2091: Gender in German Country Names: Articles Sep 6, 2020

In German, countries will not need a definite article ('das') if the country is neuter, but for masculine and feminine one is required. Most countries and other words for places like continents are neuter, which is easy in this case. It means for instance that while one would say “Deutschland liegt in Europa” (Germany lies in Europe) which lacks an article, people would say “der Irak liegt in Vorderasien.” (Iraq lies in the Middle East). Most Middle Eastern countries are masculine in German.

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