Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook

Ich fürchte mich vor dem Fliegen.

I am afraid of flying.

Declension

As explained above, the definite article changes its form according to

gender, number and case of the noun it precedes. Here are all forms:

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Nom. der Mann die Frau das Kind die Leute

Acc. den Mann die Frau das Kind die Leute

Dat. dem Mann der Frau dem Kind den Leuten

Gen. des Mannes der Frau des Kindes der Leute

Merging of definite articles and prepositions

When using definite articles with prepositions such as in,an, auf the two

words often merge: Er ist in demGarten.→Er ist imGarten.‘He is in

the garden’. For more information on shortened forms of the definite

article, see Unit 16.

The indefinite article

Referring to an unspecified noun

An indefinite article before a noun refers to an unspecified person, thing

or idea:

Kennst du ein Hotel in München?

Do you know a hotel in Munich?

Differences between German and English

The use of the indefinite article in English and German is very similar,

although there are a few differences:

• There is no indefinite article in German when stating an affiliation to
  a country, city, profession or religion:
  Ich bin Amerikaner.
  I am an American.

Unit 3: Articles and other determiners 17

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