Questions tagged [definite-article]
relating to a determiner (der, die, das, des, dem, or den) that introduces a noun phrase and implies that the thing mentioned has already been mentioned, or is common knowledge, or is about to be defined.
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Why is it “der” Person in this sentence?
“Du gibst der Person an der Kasse das Geld für die Karte.”
In this sentence, Person is feminine, singular, accusative, and yet the definite article is der rather than die. Why is that? Thanks!
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Adjectives without articles
Adjektive ohne Artikel übernehmen die Endungen der Artikel als Kasussignal.
Ausnahme: Adjektive im Genitiv Singular vor maskulinen und neutralen Nomen enden auf -en. Das Kasussignal steht am Nomen: ...
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um Änderung/um die Änderung
Ich wundere mich, warum in diesem Satz der bestimmte Artikel vor dem Nomen Änderung ausgelassen wurde.
Die Geschäftsführung knickte under der Last der Briefe und Anfragen ein, die uns vielleicht nicht ...
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How to decide whether to use indefinite or definite articles?
Very elementary question, and one would expect that I would be able to answer it by now since I've been learnign the language for over a year and a half. A begineer asked me a question which stumped ...
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What are participial constructions meant to convey in German?
I am reading a book on sociology, and I find that many times, a long gap is kept between the definite article and the noun. I had previously enquired about translating it here. However, I am still ...
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Why is a definite article required here?
In conversation with 2 native German speakers, I wanted to translate the following:
At least that’s what old lady Calvin told me just before we left.
I said:
Zumindest ist es das, was mir alte Frau ...
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Definite article before a (mathematical) topic's name
I will leap in with two translations by DeepL:
First translation
Input:
Linear regression is a powerful tool.
Output:
Die lineare Regression ist ein leistungsfähiges Instrument.
Second translation
...
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Definite article in middle of Hauptsatz [duplicate]
Entstanden ist der Teufelsberg nämlich ab 1950 aus den Stücken der im Zweiten Weltkrieg zerbombten Berliner Häuser.
What roles does "der" play in the above sentence? I would say it is a ...
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Grammatical Structure of "ins"
Lass uns ins sonnige Griechenland fahren!
What excactly is "ins" here? In + das ? We have Griechenland as feminine.
Danke!
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When must one qualify Menschheit with diese rather than die?
Translating from I, Robot by Asimov with a German-speaking friend, I said:
Die meisten Regierungen weltweit verboten Robotereinsatz auf der Erde von 2003 bis 2007, aus irgendeinem anderen Grund außer ...
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Sind Passivkonstruktionen in denen das Subjekt nicht vollständig realisiert wurde grammatikalisch richtig?
In einem Interview habe ich sehr häufig Aussagen erhalten, in denen das Subjekt nicht vollständig realisiert wurde. Gezeigt wurden transitive Ereignisse, auf die die Probanden mit Passivkonstruktionen ...
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in vs im "Du musst im Bett bleiben"
Why is it grammatically incorrect to say the following sentence:
Du musst in Bett bleiben.
when I'm trying to say
You have to stay in bed.
Why must one use im instead of in in this situation?
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Understanding relation between different versions of relative pronouns
In this article it is explained how wo-words can be used as relative pronouns but when reading it I am a bit confused due to the previous knowledge I have with definite article being used relative ...
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Why does this sentence start with the dative article "Dem"?
Reading the book "Kielings kleine Waldschule" the paragraph starts with this sentence
"Dem Interesse an der Natur einerseits, das ich zum Beispiel bei meinen Facebook-Followern ...
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Definite articles before countries [duplicate]
Is Geneva a city in Switzerland or in Austria?
T: Ist Genf eine Stadt in der Schweiz oder in Österreich?
Why is there a "der" before Schweiz but not before Österreich? Secondly, perhaps ...
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That and the demonstrative pronouns [duplicate]
I'm missing something, perhaps is the understanding of demonstrative pronouns. In (from youtube) That is Peter. or
Das ist Peter.
Das is being used as a demonstrative pronoun, right? But the case, is ...
