form of a table the endings of nouns, consistently, in the vast majority of cases, and some of them always, having indications of a specific gender of the noun:

DIE - female – das Feminum
-heit	die Entschiedenheit – determination, firmness	dieGegebenheit – given	die Verlegenheit - confusion, embarrassment
-keit	dieSchwierigkeit – difficulty, complexity	die Leitfähigkeit - conductivity	die Wahrscheinlichkeit - probability
-schaft	dieBereitschaft - readiness	die Mitgliedschaft - membership	die Bürgschaft - guarantee
-(i)tät	die Universität - university	die Kontinuität – non-stop, continuity	die Integrität - integrity
-( t) ion	die Provokation - provocation	die Prostitution - prostitution	die Währungsunion – monetary union
-ung	dieStiftung - institution	die Formulierung- wording	die Beschießung - shelling
-ei	die Mongolei - Mongolia	die Fischerei – fishing	die Räuberei - robbery
-in	die Kinderärztin – female pediatrician	die Rechtsanwältin – female lawyer	die Vertreterin - representative
-ik	die Spezifik - specificity	die Feinmechanik – precision mechanics	die Phonetik - phonetics
-ur	die Presseagentur – press agency	die Abitur – certificate of maturity	die Konjunktur – position, conjuncture
-age	die Courage - courage, courage	die Sabotage - sabotage	die Vernissage - vernissage, opening
-enz/ -anz	die Effizienz - efficiency	die Toleranz – tolerance, tolerance	die Kongruenz – congruence, coincidence
-ie	dieParfümerie – perfume shop, perfumery	die Aristokratie - aristocracy	die Schirmbildfotografie - fluorography
— thek	die Videothek - video library	die Diskothek - disco	die Phonothek - music library
DER - male –das Masculinum
-or	derKurator - curator	der Projektor - projector	der Prosektor - pathologist
-ig	der König - king	der Lindenhonig – linden honey	der Käfig - cell
-ling	der Schmetterling - butterfly	der Säugling – baby, suckling	der Sprössling - cuttings
-(i)smus	der Patriotismus - patriotism	der Pessimismus - pessimism	der Existentialismus - existentialism
-ist	der Traktorist - tractor driver	der Romanist – philologist-novelist	der Opportunist - opportunist
-log(e)	der Astrologe - astrologer	der Radiologe – radiologist	der Kardiologe – cardiologist
-et	der Apologet - defender, apologist	der Leichtathlet - track and field athlete	der Prophet - prophet
-är	der Reaktionär - reactionary	der Veterinär - veterinarian	der Funktionär - party leader
-eur	der Ingenieur - engineer	der Entrepreneur - entrepreneur	der Elektromonteur - electrician
DAS - average –das Neutrum
-chen	dasWeibchen - female	dasAbzeichen - icon	das Eichhörnchen - squirrel
-tum	das Provinzlertum- provincialism	das Wachstum - growth	das Privateigentum - private property
-tel	dasZehntel - one tenth	das Viertel- quarter, quarter	das Sechstel – one sixth part
-um	das Planetarium - planetarium	das Krematorium - crematorium	das Meerwasseraquarium = das Ozeanarium = oceanarium
-lein	das Fischlein - small fish	das Bächlein - stream	das Fräulein - girl
-ma	das Paradigma - paradigm	das Panama - Panama	das Panorama - panorama
-ment	das Testament - will	dasEngagement – ​​(personal, social) commitment	das Divertissement - divertissement, entertainment
-O	das Libretto - libretto	das Imago - subliminal pictures	das Bankkonto – bank account

In addition to the table, it is necessary to mention that all animate nouns that name male persons and animals are also classified as masculine. (entrepreneur -derGeschäftsmann, violinist –derGeiger, wolf –derWolf, wrestler –derRinger, Abkhazian –derAnhase), names of precipitation (frost -derRaureif, blizzard –derSchneesturm), names of minerals (quartz -derQuarz; mica –derGlimmer), cars (derSuzukiderRangeRover,derLincoln), mountain peaks (derArarat,derBroken), calendar dates (Thursday -derDonnerstag, winter –derWinter, February –derFebruary). The feminine gender includes all animate nouns denoting female persons and animals ( female hairdresserdieFriseuse, poetess –dieDichterin, rat -dieRatte, cow -dieKuh), substantivized numerals ( a hundred -dieHundert, four –dieVier), names of river and sea vessels ( dieAurora,dieKrasin,dieJermak). Nouns with the prefix are considered neuter. ge- (gearbox –dasGetriebe, building –dasGehause, noise –dasGeräusch), substantivized verbs in the infinitive form (fried pork -dasSchweinebraten, dancing -dasTanzen, swimming –dasBaden), baby animals (bear cub, bear cub -dasBärenjunge), letter names (dasD,dasOmega). But we are not talking about the unconditionality of all the above-mentioned cases; in most cases there are still some exceptions.

Thus, every noun has an article, or, as it is also called, an accompanying or generic word. Sometimes a noun itself has characteristics of a certain gender (as the table above demonstrates), and sometimes it (its ending, suffix) does not show any gender characteristics. In this case, the gender of the name is conveyed by its article. There are three definite articles in German (indicating a specific object) and three indefinite articles (indicating an object being mentioned for the first time) and one article for all names in the plural. Indefinite articles in the plural correspond to the zero article - that is, the noun stands without an article.

Table of articles of the German language - declension of definite articles

number	Singular (units)
meaning	"bracelet"	"boob"	"discussion"
case/gender	Neutrum	Maskulinum	Feminine
No.	das Armband	der Tölpel	die Erörterung
Gen.	des Armbands	des Tölpels	der Erörterung
Dat.	dem Armband	dem Tölpel	der Erörterung
Akk.	das Armband	den Tölpel	die Erörterung
	Plural (plural)
No.	die Armbander	die Tölpel	die Erörterungen
Gen.	der Armbander	der Tölpel	der Erörterungen
Dat.	den Armbändern	den Tölpeln	der Erörterungen
Akk.	die Armbander	die Tölpel	die Erörterungen

German article table - declension of indefinite articles

number	Singular (units)
meaning	"bracelet"	"boob"	"discussion"
case/gender	Neutrum	Maskulinum	Feminine
No.	ein Armband	ein Tölpel	eine Erörterung
Gen.	eines Armbands	eines Tölpels	einer Erörterung
Dat.	einem Armband	einem Tölpel	einer Erörterung
Akk.	ein Armband	einen Tölpel	eine Erörterung
	Plural (plural)
No.	Armbander	Tölpel	Erörterungen
Gen.	Armbander	Tölpel	Erörterungen
Dat.	Armbändern	Tölpeln	Erörterungen
Akk.	Armbander	Tölpel	Erörterungen

From the table of articles of the German language it is clear that the declension of the indefinite article occurs in the same way as the definite; in this case, only the nominative case of the masculine and neuter gender and the accusative of the neuter are rejected, in which the indefinite articles do not have case endings of the corresponding genders.