Confused with whether to use the article with Sachsen or no article with Sachsen.
Sachsen can be the Bundesland or it's people does this makes a difference between using an article or no article?
Der Freistaat Sachsen uses an article.
So what is the rule with using an article for Sachsen?
Let us start with the simple rule: countries (more on that later, "countries" here not only means proper countries but also states or regions) are usually of neutral Genus and are named without any article at all:
Ich komme aus Sachsen.
Ich fahre nach Sachsen.
Ich lebe in Sachsen.
Sachsen ist schön.
People, however, are of the generic masculine Genus and have accordingly the article "der" in Singular, "die" in Plural:
Der Sachse (person) lebt in Sachsen (country). Die Sachsen (people) sind in Sachsen (country) beheimatet.
As with any language, there is no rule without exceptions: I said that countries are usually of neutral Genus. In fact, there are some few countries, which are not of neutral Genus:
die Schweiz (fem.)
der Iran (masc.)
der Irak (masc.)
der Kongo (masc.)
der Sudan (masc.)
and
all countries ending on "-ei" are feminine, e.g. "die Lombardei", "die Türkei", etc.
So, here is the exception: all countries of masculine or feminine Genus retain their respective article:
Ich fahre nach Sachsen. but: Ich fahre in die Türkei.
It is possible to build the latter sentence similarily to the former:
Ich fahre nach der Türkei.
but this is outdated and sounds anachronistic today. You may find that in older texts, however.
Also notice that "Sachsen" (the people) can have a double meaning: there is the historic germanic tribe, the Saxons, which also settled in England (hence: "anglosaxon") and there are the people living in todays German state of Saxonia.
The Bundesland “Sachsen” is neuter, so like all neuter names of countries and similar it is usually used without an article, same as for “Deutschland”. There are many answers covering that on this site.
In Sachsen wohnen vier Millionen Menschen.
There is however an article if you add for example an adjective “das schöne Sachsen”.
Referring to the people living there, “die Sachsen” is the plural of “der Sachse”. There is nothing special about this, just remember that the plural indefinite article is the Nullartikel.
Regarding “der Freistaat Sachsen” the article is that of “Freistaat”.
