How to use definite articles in German?

For the most part, you’ll use a definite article in German in the same cases where you use the definite article (“the”) in English. However, unlike “the” in English, definite articles in German come in several different forms, depending on certain characteristics of the noun. For example:

All these forms might look confusing at first, but they are actually your friends: they tell you more about the gender, number, and case (grammatical role) of the noun!

In this post, we will discuss how and why German has so many forms of “the” and how to (almost) always choose the right one to use. Ready to have a look? Let’s dive in!

In German, as in English, a definite article is a small word that comes before a noun that is familiar and specific. The English definite article is “the” and in German definite articles are used in a very similar way to how they are in English.

• Definite articles tell us that the noun is very specific and has been mentioned before.

  definite article

  die Lehrerin kam

  Translation: the teacher came

  You can picture her.

  indefinite article

  eine Lehrerin kam

  Translation: a teacher came

  You cannot picture her.

• Definite articles can also tell us that a noun exists only once in the world.

  definite article

  der Mond

  Translation: the moon

  There is only one on Earth.

  indefinite article

  ein Mond des Saturns

  Translation: a moon of Saturn

  There are 82 of them!

The dictionary forms of the German definite articles are der, die, das, and die. The dictionary form you’ll use depends on the gender and number of the noun.

In German, the basic definite articles, der, die, das, and die, change forms to show the case (or grammatical role) of the noun they precede. This works differently depending on the gender and number of the noun. For example:

Here are all the different forms that the articles can take.

Here are two great ways to remember the forms of German definite articles:

• Strategy 1: Magic spell mnemonic

  The first strategy for remembering German definite articles is cool mnemonic, a favorite of my colleague, Ulrike. You simply need to remember the following “magic spell”:

  RESE

  NESE

  MRMN

  SRSR

  You say: “Ree-see, nee-see, merman, sir sir!”

  You can apply these endings to the table of articles in the order of masculine, feminine, neuter, and plural and read it from top left to bottom right:

  Case	Definite articles
  	Nominative	deR	diE	daS	diE
  Accusative	deN	diE	daS	diE
  Dative	deM	deM	deM	deN
  Genitive	deS	deR	deS	deR

• Strategy 2: Color block table

  The second way to remember the correct definite articles is to use a colorful table, like the one below. For this, it makes sense to group the genders like this: masculine, neuter, feminine, and plural, since masculine and neuter have many similarities and so do feminine and plural.

  Case	Definite articles
  	Nominative	der	das	die
  Accusative	den
  Dative	dem		der	den
  Genitive	des

  As you can see, a lot of the forms are re-used in different genders, numbers, and cases! There are actually only six forms total: der, die, das, dem, den, and des. If you think about it in this chart, that can help you remember the whole pattern.

Let’s summarize what we’ve discussed about the German definite articles:

• Think of articles as little helpers to know the gender and the role of a noun. They are not your enemies!

• Whenever you would use “the” in English, choose one of the following six forms in German: der, die, das, dem, den, or des, depending on the gender and role of the noun.

• Remember the mnemonic RESE – NESE – MRMN – SRSR or a colorful table to always choose the right article.

If you want to practice all forms of the definite articles, we have prepared some German definite article exercises exercises for you! Now that we’ve discussed the definite articles, you’re ready to move on to indefinite articles!