Formder Montag, der Mai, der Sommer, der Regen
Meaning and usage
Several groups of nouns are masculine, so they take der: the days of the week (der Montag), the months (der Mai), the seasons (der Sommer) and most weather words (der Regen, der Schnee). Many drinks are masculine too, such as der Tee, der Kaffee and der Wein, but not all: das Wasser, das Bier, die Milch.
You see the masculine form in time phrases like nächsten Montag and letzten Sommer, where the ending -en shows the masculine accusative. English speakers often guess die for these words, as in die Montag. Learn the group, and you know the article for every day and month.
Examples 5
Im letzten Sommer hat es viel geregnet.
It rained a lot last summer.
Geben Sie uns bis nächsten Montag Bescheid.
Let us know by next Monday.
Sie gehen jeden Samstag in die Stadt.
They go into town every Saturday.
Komm und trink einen Tee mit mir.
Come and have tea with me.
Ich werde diesen Oktober 30 Jahre alt sein.
I'll be 30 this October.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Im Juli ist Sommer sehr heiß.
Show answer
Correct answer: der
Seasons are masculine, and Sommer is the subject here, so the article is der.
- das is neuter, and seasons are masculine.
- den is the accusative, but Sommer is the subject of ist.
- die is feminine or plural, and Sommer is masculine singular.
In this topic: Noun gender
- der, die, das the three definite articles: der, die, das
- ein, eine a or an: ein, eine
- die: -ung, -heit, -keit Nouns in -ung, -heit, -keit are usually feminine
- die: nouns in -e Most nouns ending in -e are feminine
- der: Tage, Monate, Jahreszeiten Days, months, seasons and weather words take der
- das: -chen, das Essen Diminutives in -chen and -lein are neuter
- die Haustür Compound nouns take the gender of their last part
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.