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Practice Tips - DER; DIE; DAS - Language Exchange


Category: Practice Tips
Discussion: DER; DIE; DAS

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# Message Posted By
237985
DER; DIE; DAS
I am trying to improve my knowledge about German articles.

We need to memorize these with every single noun, if we want to speak and write properly.

I would like to know how YOU LEARN GERMAN ARTICLES????
Any good technique?

Bye,

T.

Language pair: Serbian; German
ArchivedMember
September 25, 2020

Reply
238379
Re: DER; DIE; DAS
Hello Tijana,

in German, as in Serbian, a noun’s gender must be memorized with a noun. The form of the definite article depends on the noun’s case and either its gender or number. Since plural nouns of a particular case have the same definite article for all genders, only a 4 × 4 table need be memorized for German definite articles:

┌─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐
           │ masculine   │ feminine    │ neuter      │ plural      │
            │ Maskulinum  │ Femininum   │ Neutrum     │ Plural      │
            │ мушки       │ женски      │ средњи      │ множина     │
┌────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ nominative │             │             │             │             │
│ Nominativ  │     der     │     die     │     das     │     die     │
│ номинатив  │             │             │             │             │
├────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ genitive   │             │             │             │             │
│ Genitiv    │     des     │     der     │     des     │     der     │
│ генитив    │             │             │             │             │
├────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ dative     │             │             │             │             │
│ Dativ      │     dem     │     der     │     dem     │     den     │
│ датив      │             │             │             │             │
├────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ accusative │             │             │             │             │
│ Akkusativ  │     den     │     die     │     das     │     die     │
│ акузатив   │             │             │             │             │
└────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘

Examples:

nominative: der Wein     · die Milch · das Wasser  · die Getränke
genitive:   des Wein(e)s · der Milch · des Wassers · der Getränke
dative:     dem Wein     · der Milch · dem Wasser  · den Getränken
accusative: den Wein     · die Milch · das Wasser  · die Getränke


Language pair: Serbian; German
This is a reply to message # 237985
Chris
February 6, 2021

Reply
238380
Re: DER; DIE; DAS
For the indefinite articles („ein“ and „kein“) and possessive determiners (e.g. „mein“, „unser“, etc.), a similar 4 × 4 table of suffixes needs to be memorized, since plurals of a particular case have the same suffix for all genders:

  ┌─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐
             │ masculine   │ feminine    │ neuter      │ plural      │
             │ Maskulinum  │ Femininum   │ Neutrum     │ Plural      │
             │ мушки       │ женски      │ средњи      │ множина     │
┌────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ nominative │             │             │             │             │
│ Nominativ  │      ∅      │     -e      │      ∅      │     -e      │
│ номинатив  │             │             │             │             │
├────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ genitive   │             │             │             │             │
│ Genitiv    │     -es     │     -er     │     -es     │     -er     │
│ генитив    │             │             │             │             │
├────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ dative     │             │             │             │             │
│ Dativ      │     -em     │     -er     │     -em     │     -en     │
│ датив      │             │             │             │             │
├────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│ accusative │             │             │             │             │
│ Akkusativ  │     -en     │     -e      │      ∅      │     -e      │
│ акузатив   │             │             │             │             │
└────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘

The ∅ symbol represents a null suffix. Note that like English “a” and “an”, German „ein” isn’t used with plural nouns.

Examples:

nominative: kein Wein       · keine Milch  · kein Wasser    · keine Getränke
genitive:   keines Wein(e)s · keiner Milch · keines Wassers · keiner Getränke
dative:     keinem Wein     · keiner Milch · keinem Wasser  · keinen Getränken
accusative: keinen Wein     · keine Milch  · kein Wasser    · keine Getränke


Language pair: Serbian; German
This is a reply to message # 237985
Chris
February 6, 2021

Reply

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