Using Names of Countries and Describing Location

The names of most countries and continents in German are neuter (das) for example (das) Deutschland and (das) Amerika, (das) Europa. The good thing is that articles are not used with the names of countries that are neuter, unless the name of the country is preceded by an adjective, if you said for example "The wonderful Germany" (Das schöne Deutschland). Basically don't worry about it right now!

The names of a few countries are feminine (die Schweiz, die Türkei) and some are only used in the plural (die USA, die Niederlande). Articles are always used with names of countries that are feminine or plural.

The question word Wo?

Wo? = Where? - indicating fixed location.

Used for example with wohnen and leben (to live)

Wo wohnt Manuela?
- Where does Manuela live?
Sie wohnt in Berlin.
- She lives in Berlin.

Listen to and read these examples of wo in usage.

Wo wohnst du?
- Where do you live?
Ich wohne in Georgia.
- I live in Georgia.
Wo liegt Georgia?
- Where is Georgia located?
Georgia liegt in den USA.
- Georgia is located in the United States.

The preposition in (in der, im, in den)

Like in English you just say in plus the name of the country or city (for countries that are neuter - das).

ACHTUNG: To say in indicating location with countries that are feminine, such as die Schweiz and die Türkei, you should say in der:

Ich wohne in der Schweiz.
Ich arbeite in der Türkei.

To say in indicating location with countries that are plural (such as die USA and die Niederlande) you should say in den:

Ich wohne in den USA.
Ich arbeite in den Niederlanden.
- Notice that you also add an "-n" to Niederlande

Notice that when you say in the north, in the south, etc., you are saying im instead of simply in. Im is a dative case contraction for in dem. You will understand why this happens in a later unit when we will be discussing the Dative case. For now you just have to memorize it:

WO? (where?)

in Deutschland, in Amerika, in England ...
in der Schweiz, in der Türkei ...
in den Niederlanden, in den USA ...
im Norden, im Süden, im Westen, im Osten

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