Articles and Declension

Articles

Alike all nouns in other languages, German nouns are:masculine (the man), feminine (the lady), or neuter (the child).An article or pronoun specifies the gender of a noun.Indefinite article is used to refer a non specific person or thing for the first time it's referred to "ein" or "eine" in German and in English "a" and "an". The form of the article depends on the gender (Maskulin, Feminin,Neutrum) and case (Nominativ,Akkusativ, usw.) of the noun.

eg:-

Ein kind [a child]

Eine Blume[a flower]

Definite:- Definite articles are used to specific people or things. In German, the definite article der, die and das and in English is known "the" die from the woman

Negative:- Negative articles are used to say "no" or "not " only in front of a noun. In German, we use kein (not / no) instead of in (a /an) to negate a noun.

Ex:-

Ein Hund (indefinite) -> Kein Hund (no dog)

Kein Buch (no book)

Negation 'kein ' – ' not a / no' is used before the noun being negated.

Declension

Nouns are altered through variations to the article and, in some instances, by adding an ending to the noun.

Case:

· Nominativ (wer? was?) Nominative (who? what?)

· Genitiv (wessen?) Genitive (whose?)

· Dativ (wem?) Dative (to whom?)

· Akkusativ (wen? was?) Accusative (who(m)? what?)

In the singular genitive, the mass of masculine and neuter nouns normally has endings of '-s' or '-es'. The '-es' ending is applied to one-syllable nouns as well as those that finish with '-s', '-ss', '-ß', '-sch', '-z', 'tz', or '-x'.

In the plural dative, most nouns commonly end with '-n' or '-en'.

The Indefinite Article

The Definite Article

Negation „kein” – „not a / no”

The Genitive

The genitive is the second of four cases in German, the genitive and rewriting with “von”. The genitive shows to whom something belongs and, as such, is the answer to the question “wessen” (whose).

Nouns with the articles “der” and “das” have the genitive ending -s or -es. -es comes after words with one syllable (der Mann → des Mannes, das Haus → des Hauses), as well as after words ending in -d, -t, -s, -sch, -tz.

The genitive of people and proper nouns

Proper nouns without an article generally take the ending -s in the genitive.

In daily usage, the genitive in usually replaced by “von”. “Von” is a preposition that requires the dative.

Plural Forms

There are a number of plural forms. Plural endings can be found in a dictionary.

-, ¨-

mostly for nouns ending in '-er', '-el', '-en',always for nouns ending in '-chen', '-lein',

· der Gürtel (= the belt) → die Gürtell (= the belts)

· der Schüler (= the scholar) → die Schüler (= the schloras)

· der Fehler (= the mistake) → die Fehler (= the mistakes)

· der Schleüssel (= the key) → die Schleüssel (= the keys)

· der Kuchen (= the cake) → die Kuchen (= the cakes)

-e, -¨e

often with words of one syllable

· der Arzt (= the doctor) → die Ärzte (= the doctors)

· der Anzug (= the suit) → die Anzüge (= the suits)

· der Tag(= the day) → die Tage (= the days)

· der Schul (= the school) → die Schule (= the schools)

· der Schuh (= the shoe) → die schuhe (= the shoes)

· die Hand (= the hand) → die Hände (= the hands)

-er, -¨er

often for neuter nouns of one syllable,nouns ending in '-tum'

· das Haus (= the house) → die Häuser (= the dresses)

· das Bild (= the picture) → die Bilder (= the pictures)

· das Kind (= the child) → die Kinder (= the children)

· das Eigentum (= the possession) → die Eigentümer (= the owners)

· der Ei (= the egg) → die Eier (= the eggs)

-n, -en

often feminine nouns,nouns ending in '-e', '-ei', '-ung', '-heit', '-keit', '-schaft',

· die Lampe (= the lamp) → die Lampen (= the lamps)

· die Sache (= the thing) → die Sachen (= the things)

· die Blume (= the flower) → die Blumen (= the flowers)

· die Frau (= the woman) → die Frauen (= the women)

· die Bäckerei (= the bakery) → die Bäckereien (= the bakeries)

· die Zeitung (= the newspaper) → die Zeitungen (= the newspapers)

· die Krankheit (= the disease) → die Krankheiten (= the illnesses)

· die Frage (= the question) → die Fragen (= the questions)

· die Freundschaft (= the friendship) → die Freundschaften (= the friendships)

· die Wohnung (= the appartment) → die Wohnungen (= the appartments)

· die Zehe (= the toe) → die Zehen (= the toes)

· das Auge (= the eye) → die Augen (= the eyes)

· die Nase (= the nose) → die Nasen (= the noses)

· die Seite (= the page) → die Seiten (= the pages)

