Tips and notes
Capitalizing nouns
In German, all nouns are capitalized. For example, "my name" is "mein Name," and
"the apple" is "der Apfel." This helps you identify which are the nouns in a
sentence.
Three grammatical genders, three types of nouns
Nouns in German are either feminine, masculine or neuter. For example, "Frau"
(woman) is feminine, "Mann" (man) is masculine, and "Kind" (child) is neuter. The
grammatical gender may not match the biological gender: "Mädchen" (girl) is
a neuter noun.
It is very important to learn every noun along with its gender because parts of
German sentences change depending on the gender of their nouns.
Generally speaking, the definite article "die" (the) and the indefinite article "eine"
(a/an) are used for feminine nouns, "der" and "ein" for masculine nouns, and "das"
and "ein" for neuter nouns. For example, it is "die Frau," "der Mann," and "das
Kind." However, later you will see that this changes depending on something called
the "case of the noun."
masculine neuter feminine
indefinite (a/an) ein Mann ein Mädchen eine Frau
definite (the) der Mann das Mädchen die Frau
Conjugations of the verb sein (to be)
A few verbs like "sein" (to be) are completely irregular, and their conjugations
simply need to be memorized:
German English
ich bin I am
du bist you (singular informal) are
er/sie/es ist he/she/it is
wir sind we are
ihr seid you (plural informal) are
German English
sie sind they are
Sie sind you (formal) are
Conjugating regular verbs
Verb conjugation in German is more challenging than in English. To conjugate a
regular verb in the present tense, identify the invariant stem of the verb and add the
ending corresponding to any of the grammatical persons, which you can simply
memorize:
trinken (to drink)
English person ending German example
I -e ich trinke
you (singular informal) -st du trinkst
he/she/it -t er/sie/es trinkt
we -en wir trinken
you (plural informal) -t ihr trinkt
you (formal) -en Sie trinken
they -en sie trinken
Notice that the 1st and the 3rd person plural have the same ending as "you
(formal)."
Umlauts
Umlauts are letters (more specifically vowels) that have two dots above them and
appear in some German words like "Mädchen." Literally, "Umlaut" means "around
the sound," because its function is to change how the vowel sounds.
An umlaut can sometimes indicate the plural of a word. For example, the plural of
"Mutter" (mother) is "Mütter." It might even change the meaning of a word entirely.
That's why it's very important not to ignore those little dots.
No continuous aspect
In German, there's no continuous aspect, i.e. there are no separate forms for "I
drink" and "I am drinking". There's only one form: Ich trinke.
There's no such thing as Ich bin trinke or Ich bin trinken!
When translating into English, how can I tell whether to use the simple (I drink) or
the continuous form (I am drinking)?
Unless the context suggests otherwise, either form should be accepted.
Tips and notes
German plurals - the nominative Case
In English, making plurals out of singular nouns is typically as straightforward as
adding an "s" or an "es" at the end of the word. In German, the transformation is
more complex, and also the articles for each gender change. The following five
suggestions can help:
1. -e ending: most German one-syllable nouns will need -e in their plural form.
For example, in the nominative case, "das Brot" (the bread) becomes "die
Brote," and "das Spiel" (the game) becomes "die Spiele."
2. -er ending: most masculine or neuter nouns will need the -er ending, and
there may be umlaut changes. For example, in the nominative case "das
Kind" (the child) becomes "die Kinder," and "der Mann" (the man) becomes
"die Männer."
3. -n/-en ending: most feminine nouns will take either -n or -en in all four
grammatical cases, with no umlaut changes. For example, "die Frau" (the
woman) becomes "die Frauen" and "die Kartoffel" becomes "die Kartoffeln."
4. -s ending: most foreign-origin nouns will take the -s ending for the plural,
usually with no umlaut changes. For example: "der Chef" (the boss) becomes
"die Chefs."
5. There is no change for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of
these in the singular: -chen, -lein, -el, or -er. There may be umlaut changes.
For example: "das Mädchen" (the girl) becomes "die Mädchen," and "die
Mutter" (the mother) becomes "die Mütter."
German feminine plurals - nouns ending in -in
Feminine nouns that end in "-in" will need "-nen" in the plural. For example, "die
Köchin" (the female cook) becomes "die Köchinnen" in its plural form.
ihr vs er
If you're new to German, ihr and er may sound exactly same, but there is actually a
difference. ihr sounds similar to the English word ear, and er sounds similar to the
English word air (imagine a British/RP accent).
Don't worry if you can't pick up on the difference at first. You may need some more
listening practice before you can tell them apart. Also, try using headphones
instead of speakers.
Even if this doesn't seem to help, knowing your conjugation tables will greatly
reduce the amount of ambiguity.
German English
ich bin I am
du bist you (singular informal) are
er/sie/es ist he/she/it is
wir sind we are
ihr seid you (plural informal) are
sie sind they are
Sie sind you (formal) are
Tips and notes
SIMPLE GERMAN PRESENT TENSE
In English, the present tense can be simple or progressive (as in "I eat" or "I am
eating"). Both forms translate to just one German present tense form, because
there is no continuous tense in standard German. So, "she learns" and "she is
learning" are both "sie lernt."
WIE GEHT'S?
There are many ways to ask someone how he or she is doing. Take "How are
you?," "How do you do?" and "How is it going?" as examples. In German, the
common phrase or idiom uses the verb "gehen" (go): "Wie geht es dir?" (How are
you?).
WILLKOMMEN CAN BE A FALSE FRIEND
In German, "Willkommen" means welcome as in "Welcome to our home", but it
does not mean welcome as in "Thank you - You're welcome". The German for the
latter is "Gern geschehen" or "Keine Ursache".
