German Articles: Der, Die, Das and How to Remember Them

Articles are one of the first hurdles in German: every noun has a gender, and the gender decides the article. Below is how der, die and das work, how they change with case and how to remember a noun’s gender without guessing.

Three Genders, Three Articles

Every German noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. The definite article is der for masculine, die for feminine and das for neuter: der Tisch (table), die Lampe (lamp), das Buch (book). In the plural, all three genders share the same article, die. The indefinite article is ein (eine for feminine nouns), and its negative form is kein.

German Gender Does Not Follow Meaning

For words naming inanimate objects, meaning rarely tells you the gender: “bridge” or “rock” could turn out to be any of the three. So it is best to learn every noun together with its article, not “Buch” but “das Buch.” While you are at it, remember another rule: in German, every noun starts with a capital letter.

Clues from Endings and Meaning

For roughly 80% of nouns, the gender can be worked out from the word’s form and meaning. Suffixes are the most helpful clues:

• feminine: -ung, -heit and -keit, as in die Zeitung (newspaper), die Freiheit (freedom) and die Möglichkeit (possibility);
• neuter: the diminutives -chen and -lein, as in das Mädchen (girl) and das Büchlein (little book);
• compounds take the gender of their last part: die Tür (door) plus das Haus (house) gives die Haustür (front door);
• feminine job titles add -in: der Lehrer becomes die Lehrerin;
• one-syllable nouns made from verbs are often masculine: der Lauf (run).

Articles Change with Case

An article shows not only gender but also number and case. German has four cases, and the article takes a different form in each: der Tisch in the nominative, den Tisch in the accusative, dem Tisch in the dative and des Tisches in the genitive. It pays to learn the declension table once and then practice whole phrases.

How to Remember Them

• Learn every word with its article, and write it in your vocabulary list with the article and the plural form.
• Color-code the genders, for example blue for der, red for die and green for das, on cards and sticky notes.
• Put sticky notes with articles on objects around your home.
• Review with spaced repetition flashcards and say the phrases out loud.

More ways to learn German are collected in Modern Methods for Learning German: What You Need to Know, and German in daily life is covered in How to Use German in Everyday Life.

Our German Course

In our German course, students study grammar, learn to hold a conversation and understand spoken language, build their vocabulary and write messages, letters and essays. The teacher assesses each student’s level and builds an individual program. Lessons are open to students from age 5. A trial lesson costs $8: it is individual and lasts 45 minutes. More about the course is on the German page.