Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Nouns come with their article

English has one word for "the". German has three, and which one a noun takes is its gender:

• der — masculine: der Mann
• die — feminine: die Frau
• das — neuter: das Kind

Nothing in the meaning tells you which, so a noun is always learned with its article. German also writes every noun with a capital letter.

"To be": sein

• ich bin (I am)
• du bist (you are, informal singular)
• er / sie / es ist (he / she / it is)

hier and da

hier (here) and da (there) let you say something about any noun you know.

er, sie, es

These follow the noun's gender, not just the person: der Mann is er, die Frau is sie, das Kind is es.

auch and und