Do Germans get annoyed when non-native German speakers use the wrong article ...

 By

Ilse Brauckhoff

... such as "dem" where it should be "den"?

I am German and no, I don’t get annoyed when non-native German speakers use the wrong article. And now I’m telling you a secret: many Germans use the wrong article all the time. That’s even part of some German dialects. So relax and just talk. And if somebody complains about the articles you use tell them that even many Germans don’t get them right, and ask them what “The more you practice, the better you will be.” means in German. It means: “Je mehr man übt, desto (or umso) besser wird man.” But they might say: “Umso mehr Du übst, umso besser wirst Du.” And the “Umso” at the beginning of the sentence is wrong, but many Germans use it like this these days. Even the news speakers on TV do it.