Is it der, die or das Basketball? – der Basketball (basketball), plural die Basketbälle

Why is it der Basketball?

No ending, compound or meaning rule gives away the article of Basketball, so learn the two together: der Basketball.

Sense 1

der

Meaning

[1] No plural: team sport in which a ball is to be thrown into an open basket from above

[1] kein Plural: Mannschaftssport, bei dem ein Ball in einen offenen Korb von oben durchgeworfen werden soll

[2] The ball used for [1]

[2] der für [1] verwendete Ball

Examples

[1] The youngsters play in the afternoon at the Basketballe school yard
[1] Die Jugendlichen spielen nachmittags auf dem Schulhof Basketball.

[1] "Handball and basketball play a much larger role in Iceland"
[1] „Handball und Basketball spielen in Island eine viel größere Rolle.“

More source examples (2)

These dictionary examples can include historical and less common uses.

[2] Basketball is mostly orange
[2] Der Basketball ist meistens orange.

[2] I bought three new basket balls, but three days later two were already disappeared
[2] Ich habe drei neue Basketbälle gekauft, doch drei Tage später waren zwei bereits verschwunden.

Declension

1	Singular	Plural
Nominativ	der Basketball	die Basketbälle
Genitiv	des Basketballes des Basketballs	der Basketbälle
Dativ	dem Basketball dem Basketballe	den Basketbällen
Akkusativ	den Basketball	die Basketbälle

Pronunciation

In context

Dictionary entries include material from Wiktionary. Wiktionary