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der

the (masculine)

determiner dair Common
Grammar & Structure Determiners

Usage Note

Der is the definite article for masculine nouns in the nominative case, but it also doubles as a relative pronoun ('who/which') and changes form across the four cases — den, dem, des. Mastering der/die/das is the central challenge of German for most learners.

Examples

"Der Mann liest ein Buch."

Natural Translation

The man is reading a book.

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