German articles are used similarly to the English articles, a and the. However, they are declined differently according to the number, gender and case of their nouns.
Declension The inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. German articleslike adjectives and pronounshave the same plural forms for all three genders.
Indefinite article This article, ein-, is used equivalently to the word a in English. Like its English equivalent (though unlike Spanish), it has no direct form for a plural; in this situation a range of alternatives such as einige (some; several) or manche (some) would be used.
+ Indefinite article endings (mixed) Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural Nominative ein eine ein - Accusativeeinen eine ein - Dative einem einer einem - Genitive eines einer eines -
The same endings are used for the negative indefinite article-like word (kein-), and the adjectival possessive pronouns (alias: possessive adjectives, possessive determiners), mein- (my), dein- (your (singular)), sein- (his), ihr- (her and their), unser- (our), euer/eur- (your (plural)), Ihr- (your if addressing an authority figure, always capitalised).
Definite article This table gives endings for the definite article, equivalent to English the.
+ Definite article (strong) Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural Nominative der die das die Accusative den die das die Dative dem der dem den Genitive des der des der
The so-called "der words" (Der-Wort) take similar endings. Examples are demonstrative pronouns (dies-, jen-) (this, that), the relative pronoun (welch-) (which), jed- (every), manch- (many), solch- (such). + Definite article-like endings (strong) Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural Nominative -er -e -es -e Accusative -en -e -es -e Dative -em -er -em -en Genitive -es -er -es -er This is essentially the same as the indefinite article table, but with the masculine nominative -er, and the neuter nominative and accusative -es.
For further details as to the usage of German cases, see German grammar.
References