Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

When you are out shopping for clothes, you will often need to point out specific items: "this coat", "that dress", "these shoes". In German, we use the word **dieser** to say "this" or "these".

### Pointing out specific items

Just like *der*, *die*, and *das*, the demonstrative pronoun **dieser** changes its ending to match the gender of the noun it points to, as well as whether that noun is singular or plural.

| Gender / Number | Form |
| --- | --- |
| Masculine | **dieser** |
| Feminine | **diese** |
| Neuter | **dieses** |
| Plural | **diese** |

Notice how the endings look just like the last letters of the definite articles (*de**r***, *di**e***, *da**s***).

{{item:863563}}

{{item:863568}}

{{item:863575}}

{{item:863577}}

### "This" as a direct object

When the item you are pointing to is the direct object of the sentence—like the specific thing you are buying or trying on—you need to use the accusative case.

Just like *der* changes to *den*, the masculine form *dieser* changes to **diesen**. 

{{item:863565}}

The feminine, neuter, and plural forms do not change at all.

{{item:863574}}

### Using "der, die, das" to mean "that"

While *dieser* usually translates to "this", German speakers often use the plain definite articles (*der, die, das, den*) to mean "that" or "those".

{{item:863572}}

To strongly emphasize exactly which item you mean, you can even put the object at the very beginning of the sentence. When you do this, remember that the verb must still stay in the second position, pushing the subject (*ich*) until after the verb.

{{item:863582}}

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Subordinate clauses for reasons (weil)

Question	Answer
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)	dieser
the coat	der Mantel
This coat is very beautiful.	Dieser Mantel ist sehr schön.
to try on	anprobieren
I am trying on this coat.	Ich probiere diesen Mantel an.
the pants / the trousers	die Hose
too (e.g., too big)	zu
These pants are too small.	Diese Hose ist zu klein.
to fit	passen
the skirt	der Rock
Does this skirt fit?	Passt dieser Rock?
The skirt does not fit.	Der Rock passt nicht.
the dress	das Kleid
I am trying on this dress.	Ich probiere dieses Kleid an.
This dress is very expensive!	Dieses Kleid ist sehr teuer!
the shoe	der Schuh
Are these shoes new?	Sind diese Schuhe neu?
No, these shoes are too big.	Nein, diese Schuhe sind zu groß.
the size	die Größe
Do you need this size?	Brauchen Sie diese Größe?
These pants fit well.	Diese Hose passt gut.
I am buying that sweater.	Den Pullover kaufe ich.
We do not have this size.	Wir haben diese Größe nicht.
other, different	andere
I am not reading this book, I am reading the other one.	Ich lese nicht dieses Buch, ich lese das andere.
The other man is my friend.	Der andere Mann ist mein Freund.
the clothing	die Kleidung
The clothing is expensive.	Die Kleidung ist teuer.
We are buying clothing.	Wir kaufen Kleidung.
the blouse	die Bluse
This blouse is too small.	Diese Bluse ist zu klein.
I am trying on the blouse.	Ich probiere die Bluse an.
the jeans	die Jeans
The jeans fit well.	Die Jeans passt gut.
I like wearing jeans.	Ich trage gern Jeans.

Contributors