German Article Declension by Gender, Number, and Case

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What is declension in the context of German articles?

Declension is the changing of an article’s form to reflect the gender, number, and case of its noun.

What does ein- mean, and does it have a direct plural form?

Ein- usually means “a” or “an.” It has no direct plural form; words such as einige or manche can express meanings like “some.”

Which words generally use the same ending pattern as ein-?

The negative word kein- and possessive determiners such as mein-, dein-, sein-, ihr-, unser-, and euer/eur- generally use the same ending pattern.

What are “der words”?

They are words that take endings similar to the definite article. Examples include dies-, jen-, welch-, jed-, manch-, and solch-.

What are the four nominative definite articles?

They are der for masculine, die for feminine, das for neuter, and die for plural.

Quiz questions

1. Which set contains the four grammatical cases used to determine German article forms?Answer: Nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive
2. Which form is used for the masculine singular definite article in the accusative case?Answer: den
3. What ending pattern do German possessive determiners generally follow?Answer: The pattern used by ein-
4. What characterizes German “der words,” such as dies- and welch-?Answer: They take endings similar to the definite article.
5. What often happens to a German noun in the dative plural if it does not already end in -n or -s?Answer: It often takes an additional -n ending.