What I meant by nouns having more than one article has nothing to do with cases. What I meant is that a word such as "Band," for example, has three articles. Articles in this case have semantic traits and determine the meaning of the word. die Band = music group der Band = hardcover book das Band - tape

I'm not a native German speaker; I'm still learning German and am struggling with articles, but here's what I know. I really hope that my answer is correct. Just remember that there are always exceptions. :) Der: -Names of seasons, compass directions, months, days of the week -Nouns derived from verbs without a suffix, e.g. Fang -Names of alcohol drinks (except das Bier), car brands, names of SOME mountains and rivers -Nouns ending in the -ismus suffix, e.g. Kolonialismus -Nouns that end in the -er suffix and are derived from verbs, e.g. Lehrer -Most, but not all nouns that end in the -ant, -ling, -ner and -or suffixes, e.g. Elefant, Lehrling, Schaffner, Motor Die: -Most names of plants and trees -Cardinal numbers -Words that end in the following suffixes: -falt (Vielfalt), -heit (Schönheit), -keit (Möglichkeit), -schaft (Freundschaft), -t (Fahrt), -ung (Meinung) -Foreign nouns that end in the following suffixes : - ur (Kultur), -tät (Universität), -ion (Diskussion), -anz (Eleganz), -enz (Existenz), -ik (Musik), -age (Garage), -ade (Marmelade) -Most nouns that end in these suffixes: -e (Lampe), -ei (Metzgerei), -ie (Psychologie), -in (Lehrerin) -All nouns in plural Das: -Nouns derived from infinitives, e.g. Essen -Nouns derived from adjectives, e.g. Gute -Diminutives ending in -chen and -lein, e.g. Kügelchen, Fräulein -Names of colors -Names of most chemical elements, metals and fractions -Most nouns ending in the following suffixes : -ial (Material), -nis (Ergebnis), -ment (Instrument), -o (Auto), -um (Stadium), -tum (Quantum) Also, keep in mind that some nouns have more than one article. The article changes the meaning of some words. Viel Spaß beim Auswendiglernen! :D

If you are talking to a German person and he or she looks at you oddly.

tumpliner, I am familiar with the case system even though I'm still at a stage where I make a lot of mistakes despite the fact that I know the grammatical rules. However, I did not feel the need to state the obvious. I'm definitely not going to fit the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases into this little box. The rules I listed might be difficult for you to remember, but they helped me a great deal. :)

Also, keep in mind that some nouns have more than one article. The article changes the meaning of some words. This statement would be a flag for me if I were your teacher. It sounds like you do not know about the case system. ALL nouns will have different articles when they are used in different cases, and also when used in the plural compared to the singular. The rules you list are OK, but hard to remember unless you use them a lot. If you use words enough-- if you listen to enough German or read enough then the wrong article will just sound odd when you hear it. Remember the case system though! You cannot get by without it. Der Mann war gross. (Nominative case for Mann) Er schlagt den Mann. (Accusative case for Mann) Er gibt dem Mann den Ball. (Dative case for Mann) Er hat den Ball des Manns. (Genitive case)(I am not sure this is right since I use the genitive so infrequently). Wo sind die Maenner? (Nominative plural)