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When does definite article denote possesion?
die kirche des allmächtigen gottes
I read the above as "The church the almighty god" but if you plug this into google translate, you get:
The Church of Almighty God
Now, why does 'des' ...
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Meaning of "der" in a sentence
What does the second der mean in the following sentence?
Einzig der Fluss Kabul, so heißt übrigens auch die Hauptstadt von Afghanistan, fließt in den Indus und der mündet am Schluss in den Indischen ...
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3 verbs in one sentence - how is that?
Kann ich mir die im Laufe der Woche ausleihen holen kommen?
A friend of mine wrote this sentence. I have never come across 3 verbs in a single sentence like this.
One more thing: Why and when to use ...
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(when) Can I omit the definite article? [duplicate]
On the Complete German Grammar premium 2nd ed, pg 41 book I read
...when expressing one's profession or nationality, an article is not used...
And soon after I saw
Er hat Schuhe
without the ...
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Trying to translate a sentence into German
Fear, intimidation, and violence. These are the tools of the nefarious scoundrel known as the modern day criminal.
The following is my attempt at the translation:
Angst, Einschüchterung, und Gewalt. ...
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When is the masculine "der" the English "of"?
I have seen that in German, sometimes the definite masculine article "der" is used as the English word "of". For example in the film "Das Leben der Anderen". I understand ...
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Using definite article instead of pronouns [duplicate]
I've tried searching for this, as I know it's quite a simple question, but I'm probably not using the correct terms.
I'm relatively new in learning German, and I often see things like the following:
&...
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When are parts of the body personal, and when not?
I read the following in a description a patient's visit to the doctor.
Der Arzt schaut in ihre Augen, ihren Mund, und in die Ohren.
Why die Ohren but ihre Augen?
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Articles with names in "Heidi", Spyri's regional accent (Followup to previous questions linked in body)
In chapter 1 of "Heidi", Dete and her old acquaintance Barbel are leading Heidi up the mountain to meet her grandfather. The author, Johanna Spyri, starts talking about die Dete and die ...
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An die Freude - why "die"?
In his poem "Ode an die Freude", why did Schiller use the definite article? Why not just "an Freude"?
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Why does German use definite articles before nouns whereas in English, there wouldn't be?
I've noticed from titles of songs and poems, a definite article is used such as:
'An die Hoffnung'
'An die Freude'
'An die Musik'
A few websites give examples of the use of definite ...
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The inflection of "dies-" when "dies-" is used after "all-" (2 adjective; alle diese Bestrebungen…)
I have learnd the inflection of "all-".
It is a kind of definite article(I'm not meaning that it is a definite article), so its inflection as adjective is..
m. n. f. pl.
er es e e
es es er er
em ...
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Steht vor einem Firmennamen ein Artikel, wenn die Rechtsform weggelassen wird?
Beispiel
Nehmen wir an, die Firma heißt Buntstifte KG, aber in diesen Sätzen wurde ihre Rechtsform weggelassen. Sollte jetzt vor dem Firmennamen ein Artikel stehen?
Buntstifte ist eines der ...
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jmdn. ärgern in a sentence
I've recently seen the sentence with the verb ärgern while learning relative clauses with wer and was. The sentence is as follows:
Manche kommen spät zur Arbeit, was der Chef sehr ärgert.
As you ...
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Schweiz oder die Schweiz?
A recent Slow German Podcast has the following sentence:
Vor allem in Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechtenstein.
I thought that some countries, including Switzerland, always include an ...
user38158
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Akkusativ oder Nominativ und Formulierung bei einer Bestellung
Als ich in einem Hotel war, hat mich die Kellnerin gefragt, ob ich etwas trinken möchte. Ich habe auf Englisch geantwortet:
"A cappuccino, please"
und ich war mir nicht sicher, wie ich das auf ...
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"Er ist Geschäftsführer des Unternehmens" oder "Er ist der Geschäftsführer des Unternehmens" - what is correct?
I know, that there is a rule, that occupations are without articles. So, we are writing: "Er ist Arzt".
