German articles

German grammar
Nouns Verbs Articles Adjectives Pronouns Adverbial phrases Conjugation Sentence structure Declension Modal particle

German articles are similar in most respects to English articles. However, they are declined differently according to the number, gender, and case of their nouns.

Declension

The inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. Articles have the same plural forms for all three genders.

Indefinite article endings (mixed)

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	ein	ein	eine	-eine
Accusative	einen	ein	eine	-eine
Dative	einem	einem	einer	-einen
Genitive	eines	eines	einer	-einer

• This table declines the indefinite article (ein-), the negative indefinite article (kein-), and the possessive pronouns (mein-, dein-, sein-, ihr-, unser-, euer/eur-).
• The indefinite article does not have a specific plural form (like English, but unlike Italian); there are several article words for this need. In most cases, however, these plural forms are left out. This is quite similar to English.

Definite article (strong)

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	der	das	die	die
Accusative	den	das	die	die
Dative	dem	dem	der	den
Genitive	des	des	der	der

Definite article endings (strong)

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	-er	-es	-e	-e
Accusative	-en	-es	-e	-e
Dative	-em	-em	-er	-en
Genitive	-es	-es	-er	-er

• Note that this is essentially the same as the indefinite article table, but with the masculine nominative -er and the neuter nominative and accusative -es.
• This table declines the demonstrative pronouns (dies-, jen-) (this, that; strong) and the relative pronoun (welch-) (which; strong)

Possessive "article-like" pronouns

Under some circumstances (e.g. in a relative clause) the regular possessive pronouns are replaced by the genitive forms of the pronouns derived from the definite article. They agree in number and gender with the possessor. Unlike other pronouns they carry no strength. Any adjective following them in the phrase will carry the strong endings.

There are possessive pronouns derived from the definite article and derived from the interrogative article. They have the same forms for all cases of the possessed word, but they are only rarely used in the genitive case.

Definite possessive [of the] (mixed)

• Masculine: dessen
• Neuter: dessen
• Feminine: deren
• Plural: deren

Interrogative possessive [of what] (mixed)

• Masculine: wessen
• Neuter: wessen
• Feminine: wessen
• Plural: wessen

NOT: Die Soldaten dessen Armee

Up until the 18th century, a genitive noun was often used instead of a possessive pronoun. This is occasionally found in very literary modern German, and sometimes hence used for a facetious effect.

OLD: "Des Königs Krone" (The king's crown)

(MODERN: "Die Krone des Königs" - BUT: "Die Königskrone" (compound noun))

These pronouns are used if using the ordinary possessive pronoun is understood reflexively, or there are several possessors.

External links

• Helmut Richter. "German Declension". http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~hr/lang/de-decl.html. Retrieved 2008-02-05.