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Is it der, die oder das Spanne?

DIE

The correct article in German of Spanne is die. So it is die Spanne! (nominative case)

The word Spanne is feminine, therefore the correct article is die.

Finding the right gender of a noun

German articles are used similarly to the English articles,a and the. However, they are declined differently (change) according to the number, gender and case of their nouns.

In the German language, the gender and therefore article is fixed for each noun.

Test your knowledge!

Choose the correct article.

DER

DIE

DAS

The most difficult part of learning the German language is the articles (der, die, das) or rather the gender of each noun. The gender of each noun in German has no simple rule. In fact, it can even seem illogical. For example das Mädchen, a young girl is neutral while der Junge, a young boy is male.

It is a good idea to learn the correct article for each new word together - even if it means a lot of work. For example learning "der Hund" (the dog) rather than just Hund by itself. Fortunately, there are some rules about gender in German that make things a little easier. It might be even nicer if these rules didn't have exceptions - but you can't have everything! The best way to learn them is with the App - Der-Die-Das Train! (available for iOS and Android)

German nouns belong either to the gender masculine (male, standard gender) with the definite article der, to the feminine (feminine) with the definite article die, or to the neuter (neuter) with the definite article das.

  • for masculine: points of the compass, weather (Osten, Monsun, Sturm; however it is: das Gewitter), liquor/spirits (Wodka, Wein, Kognak), minerals, rocks (Marmor, Quarz, Granit, Diamant);

  • for feminine: ships and airplanes (die Deutschland, die Boeing; however it is: der Airbus), cigarette brands (Camel, Marlboro), many tree and plant species (Eiche, Pappel, Kiefer; aber: der Flieder), numbers (Eins, Million; however it is: das Dutzend), most inland rivers (Elbe, Oder, Donau; aber: der Rhein);

  • for neutrals: cafes, hotels, cinemas (das Mariott, das Cinemaxx), chemical elements (Helium, Arsen; however it is: der Schwefel, masculine elements have the suffix -stoff), letters, notes, languages and colors (das Orange, das A, das Englische), certain brand names for detergents and cleaning products (Ariel, Persil), continents, countries (die artikellosen: (das alte) Europa; however exceptions include: der Libanon, die Schweiz …).

German declension of Spanne?

How does the declension of Spanne work in the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases? Here you can find all forms in the singular as well as in the plural:

1 Singular Plural
Nominative die Spanne die Spannen
Genitive der Spanne der Spannen
Dative der Spanne den Spannen
Akkusative die Spanne die Spannen

What is the meaning of Spanne in German?

Spanne has various definitions in German:

[1] Time spannes (short) period that extends between two times

[1] Zeitspanne; (kurzer) Zeitraum, der sich zwischen zwei Zeitpunkten erstreckt

[2] Rare: Spatial distance between two points

[2] selten: räumlicher Abstand; Abstand zwischen zwei Punkten

[3] Outingly: old length, defined as a distance between the thumb and a small finger with a hand spread (about 20-25 cm, "nineteen span") or between the thumb and index finger ("seven-inch range"))

[3] veraltend: altes Längenmaß, definiert als Abstand zwischen Daumen und kleinem Finger bei gespreizter Hand (etwa 20-25 cm, „neunzöllige Spanne“) oder zwischen Daumen und Zeigefinger („siebenzöllige Spanne“)

[4] Commercial, short: trading range

[4] kaufmännisch, kurz: Handelsspanne

[b] price difference

[b] Preisunterschied

How to use Spanne in a sentence?

Example sentences in German using Spanne with translations in English.

[1]

[1]

[3] „Es war nicht mehr als zwei Spannen hoch und in der Breite ein wenig schmaler.“

[3] "It was no more than two tension up and a little narrow in the width"

How do you pronounce Spanne?

Spanne
Spanne

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