das Glas
glass
Das Glas (the glass) refers to both the material and a drinking glass in German, just like in English. It is a neuter noun, so it takes das as its definite article, and it forms the plural with an umlaut plus -er: die Gläser. Many learners expect der or die here, but the correct article is das.
The word covers two ideas. As a material, Glas means the substance windows and bottles are made of: eine Flasche aus Glas (a bottle made of glass). As a container, ein Glas is something you drink from: ein Glas Wasser (a glass of water), ein Glas Wein (a glass of wine). Notice that German says ein Glas Wasser with no word for "of": the two nouns simply sit next to each other.
There is one tidy detail with quantities. When you count glasses as a measure, German often keeps Glas singular: zwei Glas Bier (two glasses of beer) is common when ordering. When you mean the physical objects, you use the normal plural: zwei Gläser standen auf dem Tisch (two glasses stood on the table).
The genitive singular is des Glases and the dative is dem Glas. A few common compounds build on it: das Weinglas (wine glass), das Brillenglas (lens of a pair of glasses), and die Glasscheibe (pane of glass).
Pronunciation: Glas is one syllable, [ɡlaːs], with a long "a" like in English "father". In the plural Gläser, the "ä" sounds like the "e" in "bed", giving "GLAY-zer" with stress on the first syllable.
Article / Gender
English
glass
Singular
das Glas
Plural
die Gläser
das Glas appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Das Glas ist leer.
The glass is empty.
Simple nominative statement.
Ich stelle das Glas auf den Tisch.
I put the glass on the table.
Akkusativ object after the verb.
Kannst du mir das Glas geben?
Can you give me the glass?
Modal verb goes in position 2.
- What does Glas mean in German?
- Glas means "glass" in German, covering both the material (aus Glas, made of glass) and a drinking glass (ein Glas Wasser, a glass of water). It is a neuter noun, so it takes das as its definite article.
- Is it der, die, or das Glas?
- It is das Glas. The noun is neuter, so the correct article is das, not der or die. The same neuter article carries through related forms like dem Glas (dative) and des Glases (genitive).
- What is the plural of Glas?
- The plural is die Gläser, formed with an umlaut on the "a" plus the ending -er. When counting drinks as a measure, German often keeps the singular instead: zwei Glas Wein (two glasses of wine).
- How do you say "a glass of water" in German?
- Ein Glas Wasser. German places the two nouns directly together with no word for "of", so it is literally "a glass water". The same pattern gives eine Tasse Kaffee (a cup of coffee) and eine Flasche Wein (a bottle of wine).
- How do you pronounce Glas?
- Glas is one syllable, pronounced [ɡlaːs] with a long "a" like in English "father". The plural Gläser is "GLAY-zer", where the "ä" sounds like the "e" in "bed" and the "s" softens to a "z" sound between vowels.