The Luxembourgish Definite & Indefinite Articles

IN Level A1

Today I am going to talk about an important but somehow exhausting grammar point: The Luxembourgish nouns and their articles. The Luxembourgish articles are honestly spoken a pain in the neck as they do not follow any logic. Unfortunately they are important for anyone who aims at speaking correct Luxembourgish. If you are confused by this, don’t be afraid! You’re not the only one. So…. lets’s start! First of all,

What is a noun?

A noun can either be:

a person, a place, a thing or an idea. And all Luxembourgish nouns are spelled with a Capital.

Beispiller (Examples)

d’Fra – the woman
d’Stad – the city
de Park – the park
de Computer – a computer
d’Gesondheet – the health

The Definite Articles

Now, English just has one definite article the but in Luxembourgish we have three of them: weiblech (feminine), männlech (masculine) and sächlech (neuter):

d’ = feminine
de(n)* = masculine
d’ = neuter

So d’ / de(n)* / d’ are the equivalent of the !

You may have noticed that the feminine and neuter definite articles look the same at first sight but there are differences when you decline nouns (accusative & dative case).

*subject to the n-rule

Beispiller (Examples)

de Brudder – the brother (masculine)
d’Fra – the woman (feminine)
d’Kand – the child (neuter)
de Läffel – the spoon (masculine)
d’Forschette – the fork (feminine)
d’Messer – the knife (neuter)

The article of the plural form is as well d’:

d’Autoen – the cars (plural)

The Indefinite Articles

Luxembourgish has as well three indefinite articles so the equivalent to “a” or “an” in English:

eng = feminine
e(n)* = masculine
e(n)* = neuter

*subject to the n-rule

Now here you notice that the masculine and neuter indefinite article are the same.

Beispiller (Examples)

e Mann – a man (masculine)
eng Fra – a woman (feminine)
e Kand – a child (neuter)

There is no indefinite article for plural nouns: Autoen – cars (plural)

SUMMARY:

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Definite article den d’ d’ d’

Indefinite article en eng en –

Now I hear you asking: but how do I remember the gender of Luxembourgish nouns?

I would love to tell you that there is a trick or a simple way of remembering what gender each noun is. But Luxembourgish genders are pretty random. Noun genders are just one of those things you will have to learn on a case by case basis. I know that this is really an unsatisfying thing to say ….. however there are some rules though! You can read about these rules in my article:

Hints to remember the gender of Luxembourgish nouns

My Learning Tip

Whenever you learn a new noun, the first thing to do is to ask “what’s the gender?” and actually write the word down with its gender. For example, if you learn in your lesson the noun Auto learn it like this:

den Auto / en Auto. And even better with the plural form: d’Autoen / Autoen.

ALWAYS learn a new noun along with its article!

So that you automatically connect the noun to the gender and this will avoid you to draw blanks when speaking.

Beispiller (Examples):

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

def. article den Teller d’Kaz d’Kand d’Telleren

indef. article en Teller eng Kaz e Kand Telleren

I am aware that this topic can kill motivation but let me tell you: don’t stress yourself about it. It is important that you develop an awareness for this but don’t focus on them too much. Just follow my learning tip.