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Declension of German Nouns

☰ List of all topics in the level A2

Level A2 Introduction Unit 20: Dative Case in German Unit 21: Declension of German Nouns Unit 22: Dative Pronouns in German Unit 23: German Dative Prepositions Unit 24: Separable Verbs in German Unit 25: Two-way Prepositions in German Unit 26: Reflexive Verbs in German Unit 27: German Perfect Tense Unit 28: German Particles Unit 29: Future Tense in German Unit 30: Passive Voice in German

Please see the following sentence:
Ich gebe dem Studenten den Kuli. (I give the student the pen.)
Studenten cannot be a plural noun because the article used with Studenten is "dem," indicating that it is in the dative case and is a singular masculine noun. So, what does the -en ending signify in this context?

Some masculine nouns add an ending "-en" or "-n" in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases. These nouns are called weak nouns (schwache Nomen), and this type of declension is called n-declension (n-Deklination). Schwache Nomen are:

Nouns that end in the letter combination "-ent," such as, "der Student" changes into "dem Studenten" and "der Assistent" changes into "dem Assistenten."
For nouns ending in the letter "-e," like "der Junge" (the boy), the declension transforms into "dem Jungen," and "der Name" (the name) becomes "dem Namen."
Some other nouns with no specific endings, like "der Herr" (Mr.), declines to "dem Herrn" and "der Mensch" (human, person) becomes "dem Menschen."

Examples:

Sie erzählt einem Jungen eine Geschichte. (She tells a boy a story.)
erzählen (to tell somebody something), der Junge (boy), die Geschichte (story)

Ich erzähle Herrn Meier die Wahrheit. (I tell the truth to Mr. Meier.)
die Wahrheit (truth)

Ich erkläre dem Menschen das Problem. (I explain the problem to that person.)
As German demonstrative pronouns are the same as definite articles, so "dem" can have meanings of "the" and "that".
erklären (to explain something to somebody), der Mensch (person, man) plural: die Menschen, das Problem (problem)

Similarly, all the examples with definite articles from the last lesson can have two meanings:

Ich zeige der Frau das Auto.
(I show the car to the woman.)
(I show the car to that woman.)
zeigen (to show somebody something)

Ich schicke dem Mann ein Geschenk.
(I send the man a gift.)
(I send that man a gift.)
schicken (to send somebody something), das Geschenk (gift)

Ich kaufe der Frau das Brot.
(I buy the woman the bread.)
(I buy that woman the bread.)
kaufen (to buy), das Brot (bread)

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