Most German country names behave like English ones: Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien appear with no article at all. But a closed set of countries — and almost all regions, mountain ranges, and rivers — always carry an article, complete with grammatical gender. Getting this right is not just about sounding polished: in German, whether a country takes an article decides which preposition you use to travel there. Learn the two facts together or you will get one of them wrong.
The headline rule, the one that separates this page from every superficial treatment: article-less countries take nach; article-bearing countries take in + accusative. These two facts are welded together. You cannot reliably produce "I'm going to Switzerland" unless you already know that die Schweiz carries an article.
The default: no article
The vast majority of countries are neuter and take no article. You name them bare, and for direction you use the preposition nach ("to"):
Ich fahre nach Italien.
I'm going to Italy.
Sie zieht nächstes Jahr nach Spanien.
She's moving to Spain next year.
Wir waren letzten Sommer in Portugal.
We were in Portugal last summer.
Note the split in the last example: nach is for motion toward a place; in (here with the dative) is for being located in it. With article-less countries, location uses bare in + dative (in Portugal) and direction uses nach (nach Portugal).
The countries that always take an article
A defined, learnable set of countries carries an article. They fall into three gender groups:
| Gender | Countries | Example (location) |
|---|---|---|
| Feminine (die) | die Schweiz, die Türkei, die Slowakei, die Ukraine, die Mongolei | in der Schweiz |
| Masculine (der) | der Iran, der Irak, der Sudan, der Jemen, der Tschad | im Iran |
| Plural (die) | die USA, die Niederlande, die Philippinen, die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate | in den USA |
A useful pattern: most feminine ones end in -ei or -ie (Türkei, Slowakei, Ukraine), most always-article masculine ones are Middle Eastern or African states (Iran, Irak, Sudan, Jemen), and the plurals are unions of parts — the United States, the Netherlands (the low lands), the Philippines (a group of islands). die USA is grammatically plural, so it takes plural agreement throughout: die USA sind..., not die USA ist....
The consequence: nach vs in
Here is where the article earns its keep. Because article-bearing countries have an article, they cannot use nach for direction — nach only attaches to bare names. Instead they use in + the accusative for direction, and in + the dative for location:
Ich fahre nach Italien, aber meine Schwester fährt in die Schweiz.
I'm going to Italy, but my sister is going to Switzerland.
Nächste Woche fliege ich in die Türkei.
Next week I'm flying to Turkey.
Er arbeitet seit zwei Jahren in den USA.
He's been working in the USA for two years.
Watch the case carefully. in die Schweiz (accusative) means to Switzerland — motion, answering wohin?. in der Schweiz (dative) means in Switzerland — location, answering wo?. This is the standard two-way preposition behaviour, but it only ever surfaces with these article-bearing countries; bare countries dodge the whole thing by using nach.
Wohin fährst du? — In die Türkei. Und wo wohnst du dort? — In der Türkei, in Izmir.
Where are you going? — To Turkey. And where do you live there? — In Turkey, in Izmir.
For masculine and plural countries, the dative contracts: in + dem Iran = im Iran, and the plural dative is in den USA, in den Niederlanden (note the dative-plural -n on Niederlanden).
Die Lage im Iran ist angespannt.
The situation in Iran is tense. (newspaper register)
Regions, rivers, and mountains
Beyond countries, several other geographic categories regularly take articles:
Regions and landscapes — many take an article, often the result of compounding with a common noun (-gebiet = area, -land = land):
Das Ruhrgebiet war früher eine Industrieregion.
The Ruhr region used to be an industrial region.
Wir machen Urlaub im Allgäu.
We're holidaying in the Allgäu.
Rivers always take an article and have a fixed gender. German rivers are mostly feminine; many non-German ones are masculine:
Der Rhein fließt durch mehrere Länder.
The Rhine flows through several countries.
Die Donau ist der zweitlängste Fluss Europas.
The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe.
Mountains and mountain ranges take an article too: der Mont Blanc, die Alpen, das Matterhorn.
Im Winter fahren wir oft in die Alpen.
In winter we often go to the Alps.
Cities, by contrast, are almost always article-less and neuter (Berlin, München), and they use nach for direction (nach Berlin) — exactly like bare countries.
Common Mistakes
1. Using nach with an article-bearing country. This is the flagship error. nach cannot attach to a name that has an article.
❌ Ich fahre nach der Schweiz.
Incorrect — die Schweiz takes in + accusative.
✅ Ich fahre in die Schweiz.
I'm going to Switzerland.
2. Dropping the article from a die/der-country. These countries never appear bare, not even after a preposition.
❌ Er wohnt in Türkei.
Incorrect — needs the article.
✅ Er wohnt in der Türkei.
He lives in Turkey.
3. Confusing the case: accusative for motion vs dative for location. In die Schweiz (to) and in der Schweiz (in) are not interchangeable.
❌ Ich fliege morgen in der Türkei.
Incorrect — motion toward needs accusative: in die Türkei.
✅ Ich fliege morgen in die Türkei.
I'm flying to Turkey tomorrow.
4. Treating die USA as singular. It is grammatically plural and takes plural verb agreement.
❌ Die USA ist ein großes Land.
Incorrect — die USA is plural.
✅ Die USA sind ein großes Land.
The USA is a large country.
5. Using nach with a region or mountain range. Regions and ranges take articles, so they pattern like article-countries.
❌ Wir fahren nach den Alpen.
Incorrect.
✅ Wir fahren in die Alpen.
We're going to the Alps.
Key Takeaways
- Most countries (and all cities) take no article and use nach for direction (nach Italien, nach Berlin).
- A closed set always takes an article: feminine (die Schweiz, die Türkei), masculine (der Iran, der Irak), and plural (die USA, die Niederlande).
- Whether a country has an article determines the motion preposition: bare names take nach; article-bearing names take in + accusative (direction) / in + dative (location). Learn the two facts as one.
- Regions, rivers, and mountain ranges take articles with fixed gender (das Ruhrgebiet, der Rhein, die Donau, die Alpen).
- die USA is plural and takes plural agreement.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- When German Omits the ArticleA2 — The systematic cases where German drops the article entirely — professions, materials, fixed phrases, and country names — and why inserting ein before a profession is the classic English-speaker error.
- The Definite Article: der, die, dasA1 — Germany's three words for 'the' and why der/die/das carries gender and case information English doesn't track.
- How the German Article System WorksA2 — The big picture: how der-words, ein-words, and zero articles carry gender, number, and case — and why the article is the grammatical backbone of a German sentence.
- Countable and Uncountable NounsB1 — Mass nouns vs. count nouns in German, how to measure uncountables with quantity phrases, and the crucial 'no von' rule that trips up English speakers.