The definite articles

Table of contents – definite articles

On this page you will find the following:

1. Using definite articles
2. Declension of definite articles
3. Further explanations and exercises

How are definite articles used?

The German language offers three definite articles (in German: bestimmte Artikel), which are: ‘der, die,’ and ‘das’ (all are ‘the’ in English). They are sometimes named determiners, as they indicate (determine) the grammatical gender of a noun, which may be ambiguous without the article. In German, the definite articles are consistently declined or inflected like their accompanying noun and so underlie grammatical agreement. Compare the examples:

• The following definite articles exist in German:
  • der (masculine):
    • „Der Tag ist schön.“ (The day is beautiful.)
    • „Hast du den Lehrer schon gefragt?“ (Have you asked the teacher yet?)
      • This sentence shows the declension of ‘der’ in the accusative case.
  • die (feminine):
    • „Die Tür ist offen.“ (The door is open.)
    • „Die Tassen stehen im Schrank.“ (The cups are in the cupboard.)
  • das (neuter):
    • „Das Haus ist alt.“ (The house is old.)
    • „Mein Vater möchte dem Haus einen neuen Anstrich verpassen.“ (My father wants to repaint the house.)
      • with dative declension

Information: In some cases, nouns have different meanings depending on the definite article accompanying them. Such nouns are called homonyms. Compare the following examples:

• Nouns with multiple meanings in the singular:
  • „In meinem neuen Job ist das Gehalt deutlich höher.“ (In my new job, the salary is significantly higher.)
    • ‘das Gehalt’ corresponds to salary
  • „Der Gehalt an Kalk im Trinkwasser variiert von Region zu Region.“ (The amount of calcium in drinking water varies from region to region.)
    • ‘der Gehalt’ corresponds to amount or percentage
• Nouns with multiple meanings, which are only visible in the plural. In both example sentences, the singular nouns are ‘die Bank’. The difference in meaning can only be seen when the plural is formed:
  • „Die Bänke, die im Park aufgestellt wurden, sind sehr komfortabel.“ (The benches that have been placed in the park are very comfortable.)
    • ‘die Bank/Bänke’ corresponds to benches
  • „Die Banken in Bayern haben alle neue Geldautomaten installiert.“ (The banks in Bavaria have all installed new ATMs.)
    • ‘die Bank/Banken’ corresponds to banks

How are the definite articles declined?

In German grammar, definite articles are declined/inflected according to the following pattern. The particular declension endings are highlighted:

Singular

Plural

Further explanations referring to the ‘Definite articles’

The following explanations are related to the topic ‘The definite articles (der, die, das) in German grammar’ and might also be interesting:

• General explanation of German articles
• Indefinite articles in German grammar
• The grammatical cases in German
• Using German nouns