Just like in English, German nouns often follow a little word called an article.

Definite articles:

We use definite articles (der, die, das) when we refer to one specific individual or thing.

• "Der" (the) is an article we use with masculine nouns like der Mann (the man) or der Bus (the bus).
• "Die" (the) is an article for feminine nouns like die Frau (the woman) or die U-bahn (the metro).
• "Das" (the) is an article for neuter nouns like das Baby (the baby) or das Taxi (the taxi).

The definite article in the plural is "die" for all three genders

Indefinite articles:

We use indefinite articles (ein, eine, ein) to introduce something for the first time or talk about non-specific people or things.

"Ein" refers to masculine and neuter words. "Eine" refers to feminine words.

• Masculine: Ein Kaffee kostet 3 €. (A coffee is €3.)
• Feminine: Eine Cola kostet 4 €. (A cola is €4.)
• Neuter: Ein Wasser kostet 2,50 €. (A water is €2.50.)

We don't have an indefinite article in the plural

No articles:

We don´t use articles for something we cannot count:

• Geld
• Zeit
• Hunger

Cases

Created: 30 Dec 2025

Last Update: