If you’re thinking that this topic of articles is getting progressively harder, you’re right - it sure is. Hint: it’s all about the very last letter (regardless of what different vowels might precede it!). NERD ALERT: Demonstratives are also called der-words (<– a term we will continue to use!) because of the similarities of these strong declensions (that der-words use) to the different ways of saying ‘the’. □įor example, if you want to talk about this book (‘this’ is a der-word), you’d have these options: But here’s a definition for you:ĭeclensions are endings that get put onto words (including, but not limited to, articles) so that they reflect the gender & case of the noun the follows.ĭer-words all take what are called strong declensions <– rather implies that there’s at least one other type of declensions … possibly weak declensions. You’ve already seen them in the definite article and indefinite article charts. TIP: if the determiner is not an ein-word (<– defined later), it’s a der-word by default. as in every mouse, this cat, that dog, many snakes. Now you need to learn about a 3rd type of articles called demonstratives or der-words, which are words such as every, this, that, many, etc. Demonstratives ( der-words)Īt this point, you might already be feeling a bit overwhelmed. But it’s a lot of tedious memorization either way.Īnd, of course, just as with the definite articles, you still have to learn how to know the gender and case of every noun in order to actually use the charts. Here you have the same uber-traditional version and a somewhat improved, more ‘modern’ version of the chart. Of course, in conventional German-learning, there’s another chart for that: Now you have to learn how to say a (and ‘not a/any’) in German, which is also obviously pretty important. And maybe you’re thinking that one chart wasn’t so bad. It’s all well-and-good to learn how to say the in German. Indefinite articles ( ein, eine, einen, etc.) I walk you through determining noun case in the Digging Deeper section below. With this much information, you know that you need the das, dem, or des version of the neuter ‘the’.įiguring out which case Buch needs to be in is the 2nd step that then whittles these three options ^^ down to just one! Not masculine or feminine (and plural would obviously be books, and that’s different). In order to pick out the version of the that you need, you have to know two things:įor example, if you want to say the book in German, you have to know that book ( Buch) is a neuter noun. When a German learner looks for ‘articles’, one of the first things you’ll be introduced to is a chart like this:Įither way, we have a chart that tells us specifically how to say ’ the’ in German - six different ways! How do you pick out the correct variant of ‘the’? More on these useful distinctions in a bit! Definite articles ( der, die, das, etc.) Instead, I refer to determiners AND pronouns AND adjectives all as very clearly different types of words. Personally, I advocate for ditching the term articles altogether (read more below!). this, that, some, all, etc.).īut you’ll also see the terms determiners, pronouns, and even adjectives coming up in discussion, with all the lines of definition between them very frustratingly blurred. Some people use the same term ‘articles’ to refer to other words come in front of nouns (e.g. Generally speaking, what we can say for sure is that the categorization “articles” will always refer to definite articles (the 6 ways of saying ‘the’ in German) and to indefinite articles (the 6 ways of saying ‘a’ in German).īeyond that, the waters get murky. So, if you’re feeling confused, you’re not alone! Tough question! The true (but unsatisfying) answer is that there can be a lot of overlapping vocabulary here. So, we’ve got some work to do! □ What Are Articles? That’s 3 English options to 12 German ones. I know that can be hard to compute for us English speakers. There are six slightly different ways to say each of them in German. Part of that difference means that, in German, we must learn slightly different ways to say the same words - for example, different articles!Īrticles are little (but important) words such as ‘ the’ and ‘ a’. German is classified as a different type of language from English: German is an inflected language and English is an analytic language. a better term than articles (sneakpeek: determiners).how to avoid using 10 different articles charts!.why conventional teaching of articles is all wrong.
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