Learn German Easily
Created by Lucas Kern
German Articles: der die das
In German we have three main articles (gender of nouns):
- der (masculine),
- die (feminine) and
- das (neuter)
Tip: The grammatical gender doesn’t follow a logical set of rules. So, always learn German nouns and articles together.
This page is about the 3 German articles. If you want to start even easier, visit the page where I explain the German alphabet.
Table of Contents: The 3 German Articles
1. Listen: Examples with der, die, das
How to learn with part A of the exercise
- Have a look at the picture.
- Read and listen a few times.
- Repeat after the speaker.
- Make sure that you imitate the pronunciation of the speaker.
- After a few repetitions go on to part B (farther below).
Tip: Always try to imagine the situations in your mind; it will help you to remember the words!
der Mann
the man
Der Mann liest.
The man is reading.
die Frau
the woman
Die Frau isst.
The woman is eating.
der Junge
the boy
Der Junge trinkt.
The boy is drinking.
das Mädchen*
the girl
Das Mädchen schreibt.
The girl is writing.
Note: *das Mädchen
Maybe you wonder why we don’t use the article die when we use the word Mädchen (girl). After all it is a female person, right?
Well, I know it is strange and I exaplain it here chen in German – Diminutive.
2. Q/A Listening Exercise: German Articles
How to learn with part B of the exercise
Question and Answer Part:
- Read and listen a few times to the questions and answers.
- Answer the questions in the pauses (you may look also at the answers).
- After a few times don’t look at the answers anymore.
- Make sure that you imitate the pronunciation of my voice.
- Repeat the lesson until you can answer the questions easily.
Question:
Wer liest – der Mann oder die Frau?
Who reads – the man or the woman?
Answer:
Der Mann
Der Mann liest.
The man reads. / The man is reading.
Wer isst – die Frau oder der Mann?
Who eats – the woman or the man?
Die Frau
Die Frau isst.
The woman eats. / The woman is eating.
Wer trinkt – das Mädchen oder der Junge?
Who drinks – the girl or the boy?
Der Junge
Der Junge trinkt.
The boy drinks. / The boy is drinking.
Und wer schreibt – die Frau oder das Mädchen?
And who writes – the woman or the girl?
Das Mädchen
Das Mädchen schreibt.
The girl writes. / The girl is writing.
You should also know what the German plural article is.
Don't stop now - repeat this part again!
Repeat this lesson until you can easily answer the questions.
3. How to find the correct German articles
The best way to get familiar to the gender of the German articles is to listening a lot to the German language.
I don’t recommend learning words by heart but if you like to memorize words you should never learn just the nouns!
Always try to remember also the main articles der, die and das.
The grammatical gender in German doesn’t follow a logical set of rules but there are some noun endings (suffixes) which give us a hint.
However, be careful, it does not always work!
By the way, have a look at the English endings too. A lot of English and German words are similar.
German Nouns with Article: der (list)
-ling
der Häftling (the prisoner)
der Frühling (the spring)
der Flüchtling (the refugee)
der Säugling (the infant)
der Lehrling (the apprentice)
der Zwilling (the twin)
-ist
der Optimist (the optimist)
der Pianist (the pianist)
der Polizist (the policeman)
der Spezialist (the specialist)
-or
der Humor (the humor)
der Doktor (the doctor)
der Tresor (the safe)
der Professor (the professor)
der Motor (the motor)
-ismus
der Egoismus (the egoism)
der Tourismus (the tourism)
der Pazifismus (the pacifism)
-er
der Hörer (the receiver)
der Jäger (the hunter)
der Käfer (the bug, the beetle)
der Körper (the body)
der Tiger (the tiger)
der Bäcker (the baker)
der Donner (the thunder)
German Nouns with Article: die (list)
-keit
die Müdigkeit (the tiredness)
die Süßigkeit (the sweetness, the candy)
die Fähigkeit (the ability)
die Häufigkeit (the frequency)
die Flüssigkeit (the liquid, the fluid)
die Geschwindigkeit (the speed, the velocity)
die Fröhlichkeit (the joyfulness)
-ion
die Portion (the portion)
die Region (the region)
die Station (the station)
die Reaktion (the reaction)
die Situation (the situation)
die Nation (the nation)
die Tradition (the tradition)
-heit
die Feigheit (the cowardice)
die Schönheit (the beauty)
die Klugheit (the cleverness)
die Blödheit (the stupidity)
die Dummheit (the foolishness)
-enz
die Intelligenz (the intelligence)
die Konsequenz (the consequence)
die Frequenz (the frequency)
die Existenz (the existence)
die Differenz (the difference)
die Tendenz (the tendency)
-tät
die Normalität (the normality)
die Spezialität (the speciality)
die Elektrizität (the electricity)
die Flexibilität (the flexibility)
die Kontinuität (the continuity)
-ung
die Änderung (the change)
die Abteilung (the department)
die Einladung (the invitation)
die Anleitung (the instruction)
die Forschung (the research)
German Nouns with Article: das (list)
-nis
das Schulzeugnis (the school certificate)
das Gedächtnis (the memory)
das Erlebnis (the experience)
das Geheimnis (the secret)
das Hindernis (the obstacle)
-ment
das Dokument (the document)
das Sortiment (the assortment)
das Zement (the cement)
das Komplement (the complement)
das Medikament (the medication, the medicine)
das Instrument (the instrument)
4. Der Die Das Quiz – Click the start button
Take it now and see how good you are!
⬆️ Up here is the quiz!
Scroll up a little after pressing the start button to see the question.
Here is more for you
You should also repeat the following:
- Learn the pronunciation of the German alphabet with ease
- Similar words in English and German
- The plural article in German
- Indefinite articles: ein, eine
And here are some blog articles that might interest you
- How to learn German fast
- Check out these long words in German and impress your friends
- Castles of Germany – from Neuschwanstein (Cinderella’s) to Frankenstein’s Castle
If you want to dig deeper into the subject matter of the articles, have a look at Collins Dictionary. They also explain the German articles.
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