¶ Intro / Opening
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¶ Introduction to the Nullartikel
If you think we are talking about Hamburg today or ships or the life as a captain, I have to disappoint you. Sorry. The thing that I want to draw your attention to is... The lack of articles in front of many nouns in the sentence. And this non-existent article is called the null article in German. And today... we are having a better look at it. So, before we do anything else, let's take a look at that first sentence again.
Ich sitze gerade in Hamburg am Hafen, trinke Wasser und esse Fischbrötchen. Ich sehe die Schiffe und bin neugierig. So if we translate that, it would say as much as I'm sitting in Hamburg at the harbor drinking water and eating fish sandwiches. I see the ships go by and I'm curious what life as a captain might be like. Now in German, it's in Hamburg. Fischbrötchen and also als Kapitän. So there is no der, die, das or no ein, eine to be seen anyway here. Genau das ist der Nullartikel.
So the null article is the absence of either a definite or an indefinite article before a noun. We usually see this in situations where the noun is either generic or uncountable.
¶ Uncountable Nouns and Measurements
or in some other specific context. Lass uns mit den unzählbaren Nomen anfangen. Or abstract ideas, we usually skip the article. So, zum Beispiel, dieser Teller ist aus Holz. In English, this plate is made of wood. And you see already that it's similar in English that we don't add a the or a a here in the wood. We just say made of wood in German. Ist aus Holz. It's the same with abstract ideas. So for example.
She needs luck and courage. This rule also applies when you add a measurement or a unit in front of something and is often used when... cooking or shopping for groceries. Ein Beispiel. Wir trinken ein Glas Wasser. So again, we added the unit one glass, but there's no article in front of Wasser. Another example. Mir bitte zwei kilo Mehl und Karotten mit. Okay, so two kilos and then again it's just Mehl without the article. And Karotten brings us straight to our next category.
¶ Plurals, Locations, and Professions
Plural nouns. So when talking about plurals in a general way, the article is usually omitted. While in the singular we would say Ich brauche eine Gabel. So I need... A fork? The plural would be Ich brauche gabeln. I need forks. And again, very similar in English here than in German. You can also start a sentence with a plural noun. For example,
Pferde sind schön. So you're generally talking about horses, not a specific horse or a specific type of horse. So you don't need the article. Pferde sind schön. Let's move on. Länder. Kontinente und Städte kommen als nächstes. When naming most locations like countries, continents or cities, we also lose the article. When it comes to... countries, there are some exceptions like die Schweiz or der Iran that still have an article, but most others don't. Okay? Zum Beispiel, sie lebt in Spanien.
So she lives in Spain, but originally comes from Africa. So we have a country here and we have a continent here, but no article. Another example with a city. Wir fliegen morgen nach Tokio. So you see preposition nach and then the city name. This would look different if we don't choose a city, but for example the coast. as a destination to fly to. Then it would be an die Küste. So preposition an, then the article die, and then Küste for coast. So weit, so gut.
Let's have a look at another category. And that is the category of Berufe, Nationalitäten und Anreden. So if you're stating someone's profession, their nationality... or their title, and it's unspecific. No article is used. Zum Beispiel, Peter ist Arzt. Peter is a doctor. And this one with the professions is really the biggest difference to English because in English, you would always add an indefinite article here. Peter is a doctor instead of Peter is doctor. Okay. However, in German.
We don't need that. We just say Peter ist Arzt. Same for nationalities. Sie ist Deutsche. She is a German. Again, English different to German. Or the last example. Frau Wiesengold ist großartig. Miss Wiesengold is wonderful. And there is no article necessary in front of Frau. Alles klar!
¶ Exceptions and Practice Exercises
Now, there is one last important rule here that you need to know. When we talked about the last category of professions and titles, I added if it's unspecific. And this is because the null article is only used if the noun isn't further specified by an adjective, an adverb or a relative clause. So, hör gut zu. Peter. Peter ist ein guter Arzt. So we need to add ein here because we added an adjective. Guter.
Another scenario would be Peter ist ein Arzt, der sehr hart arbeitet. So Peter is a doctor that works very hard. This time a relative clause was added, so we also had to add the indefinite article ein again. Okay, so that's what I mean by if it's not further specified or if it's unspecific. Lass uns einen kleinen Test machen. I give you a short English sentence and you try to translate it into German, deciding whether you need an article or not.
Don't worry about genders and cases at the moment and just focus on the null article. Alles klar? Sehr gut. Let's try and translate that first sentence. We need wood and pencils. for this project. Wunderbar! Wir brauchen Holz und Stifte für dieses Projekt. So neither Holz Nur Stifte needs an article here. Here is another sentence. Tom works as a chef. Gut mitgedacht. In German, we lose the article. So Tom arbeitet als Koch. And one last sentence. I am hungry.
And that's a tricky one. Think about how you'd say that in German first and then check if you need the article or not. Klasse gemacht! So I am hungry in German is... Ich habe Hunger. I have Hunger. And because it's an abstract concept, we don't need an article in front of the Hunger. Großartig gemacht. Sehr, sehr gut. Also, das war's für heute. I hope you found this short excursion into the world of the Nullarticle helpful.
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