Did you know?
English actually has one of the simpler article systems among Germanic languages.
German's definite article ("the") changes form depending on the noun's gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) and its grammatical case, giving you six different words (der, die, das, den, dem, des) where English just has one: the.
Scandinavian languages take a completely different approach: Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish attach the definite article directly onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word. In Swedish, hund means "dog," and hunden means "the dog." Icelandic works the same way, and it doesn't have an indefinite article ("a/an") at all.
Meanwhile, languages like Russian, Polish, and Japanese have no articles whatsoever, which is a big reason why deciding between a, an, the, and no article is one of the most persistently tricky parts of English for speakers of those languages, even at advanced levels.
German's definite article ("the") changes form depending on the noun's gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) and its grammatical case, giving you six different words (der, die, das, den, dem, des) where English just has one: the.
Scandinavian languages take a completely different approach: Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish attach the definite article directly onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word. In Swedish, hund means "dog," and hunden means "the dog." Icelandic works the same way, and it doesn't have an indefinite article ("a/an") at all.
Meanwhile, languages like Russian, Polish, and Japanese have no articles whatsoever, which is a big reason why deciding between a, an, the, and no article is one of the most persistently tricky parts of English for speakers of those languages, even at advanced levels.
KEEP PRACTICING: MORE EXERCISES FOR YOU
Try all our Mixed Articles exercises:
Mixed Articles 1 (B/I)
Mixed Articles 2 (B/I)
Mixed Articles 3 (B/I)
Mixed Articles 5 (B/I)
More article exercises:
A or the? Exercise 2 (A1/A2)
Article or No Article? Exercise 3 (A2/B2)
A or the? Exercise 1 (A1/A2)
Articles with Geographic Names Exercise 1 (B1/B2)
Article or No Article? Exercise 1 (A2/B1)
Articles with Idioms Exercise 1 (B1/B2)
Related countable/uncountable noun exercises:
Countable or Uncountable Nouns? Exercise 1 (A2/B1)
Isn'T or Aren'T? 1 (B1/B2)
Countable or Uncountable Nouns? Exercise 2 (A2/B1)
Countable or Uncountable Nouns? Exercise 3 (B1/B2)
Browse all article exercises →
Try all our Mixed Articles exercises:
Mixed Articles 1 (B/I)
Mixed Articles 2 (B/I)
Mixed Articles 3 (B/I)
Mixed Articles 5 (B/I)
More article exercises:
A or the? Exercise 2 (A1/A2)
Article or No Article? Exercise 3 (A2/B2)
A or the? Exercise 1 (A1/A2)
Articles with Geographic Names Exercise 1 (B1/B2)
Article or No Article? Exercise 1 (A2/B1)
Articles with Idioms Exercise 1 (B1/B2)
Related countable/uncountable noun exercises:
Countable or Uncountable Nouns? Exercise 1 (A2/B1)
Isn'T or Aren'T? 1 (B1/B2)
Countable or Uncountable Nouns? Exercise 2 (A2/B1)
Countable or Uncountable Nouns? Exercise 3 (B1/B2)
Browse all article exercises →
