ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of articles in the German grammar. By and large, definite and indefinite articles are used in much the same way in German as they are in English. It is common to use a definite article after a preposition if the article can appear in its contracted form. This is particularly frequent in spoken German and in less formal styles of the written language. German often uses a definite article when English would prefer a possessive. One major difference between English and German with respect to the use of the indefinite article occurs with the names of professions, religions and nationalities where the indefinite article is present in English but not in German after the verbs. The article is used particularly when referring to translating from one into another or where a genitive is needed. The use of the definite article before abstract nouns is extremely variable and context-dependent.
