Gender and Articles in German

Every German noun has a grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The article changes according to gender, number, and case.

Definite Articles

The definite articles mean “the” in English, but in German they change based on gender.

• der is used with masculine nouns
• die is used with feminine nouns
• das is used with neuter nouns

For example:
* der Hund (the dog, masculine) * die Katze (the cat, feminine) * das Buch (the book, neuter)

Indefinite Articles

The indefinite articles in German are similar to “a/an” in English.

• ein is used with masculine and neuter nouns
• eine is used with feminine nouns

For example:
* ein Hund (a dog, masculine)
* eine Katze (a cat, feminine)
* ein Buch (a book, neuter)

Plural with Definite Article

For all genders, the definite article for plural nouns is die. The indefinite article does not exist in the plural.

Examples in plural:
* die Hunde (the dogs)
* die Katzen (the cats)
* die Bücher (the books)

You can use these structures to construct phrases with singular and plural nouns. For instance:

• Der Stuhl ist neu. (The chair is new.)
• Die Stühle sind neu. (The chairs are new.)
• Ist das ein Apfel? (Is that an apple?)
• Das sind Äpfel. (Those are apples.)