In German
der, die, das
Meaning: the (definite article)
Example sentences
DerMannliestdieZeitung.
The man is reading the newspaper.
DasKindspieltmitdemBall.
The child is playing with the ball.
Grammar note
German has three words for “the” in the singular — “der” (masculine), “die” (feminine), “das” (neuter) — plus “die” again for all plurals regardless of gender. Each one also changes across the four grammatical cases: “der” becomes “den” (accusative), “dem” (dative), “des” (genitive), and so on. This site's cases cluster has a dedicated page for every gender in every case if you want the full breakdown.
Common mistake
Don't try to guess a noun's gender from its meaning or spelling — German gender is largely arbitrary (“das Mädchen”, girl, is neuter), so the only reliable fix is memorizing each noun with its article from day one.
Quick check
Which three German words all mean “the”?
More words on this topic
Keep learning German
Practise it in a lesson →Frequently asked questions
Why does German have so many words for “the”?
Because the article encodes both the noun's grammatical gender (masculine/feminine/neuter) and its grammatical case (nominative/accusative/dative/genitive) — English “the” carries none of that information.
What's the plural form of “the”?
“Die” — the same word as the feminine singular, but used for every gender once the noun is plural.