Definite & indefinite articles; noun gender
Articles & gender · A1
Every German noun has a gender — masculine, feminine, or neuter — and the word for “the” changes with it: der, die, das. There isn’t always logic to it, so the real trick is to learn each noun with its article, as if they were one word.
- •der = masculine, die = feminine, das = neuter. The plural “the” is die for every gender.
- •“a/an” follows the same split: ein (masculine & neuter), eine (feminine).
- •Always learn the article with the noun — say “die Lampe”, never just “Lampe”.
- •Helpful hints: nouns ending in -ung, -heit, -keit are usually feminine; many ending in -chen are neuter.
| Gender | the | a/an | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | der | ein | der / ein Tisch (table) |
| feminine | die | eine | die / eine Lampe (lamp) |
| neuter | das | ein | das / ein Buch (book) |
| plural | die | — | die Tische (tables) |
der Mann— the man
die Frau— the woman
das Kind— the child
eine Katze— a cat
Watch out: Gender isn’t about meaning — das Mädchen (the girl) is neuter because of the -chen ending, not biology. Trust the ending, not your instinct.
Practice runs four steps: fill in the blank → German→English → English→German → use it live with the tutor.