12 Determiners

Determiners are a set of words used with nouns to indicate to which category of things a noun belongs. They usually precede the noun.

Determiners are declined according to the gender, number and case of the noun to which they are attached.

Class I Determiners

Class I determiners include:

definite article (der, die, das);
demonstratives (dieser this, jener that, solcher such);
interrogatives (welcher? which?);
quantifiers (aller all, mancher some).

The pattern for the declension of Class I determiners (except the definite article) is provided here by dieser.

Class I determiners – paradigm
	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	All Plurals
Nominative	dieser	diese	dieses	diese
Accusative	diesen	diese	dieses	diese
Genitive	dieses	dieser	dieses	dieser
Dative	diesem	dieser	diesem	diesen

Determiners are used in similar way to the equivalent words in English. The major difference is that the endings need to be included with the determiner, whereas a change in ending is not required in the equivalent English expression.

Dieser Käse schmeckt sehr gut. This cheese tastes very good.
Herr Meyer leitet diese Firma. Mr. Meyer directs this firm.

In the first sentence, the er ending is used with dieser since the noun (Käse) is nominative masculine singular. In the second sentence, the e ending is used with dieser, since the noun (Firma) is accusative feminine singular.

Class I determiners can also be used as pronouns. This includes the definite article, which is the most frequently used demonstrative pronoun in German, and means "this", or "that". As a relative pronoun, it can also mean "who" or "which".

Class II Determiners

Class II determiners include:

the indefinite articles (ein a, kein not a);
possessives:

mein my
unser our
dein your (familiar singular)
euer your (familiar plural)
Ihr (polite singular and plural)
ihr its, her, their (referring to a feminine gender owner or plural owner)
sein its, his (referring to a masculine gender or neuter gender singular owner)

The basic pattern for the declension of Class II determiners is provided by mein.

Class II determiners – paradigm
	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	All Plurals
Nominative	mein	meine	mein	meine
Accusative	meinen	meine	mein	meine
Genitive	meines	meiner	meines	meiner
Dative	meinem	meiner	meinem	meinen

Class II determiners are used in the same way as Class I determiners.

Heute koche ich euch eine Suppe. Today, I am cooking soup for you.
Die Männer bauen dort ein Haus. The men are building a house there.

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