No. 395 in German
länder
"Länder" (plural of "Land") means "states" or "regions" in Germany, referring to the federal states.
In a sentence
Deutschland und Frankreich sind beides europäische Länder.
Germany and France are both European countries.
Here, 'Länder' refers to countries, used as the plural of 'Land' meaning a nation-state.
In Deutschland gibt es 16 Bundesländer.
In Germany, there are 16 federal states.
In this context, 'Länder' is part of 'Bundesländer', referring to the federal states within Germany's government structure.
Die Kulturen in diesen Ländern unterscheiden sich stark.
The cultures in these countries differ greatly.
Here, 'Ländern' (dative plural of 'Länder') refers to countries, showing its grammatical case usage depending on its role in the sentence.
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