A: Artikel

• Like in English, all nouns (things, creatures, places, concepts, ideas etc.) in German can have an article:
  • a dog = ein Hund, the dog = der Hund
• Unlike in English, every noun in German has a gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Yes, a stone is a he (der Stein), a lamp is a she (die Lampe) and a window (das Fenster) is an it!  
• Therefore, the words for both ‘a’ and ‘the’ in German have a separate form for each of the 3 genders.
• der/die/das also has a plural form ‘die’.
• ein/eine/ein doesn’t have a plural form (because ‘ein’ means ‘one’ and therefore, can’t be plural)

• Indefinite articles (a/an in English, e.g. a university, an apple) in German are:
  • ein for masculine nouns (ein Mann = a man)
  • eine for feminine nouns (eine Frau = a woman)
  • ein for neuter nouns (ein Kind) Yes, it’s the same as ein used for masculine nouns.
  • plural nouns don’t use an indefinite article (in English, you also can’t say a students*)

• Definite articles (the in English) in German are:
  • der Kaffee is masculine and is referred to as er (he)
  • die Uni is feminine and is referred to as sie (she)
  • das Auto is neuter and is referred to as es (it)
  • die Kinder (the kids) is plural and is referred to as sie (they)

• The difference between the der/ein, die/eine, or das/ein is essentially the same as between the English a and the. 

Tip: Generally, if you would use an article in English, use it in German.

All of the above can be presented in a more learner-friendly way:

Aufgabe 1. Determine the gender/number of each article without referencing the chart.  Hint: sometimes there are more than one correct answer (you must indicate all correct answers). 

Question 1. For which instances is ‘die’ used (select all that apply)?

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural 

Question 2. For which instances is ‘ein’ used (select all that apply)?

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 3. For which instances is ‘der’ used (select all that apply)?

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 4. For which instances is ‘eine’ used (select all that apply)?

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 5. For which instances is ‘das’ used (select all that apply)?

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Aufgabe 2. Determine the gender/number of the following nouns.  Note: in this exercise there are 4 nouns which are both singular and plural (you must select multiple answers for these).

Question 1. Katzen

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 2. Kaffee

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 3. Buch

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 4. Tassen

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 5. Wand

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 6. Hund

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 7. Mädchen

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 8. Tasse

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 9. Tisch

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 10. Hunde

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 11. Katze

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 12. Fenster

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 13. Stuhl

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 14. Bücher

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 15. Lampe

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 16. Messer

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 17. Stühle

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 18. Blume

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 19. Löffel

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Question 20. Kind

1. Masculine
2. Feminine
3. Neuter
4. Plural

Aufgabe 3. Combining your knowledge from the first two questions, complete the blanks with the appropriate article (definite (def.)/indefinite (ind.) will be indicated in the question).                     

1. _____ (def.) Blume in der Vase ist aber schön.
2. Was ist in deiner Tasche?  _____ (ind.) Buch.
3. _____ (def.) Tassen auf dem Tisch? Sie gehören meiner Schwester.
4. Was ist das? _____ (ind.) Blume für dich!
5. _____ (def.) Hund hat den Jungen gebissen.
6. _____ (ind.) Kaffee bitte!
7. _____ (def.) Kind kann den ganzen Tag lang spielen!
8.  _____ (def.) zwei Fenster sind noch offen.
9.  _____ (ind.) Löffel wäre besser als                     (ind.) Gabel.
10. _____ (def.) Mädchen heißt Mariko.
11.  _____ (def.) Katze hier hat grüne Augen.
12.  _____(ind.) Kind hat meinen verlorenen Schlüssel gefunden.
13. _____(def.) Stuhl da ist zu teuer!

Answer Key

Artikel

Aufgabe 1.

1. Feminine; plural
2. Masculine; neuter
3. Masculine
4. Feminine
5. Neuter

Aufgabe 2.

1. plural
2. masculine
3. neuter
4. plural
5. feminine
6. masculine
7. neuter; plural
8. feminine
9. masculine
10. hunde
11. katze
12. neuter; plural
13. masculine
14. plural
15. feminine
16. neuter; plural
17. plural
18. feminine
19. masculine; plural
20. neuter

Aufgabe 3.

1. die
2. ein
3. die
4. eine
5. der
6. einen
7. das
8. die
9. ein eine
10. das
11. die
12. ein
13. der