Ways to say it
| German | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|
| dieser | /ˈdiːzər/ /ˈdɪzər/ |
masculine |
| diese | [ˈdiːzə] (narrow) | feminine |
dieser and its forms are used to indicate the specific person, item or thing being pointed out or mentioned. It can also function as a determiner to refer to a known thing that is about to be mentioned, often alongside folgend.
Which one should you use?
dieser refers to something near the speaker ('this'), whereas jener is used to refer to something more distant in space or time ('that'). In modern spoken German, jener is often replaced by other demonstrative pronouns.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In some southern regions, such as Bavaria, des is often used instead of dieses to express 'this' for a masculine noun. In southwestern Germany, people may use der do, die do or das do to mean 'this one' or 'that one' in informal speech.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The form of 'this' must change to match the gender, number and grammatical case of the noun it modifies. For example, dieses is used for neuter nouns in the nominative and accusative cases, while diesen is used for masculine nouns in the accusative case or plural nouns in the dative case.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈdiːzər/
Did you know?
- The word dieser is a distant linguistic relative of the English word 'the'.
- In spoken German, the formal dieser is often replaced by the simple articles der, die and das to mean 'this'. This can be confusing for learners because it makes the word for 'the' sound exactly like the word for 'this'.
- In very formal or legal German, dieser can be used to refer to the last mentioned item in a list to avoid repetition. This creates a specific structural pairing with jenen to distinguish between the first and last items.
Examples in context
- Wer ist diese Dame?Who is this lady?This sentence is useful for asking who a specific lady is using diese.Tatoeba #782795 by Manfredo, translation #782798 by Manfredo
- Es ist dieses Buch.It's this book.This sentence is useful for identifying a book using diese.Tatoeba #940227 by Sudajaengi, translation #57102 by CK
- Dieses ist für Sie!This is for you!This sentence is useful for stating that something is intended for someone using diese.Tatoeba #2509899 by Zaghawa, translation #1229916 by sundown
- Dieses Buch ist interessant.This book is interesting.
- Diese Frau ist freundlich.This woman is friendly.
- Dieser Mann ist intelligent.This man is intelligent.
- Diese Bücher sind interessant.These books are interesting.
- Die Schuhe sind schön.These/Those shoes are nice.
- Der da ist mein Freund.This/That one is my friend.
- 10190 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Julian and Laura are looking at a menu in a cafe.
- JulianWelchen Kuchen möchtest du?Which cake would you like?
- LauraIch nehme diesen hier, bitte.I'll take this one here, please.
- JulianDieser sieht wirklich lecker aus.This one looks really delicious.
- LauraJa, das glaube ich auch.Yes, I think so too.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “this” translations and entries dieser, diese, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries dieser, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
