Definite and indefinite articles

In brief

German articles usually come before a noun. A definite article corresponds to English ‘the’ and points to someone or something specific. An indefinite article corresponds to ‘a’ or ‘an’ and introduces someone or something unspecified. Unlike English, the form depends on the noun’s grammatical gender: masculine, feminine or neuter.

Form

Basic forms: masculine der / ein, feminine die / eine, neuter das / ein. These are the forms shown when the noun is the subject; an article may change form elsewhere in a sentence.

Usage

• Use der, die or das when you mean a particular person or thing: der Hund (‘the dog’).
• Use ein or eine when you mean any one person or thing: eine Frau (‘a woman’).
• Learn a noun together with its article, since English does not tell you its German gender.

Examples

• Der Hund schläft. — The dog is sleeping.
• Eine Frau wartet hier. — A woman is waiting here.
• Das Kind spielt. — The child is playing.
• Ich habe ein Buch. — I have a book.

Common mistake

❌ Ein Frau wartet hier.

✅ Eine Frau wartet hier.

English ‘a’ stays the same, but German changes the indefinite article to eine with the feminine noun Frau.

Remember

Memorize der Hund, die Frau and das Kind as complete units, not just the nouns.