what is it?
Demonstrative articles and question articles are words that accompany — or replace — a noun to point at something, ask about a choice, or ask about the nature of something. German has three main items at A2: dieser/dieses/diese ("this / that"), which points to a specific thing; welcher/welches/welche ("which?"), which asks the listener to pick from a known set; and was für ein ("what kind of?"), which asks about the type or quality of something. All three decline to match the gender, number, and case of the noun they relate to. In addition, the stressed definite article (e.g. Der ist gut!) works as a demonstrative pronoun standing alone, and derselbe ("the same") fuses the article and the stem selb- into one word.
when to use it
dieser/dieses/diese — use it to point at something near or already mentioned, equivalent to English "this" or "that". It can also stand alone as a pronoun ("Dieser ist gut").
welcher/welches/welche — use it when asking someone to identify or choose one item from a set that both speakers already know about. The answer is typically a specific noun or name.
was für ein — use it when asking about the kind, type, or quality of something. The set is open; the answer describes a category or characteristic.
stressed der/das/die as demonstrative pronoun — use the stressed definite article when you want to point emphatically at something without repeating the noun: Der ist gut! (That one is good!). Common in spoken German.
derselbe — use it to say two things are identical, not just similar: denselben Fehler (the same mistake). In informal speech, im selben Haus (in the same house) is also accepted.
so ein / solch- — use these to express "such a": so ein schöner Tag (such a beautiful day). Solch- declines like dieser and is more formal.
jener ("that over there") exists but is largely restricted to formal written German. At A2 you do not need to produce it actively.
formation
dieser declines exactly like the definite article, but with the article endings attached directly to the stem dies-. The same pattern applies to welch- and solch-.
| case | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | dieser | dieses | diese | diese |
| accusative | diesen | dieses | diese | diese |
| dative | diesem | diesem | dieser | diesen |
| genitive | dieses | dieses | dieser | dieser |
Replace dies- with welch- to get the full declension of welcher (e.g. nominative masculine welcher, accusative masculine welchen, dative feminine welcher).
was für ein is built from the fixed phrase was für plus the indefinite article ein-, which declines normally. The word für does not assign accusative here — the case of ein- depends on the noun's grammatical role in the sentence. With plural or uncountable nouns, ein is dropped: Was für Bücher liest du?
| noun gender / number | nominative form | example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | was für ein | Was für ein Film ist das? |
| neuter | was für ein | Was für ein Auto hast du? |
| feminine | was für eine | Was für eine Schule ist das? |
| plural | was für (no article) | Was für Bücher liest du? |
derselbe fuses the definite article with the stem selb- plus an adjective ending. The article part declines as normal; the selb- part takes a weak adjective ending. Key forms: nominative masculine derselbe, accusative masculine denselben, dative with a preposition im selben (contracted, informal).
examples in context
common pitfalls
Leaving dieser or welcher undeclined. Both words must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. *dieses Käse is wrong because Käse is masculine nominative → dieser Käse. Likewise *welch Buch → welches Buch (neuter accusative).
Confusing welch- with was für ein. Use welch- when the set is known and you want the listener to pick one: Welches Buch liest du? (from the books on the table). Use was für ein when you are asking about type or quality and the set is open: Was für ein Buch liest du? (a thriller? a novel?).
Treating für in was für ein as a case assigner. The preposition für normally governs accusative, but in was für ein it is part of a fixed phrase and does not control the case. The case of ein- comes from the noun's role: subject → nominative, direct object → accusative, etc. Was für ein Auto hast du? — Auto is neuter, so ein stays ein (not einen), even though the noun is a direct object.
Writing derselbe as two separate words. In careful writing, derselbe is one word. *der selbe Fehler is non-standard. The masculine accusative is denselben (not *den selben or *derselben). The contracted form im selben (= in demselben) is acceptable in informal use.