German articles
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| German grammar | |
|---|---|
| Nouns | |
| Verbs | |
| Articles | |
| Adjectives | |
| Pronouns | |
| Adverbial phrases | |
| Conjugation | |
| Sentence structure | |
German articles have a feature called "strength", which influences the declension of the adjectives. There are strong articles, weak articles, and articles that have strong and weak cases. Sometimes this feature is not constant in daily use.
The inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. Articles have the same plural forms for all three genders. Indefinite article endings (mixed)
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -0 | -0 | -e | -e |
| Accusative | -en | -0 | -e | -e |
| Dative | -em | -em | -er | -en |
| Genitive | -es | -es | -er | -er |
- This table declines the indefinite article (mixed) (ein-), the negative indefinite article (mixed) (kein-), and the possessive pronouns (mixed) (mein-, dein-, sein-, ihr-, unser-, euer/eur-).
- The indefinite article doesn't have a specific plural form (like English, but unlike Italian); there are several article words for this need. In most cases, however, these plural forms are left out. This is quite similar to English.
Definite article (strong)
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der | das | die | die |
| Accusative | den | das | die | die |
| Dative | dem | dem | der | den |
| Genitive | des | des | der | der |
Definite article endings (strong)
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -er | -es | -e | -e |
| Accusative | -en | -es | -e | -e |
| Dative | -em | -em | -er | -en |
| Genitive | -es | -es | -er | -er |
- Note that this is essentially the same as the indefinite article table, but with the masculine nominative -er and the neuter nominative and accusative -es.
- This table declines the demonstrative pronouns (dies-, jen-) (this, that; strong) and the relative pronoun (welch-) (which; strong)
[edit] Possessive "article-like" pronouns
Under some circumstances the regular possessive pronouns are replaced by the genitive forms of the pronouns derived from the definite article. They agree in number and gender with the possessor. Unlike other pronouns they carry no strength. Any adjective following them in the phrase will carry the strong endings.
There are possessive pronouns derived from the definite article and derived from the interrogative article. They have the same forms for all cases of the possessed word, but they are only rarely used in the genitive case.
Definite possessive [of the] (mixed)
- Masculine: dessen
- Neuter: dessen
- Feminine: deren
- Plural: deren
Interrogative possessive [of what] (mixed)
- Masculine: wessen
- Neuter: wessen
- Feminine: wessen
- Plural: wessen
- NOT: Die Soldaten dessen Armee
In a rather ancient type of German, spoken until the 18th century, a genitive noun can be used instead of a possessive pronoun. This is occasionally found in very literary modern German, and sometimes hence used for facetious effect.
- OLD: "Des Königs Krone" (The king's crown)
- (MODERN: "Die Krone des Königs" - BUT: "Die Königskrone" (compound noun))
These pronouns are used if using the ordinary possessive pronoun is understood reflexively, or there are several possessors.