-nen

Feminine Nouns in '-in',

•die Lehrerin (= the female teacher) → die Lehrerinen (= the female teachers)

-s

Foreign words,

nouns ending in '-a', '-o', '-i', '-u'

• das Fan (= the fan) → die Fans (= the fans)

• der Cousin (= the cousin) → die Cousins (= the cousins)

• das Handy (= the mobile) → die Handys (= the mobiles)

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is formed by combining two or more words:

Two Nouns

die Kranke + die Pflegerin = die Krankenpflegerin

the sick + the care taker = the nurse

das Hand + die Schuhe = die Handschuhe

the hand + the shoe = the gloves

A Verb and a Noun

schlafen + der Sack = der Schlafsack

to sleep + the bag = the sleeping bag

schlafen + das Zimmer = das Schlafzimmer

to sleep + the room = the bedroom

schlafen + der Sessel = der Schlafsessel

to sleep+ the chair = the sleeping chair

Der Schlaf = sleep(noun) / Schlafen (Verb) (to sleep)

An Adjective and a Noun

weiß + der Wein = der Weißwein

white + the wine = the white wine

An Adverb and a Noun

groß + die Stadt= die großstadt

big + the city = the big city

The gender and plural ending are determined by the final part of the compound noun.

die Fahr (-en) + die Karte (-n) = die Fahrkarte (-n)

the ride + the ticket = the ticket

die Reise (-¨er) + die Karte (-n) = die Reisekarte (-n)

the travel + the ticket = the traveling ticket

der Flug (-¨e) + die hafen (-n) = die Flughafen (-n)

the flight + the port = the Airport

Feminine Nouns ending in '-in'

The names of most feminine people and occupations take the ending '-in'.

• der Lehrer (= the teacher) → die Lehrerin (= the female teacher)

• der Journalist (= the journalist) → die Journalistin (= the female journalist)

• der Kellner (= the waiter) → die Kellerin (= the waiteress)

• der Professor (= the professor) → die Professorin (= the female professor)

Sometimes this also involves the umlaut.

• der Arzt (= the doctor) → die Ärztin (= the female doctor)

• der Gartner (= the Gardner) → die Gärtnerin (= the female Gardner)

• der Tierarzt (= the vet) → die Tierräztin (= the female vet)

Feminine Nouns ending in '-in' add '-nen' for the Plural.

• die Friseurin (= the female hair dresser) → die Friseurinnen (= the female hair dressers)

• die Studentin (= the female student) → die Studentinnen (= the female students)

Many Masculine and Feminine Occupations end in '-mann' or '-frau'.

• der Feuerwehrmann (= the firefighter) → die Feuerwehrfrau (= the firefighter)

• der Geschäftsmann (= the businessman) → die Geschäftsfrau (= the businesswoman)

• der Kaufmann (= the merchant) → die Kauffrau (= the merchant lady)

In the plural, these nouns have the ending '-leute' (for the whole occupational group).

• der Fachmann, die Fachfrau → die Fachleute (= the experts)

Noun Suffixes

Nouns with the endings -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung

Nouns can end with various suffixes.

• Words, which have an ending like -heit or -keit are nouns that have been derived from adjectives. They must always be capitalised and always take the article “die”.

• Words ending in -ung are nouns derived from verbs. They must always be capitalised and always take the article “die”.

• Words ending in -schaft are nouns derived from verbs, adjectives or even nouns. They must always be capitalised and always take the article “die”.

Nouns with the ending -heit

• zerstreut (= scattered) → die Zerstreutheit (= the dispersion)

• gesund (= healthy) → die Gesundheit (= the health)

Nouns with the ending -keit

• möglich (= possible) → die Möglichkeit (= the possiblity)

• ehrlich (= honest) → die ehrlichkeit (= honesty)

• selbstständig (= self-reliant) → die Selbstständigkeit (= the self-reliance)

Nouns with the ending -schaft

• der Freund (= friend) → die Freundchaft (= the friendship)

• der Gesell (= the fellow) → die Gesellschaft (= the society)

• das Wissen (= knowledge ) → die Wissenschaft (= the science scholarship)

• lernbereit (= willing to learn) → die Lernbereitschaft (= the willingness to learn)

Nouns with the ending -ung

• sich bewerben (= to apply) → die Bewerbung (= the application)

• endscheiden (= to decide) → die Endscheidung (= the decision)

• entwickeln (= to develop ) → die Entwicklung (= development)

• offenbaren (= to reveal) → die Offenbarung (= the revelation)

• verbessern (= to improve) → die Verbesserung (= the improvement)

• anmelden (= to register) → die Anmeldung (= the registration)

• vergeben (= to forgive) → die Vergebung (= the forgiveness)

Articles and Declension