Both der/das/die and den mean ‘the’ but when are they supposed to be used. Are they interchangeable?
I recently came across a statement on duolingo : Mia, der Stuhl ist da druben, Warum brauchst du den Stuhl.
Since it is translated as ‘the’ in both cases why is Mia, den Stuhl ist da druben, Warum brauchst du der Stuhl wrong
You use them in different cases (“Fälle” in german).
“der”, “die” and “das” are the default ones you use in the Nominativ case.
In the Akkusativ case you use “den, die, das” instead, so there’s only a difference for “der”/“den”, which makes it harder to spot.
Generally, if you just talk about a thing, that’s usually Nominativ. But if there’s a verb about doing something to the thing, “brauchen” in this case, it’s Akkusativ.
There’s also the Dativ case for when something is done to a thing/person, but it’s harder to make a general rule for that.
And, for completeness, there’s also Genitiv. But don’t bother with that for now. It’s barely used anymore so you’ll be fine without it.
Edit: Mixed up adjective and verb, now it’s fixed.
Wait, is it really true that Genitiv case isn’t used much? What would you do to show possession? Is it just using something like in English (the chair’s leg / der Stuhls Bein vs. the leg of the chair / das Bein des Stuhles). Is it just that it’s a bit formal sounding?
Apologies if any of that is wrong, I haven’t used German in forever, please correct me.
Yes, it’s basically dead for casual talking, we just use it when we want to sound formal.
In your example, we’d say “Stuhlbein” or “Das Bein von dem Stuhl”. I don’t know if the latter is correct grammar, but we use it all the time.
There’s a little saying about Genitiv being replaced by Dativ: “Genitiv ins Wasser, weils Dativ ist”
Interesting. Thank you!
Thank you for the very informative answer.
I could be mistaken, but I believe it’s a nominative vs. accusative case difference.
In German there is a difference between the subject of a sentence and the object of a sentence. For the subject you use “der/die/das” (Nominativ) and for the object it’s “den/die/das” (Akkusativ). Of course there isn’t a special form of “die” or “das” just to mess with your head a little, since it’s German.
Thank you
Of course there isn’t a special form of “die” or “das” just to mess with your head a little, since it’s German.
Haha of course
Thanks for the post! I’ve been trying to go with what “sounds right” on duo, so it makes sense there’s rules 😂
Also found a new Lemmy community 👌
Yo lmk too, I’m also learning German on Duolingo.
