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Example:

Deutschland ist 357 375 km² groß.

Er/sie hat 16 Bundesländer.

So my question is, what is the correct pronoun to use in that context, is it "er" or "sie" ?

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user8139417
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  • to the reopen wish user: I see an accepted answer with upvotes, I see a duplicate nonetheless - why reopen? Where does it differ from the duplicate - the answer here is better/complete? – Shegit Brahm Jun 04 '20 at 14:20

1 Answers1

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If a country doesn't have an article, it's referred to as a neutral:

Deutschland ist 357 357km² groß.

Es hat 16 Bundesländer.

Otherwise it's referred to by the same gender as the article is:

Die Mongolei ist riesig, aber sie hat nur wenige Einwohner.

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Masatwwo
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    One special case: Die USA are always plural -> "Die USA kämpfen mit Covid-19, sie haben die weltweit meisten Fälle." – miep Jun 04 '20 at 07:08
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    Wouldn't it be more accurate to say if the countries gender is neuter, instead of "does not have article"? We can say "das Deutschland, es hat 16 Bundesländer", "die Schweiz, sie hat 26 Kantone", "die USA, sie bestehen aus 50 Einzelstaaten". – jay.sf Jun 04 '20 at 07:47
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    @miep Not quite that special: die Malediven, die Seychellen, etc. are always in plural too, and let's not forget die VAE. – Annatar Jun 04 '20 at 07:53
  • @jay.sf "doesn't have an article" may be a bit inaccurate, but "das Deutschland" is at least highly unusual. However, there are regions where an article is used: das Engadin. – RHa Jun 04 '20 at 09:07
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    @RHa I might argue with you there, since "das Deutschland der * Jahre" yields around 488,000,000 Google search results. – jay.sf Jun 04 '20 at 09:15
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    You should probably mention that the first sentence is not complete. It should be something like "Deutschland ist 357 375 km^2 groß." –  Jun 04 '20 at 10:09
  • @Roland danke/Thanks – Masatwwo Jun 04 '20 at 10:26
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    @jay.sf That's not an article but a demonstrative pronoun. The wording "Das Deutschland der x-er Jahre" implies there are several Deutschlands (in different time periods) of which the writer points to a specific one (the one of the years starting with x). – Tilman Schmidt Jun 06 '20 at 19:11
  • @TilmanSchmidt You made a point. How would this affect the original issue that "has no article" is possibly inaccurate? – jay.sf Jun 07 '20 at 07:28
  • Somewhat academic, but the condition "has no article", taken literally, can be exact even in the face of your supposed counterexample, provided we consider "das" a demonstrative pronoun instead of an article. – Tilman Schmidt Jun 07 '20 at 10:49