Learning that Tisch is masculine tells you which article to start from. It does not tell you which form to use, because the article changes shape according to the noun's job in the sentence. That is what declension means, and in German it is the article — not the noun — that does almost all of the work.
The definite article
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der Mann | die Frau | das Kind | die Kinder |
| Accusative | den Mann | die Frau | das Kind | die Kinder |
| Dative | dem Mann | der Frau | dem Kind | den Kindern |
| Genitive | des Mannes | der Frau | des Kindes | der Kinder |
Tipp · Look at the accusative row: only the masculine changed. die, das and the plural are identical to the nominative. That single observation removes most of the accusative from the list of things you have to remember — if it isn't masculine, don't touch it.
ein, kein, mein
The indefinite article and the possessives take the same endings as each other. ein itself has no plural, so the plural column below uses kein — and mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser and euer all behave identically.
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural (kein) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein Mann | eine Frau | ein Kind | keine Kinder |
| Accusative | einen Mann | eine Frau | ein Kind | keine Kinder |
| Dative | einem Mann | einer Frau | einem Kind | keinen Kindern |
| Genitive | eines Mannes | einer Frau | eines Kindes | keiner Kinder |
Compare the two tables and the endings match almost everywhere: den/einen, dem/einem, der/einer, des/eines. The one real difference is the nominative and accusative of the masculine and neuter, where ein simply carries no ending — which is exactly the gap the adjective has to fill, and why “ein kleiner See” needs its -er.
Three things that trip people up
- The dative plural adds -n to the NOUN as well: den Kindern, den Männern. Only plurals already ending in -n or -s escape it — den Frauen, den Autos.
- Masculine and neuter genitives add -s or -es to the noun too: des Mannes, des Kindes, des Lehrers. Feminine and plural change nothing but the article.
- der is three different things — masculine nominative, feminine dative, and feminine/plural genitive. Seeing der does not tell you the gender; only the sentence does.
Der Mann sieht den Hund.
The man sees the dog.
both masculine: subject der, object den
Die Frau gibt dem Kind das Buch.
The woman gives the child the book.
dem = dative recipient, das = accusative thing
Ich fahre mit der Straßenbahn.
I'm going by tram.
mit forces the dative, so die becomes der
Common mistakes
✗Ich sehe der Mann.
✓Ich sehe den Mann.
The object of sehen is accusative, and masculine is the one gender that changes there: der becomes den.
✗Ich sehe den Frau.
✓Ich sehe die Frau.
Overcorrection — the opposite error, and just as common. Feminine does not change in the accusative.
✗Ich gebe der Mann das Buch.
✓Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch.
The recipient is dative, so masculine der becomes dem. den would be accusative, which the book already is.
✗mit die Kinder
✓mit den Kindern
mit takes the dative, and the dative plural adds -n to the noun as well as changing the article.
✗eine Mann
✓ein Mann
eine is feminine. Masculine and neuter take a bare ein in the nominative — no ending at all.
✗das Auto des Bruder
✓das Auto des Bruders
Masculine genitive changes the article AND the noun. Doing only half of it is the usual slip.
If the tables feel like a lot, learn them one column at a time rather than one row: masculine first, since it is the only gender that changes in the accusative and the one most sentences trip over. Feminine and neuter follow quickly, and the plural is mostly die with a dative that announces itself.