Nouns are generally preceded by determiners. Some determiners are the definite and indefinite articles such as der Mantel and eine Brücke. Another category is the interrogative words such as welche Schule or wie viele Leute. The largest categories are the der words and the ein words.
Der words
The der words function like the definite articles in that they identify the gender and number of nouns.
One of the der words is dieser (this). Let’s look at it in all the cases.
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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plural
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nominative
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dieser Freund
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diese Lampe
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dieses Haus
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diese Tische
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accusative
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diesen Freund
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diese Lampe
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dieses Haus
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diese Tische
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dative
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diesem Freund
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dieser Lampe
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diesem Haus
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diesen Tischen
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genitive
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dieses Freundes
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dieser Lampe
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dieses Hauses
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dieser Tische
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Other der words decline in the same way. Take note that some of them modify only plural
nouns.
modify plural nouns modify plural or singular nouns
alle (all) jeder (each, every)
beide (both) jener (that)
welcher (which)
mancher (some, many a)
A few other determiners are used only in the plural.
einige some
mehrere several
sämtliche all
viele many
wenige few
Solcher is a special case. It is used mostly in the plural and is declined like dieser.
Solche Bücher sind sehr interessant. Such books (Books like that) are very
interesting.
When used with a singular noun, solcher is preceded by ein and is declined like an adjective.
Ein solches Hemd würde ich nie tragen. I’d never wear such a shirt (a shirt like that).
Solcher is also used in its undeclined form (solch) as a replacement for so. For example:
so eine Wohnung such an apartment
solch eine Wohnung such an apartment
so ein Flugzeug such an airplane
solch ein Flugzeug such an airplane
Ein words
The ein words function like the indefinite articles and include the possessive adjectives as well as kein.
Let’s look at kein in all the cases.
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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plural
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nominative
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kein Freund
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keine Lampe
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kein Haus
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keine Tische
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accusative
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keinen Freund
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keine Lampe
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kein Haus
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keine Tische
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dative
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keinem Freund
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keiner Lampe
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keinem Haus
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keinen Tischen
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genitive
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keines Freundes
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keiner Lampe
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keines Hauses
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keiner Tische
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The other ein words are declined in the same way, and all of them, except for ein itself, can be used with either singular or plural nouns.
mein my
dein your (singular, informal)
sein his, its
ihr her
unser our
euer your (plural, informal)
Ihr your (singular or plural formal)
ihr their
Some masculine nouns require an -n or -en ending when declined. This occurs with both der words and ein words. Some high-frequency nouns that do this are der Herr, der Junge, der Mensch, and der Tourist (gentleman, boy, human, tourist). For example:
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nominative
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der Herr
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der Mensch
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accusative
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den Herrn
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den Menschen
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dative
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dem Herrn
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dem Menschen
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genitive
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des Herrn
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des Menschen
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