German Grammar Explained /
Indefinite articles
So far we have learned that articles are these cute little words preceding nouns. Remember they have a gender:
der Mann
das Kind
die Frau
die Kinder
We use these articles the same way we use "the" in English. That is, when the identity of the noun is known to the reader. These are called definite articles.
Sometimes, we don't mean anything in particular or the reader/listener doesn't know the noun:
I need a new pair of shoes.
(I don't have any particular shoes in mind.)
I have a dog.
(You don't know about my dog.)
In German, we say:
Ich brauche ein Paar neue Schuhe.
I need a new pair of shoes.
So the indefinite articles are as follows:
| der Mann | → | ein Mann |
| die Frau | → | eine Frau |
| das Kind | → | ein Kind |
| die Kinder | → | Kinder |
Notice we don't use any indefinite articles before plural nouns!
Just as with the definite articles, you'll get used to using the indefinite articles with practice and patience :)