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The rules are more complex in German than they are in English. There are several ways in which nouns take endings. There are some odd exceptions, just like there are in English, but the following information will help you (at least 95% of the time).
Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns have nominitve, genitive, dative, and accusative cases depending on their function in the sentence.
In the nominative (Wer questions) case it is the subject (or thing doing the action).
In the genitive (Wessen questions) case it is the possessor or object of other prepositions.
In the dative (Wem questions) case it is the indirect object (when the thing is given).
In the accusative (Wen questions) case it is the direct object (thing receiving the action).
For example (for illustrative purposes only),
The dog (nominitive) gave the dog (accusative) of the dog (genitive) to the dog (dative).
nom. der (masculiine), die (feminine), das (neuter)
gen. des (masculiine), der (feminine), des (neuter)
dat. dem (masculiine), der (feminine), dem (neuter)
acc.den (masculiine), die (feminine), das (neuter)
The plural articles are:
nom. die (all genders)
gen. der (all genders)
dat. den (all genders)
acc. die (all genders)
The words for "a" and "an" also agree in case and gender with their noun:
nom. ein (m), eine (f), ein (n)
gen. eines (m), einer (f), eines (n)
dat. einem (m), einer (f), einem (n)
acc. einen (m), eine (f), ein (n)
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