English - German Dictionary
/ðə/
The is the definite article in English, used to refer to specific or known nouns. In German, it translates primarily to der, die, or das depending on the grammatical gender and case of the noun.
| # | Type | English | German |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | article | the article | der |
| 2 | article | the article | die |
| 3 | article | the article | das |
| 4 | article | the with a superlative | der |
| 5 | article | the used with the name of a member of a class to refer to all things in that class | der |
| 6 | article | the introducing dates in a letter, such as "the 1st of May 2025" | den |
| 7 | article | the this | dieser |
| 8 | adverb | the indicating a result like the comparative | umso |
I saw the cat in the garden.
Ich habe die Katze im Garten gesehen.
She is the best student in the class.
Sie ist die beste Schülerin in der Klasse.
The 15th of March is my birthday.
Der 15. März ist mein Geburtstag.
German requires the definite article to agree in gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) with its noun. English learners often forget that German nouns always have a grammatical gender that determines which form of 'the' to use. The article changes form based on the noun's role in the sentence, not just its gender.
Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Audio: Wikimedia Commons