I have found couple of example on internet, like:
"Er ist der Geschäftsführer des ...
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Is "als Kind gerne" an idiom?
In the Slow German podcast #185, she has
Alexander beschäftigte sich als Kind gerne mit Insekten, Steinen und Pflanzen.
I translate "als Kind gerne" as, "as children are want to do". But a more ...
user38158
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Why 'Den' instead of 'Der' in this sentence? Den größten Fehler, den man im Leben machen kann
Den größten Fehler, den man im Leben machen kann, ist, immer Angst zu
haben, einen Fehler zu machen.
This is translated into
The biggest mistake you can make in life is always being afraid of
...
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Why is George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" titled "Das Lied von Eis und Feuer" in German instead of "Ein Lied von Eis und Feuer"?
This change always bothered me.
Is there a rule in German that prevents book titles from starting with an indefinite article?
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Declension ending "-er" of the adjective Berliner [duplicate]
Why does
die Berliner Mauer
use the adjective with ending -er? Why isn't it
die Berline Mauer
This should be right, but it is not. Why?
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article used in place of possesive pronoun [duplicate]
I've stumbled on a construction that confused me in Kafka's Die Verwandlung where a definite article is used where I would expect to see a possessive pronoun.
wenn er den Kopf ein wenig hob
...
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(Die) Menschen sind entspannter in St. Petersburg
Wie kann ich einer Tandempartnerin erklären, warum man im folgenden letzten Satz den Artikel "Die" nicht weglassen darf?
"Die Uhren gehen in St. Petersburg etwas langsamer. Die Menschen sind ...
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Kann man auf *der* ganzen Linie enttäuschen?
Die ARD schreibt in einem Sportbeitrag "enttäuschten auf der ganzen Linie". Die Linie wurde mit einem bestimmten Artikel versehen. Ich kenne es eigentlich nur unbestimmt, also: "enttäuschten auf ...
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Definite article vs. possessive pronoun when indicating actions
What’s the difference between using a definite article and a possessive pronoun to indicate actions (and possibly other things, if applicable)? For example, is there any difference between using die ...
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Need for definite article in plurals
Sometimes, in German, I want to describe a plural of an objects for instance:
Die Delphine können mit den Menschen in gewisser Weise kommunizieren.
Dolphins are able to maintain certain ...
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Why need the definite article "Robin Hood lebte im Sherwoodwald"
I was reading a history book on the topic of Robin Hood and the following line was in it:
Robin Hood lebte im Sherwoodwald
Now, I know that this sentence translates to roughly
Robin Hood lived ...
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use of definite article after "neben"
I'm just a bit stuck with this sentence:
Ich werde mir das Doppelhaus neben dem meines Bruders kaufen.
I can translate this to be:
I will buy myself the house next to my brothers.
The use of ...
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Feminine Definite Article
Die Lampe ist klasse, sie ist nicht langweilig.
Why is there sie after the comma, is that sie for lampe (die Lampe).
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Definite / Nullartikel with general notions
I'm a young scholar in Germany, who is non-native speaker. I dare to say that I'm fluent in German.
I'm currently working on my thesis and came across such cases of article usage, where one cannot say ...
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Den Männern vs Die Männer
So I am reading a grammar book, and there are a couple of tables which seem to contradict.
One table states: "The plural forms of the definite article are the same for all genders," and proceeds to ...
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Definite articles for 1st person singular
I know this is a bit contrived, but with literature about clones and time travel and parallel universes, this is bound to come up.
I traveled to 1995, and the I that I saw was not the I I remember ...
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Definite articles - cities, lakes
I read the following title in one of the newspapers:
Neue Parkvorschriften im Simbacher Ortskern
In my workbook it says that town names do not have a definite article if they are unmodified - so ...
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Johannes Nazaräer? (Articles)
The Nazarener were a 19th century German religious art movement. Preferring Nazaräer to Nazarener (because Nazarener is commonly thought to derive etymologically from the geographical Nazaret), how ...
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