German alphabet:

In total, the German alphabet has 30 letters :26 Latin letters and 4 extra ones
(ä ,ö ,ü, ß)

Aa Bb C c Dd Ee
Ff Gg H h II J j
K k Ll Mm Nn O o
Pp Qq Rr S s Tt
Uu Vv W w Xx Yy
Zz Ää Ö ö Üü ß ß

Word stress :

1) In general the majority of German words have the stress on the first
syllable :

Vater – brauchen – Flughafen

2) For words with a prefix , there are several patterns :

a. Separable prefixes are stressed : auf, ein, aus, bei, mit, un, an, etc.

aufstellen – einladen – aussteingen – mitbringen – unbekannt

b. Inseparable prefixes are unstressed: be-, er-,ent-,zer-,etc.

Bezahlen – erscheinen – entschuldigen – zerstören

c. Stress-flexible prefixes ( where the stress falls changes the word meaning):
über-, um-,unter-,etc.

Übersetzen_1 ( to translate) – übersetzen_2 ( to ferry across)

3) Loanwords:

Words borrowed from other languages generally keep their original stress :

Ingenieur – Theater

Words with roots in Latin or French have the stress on the last or second last
syllable: -ant, -anz, -enz, -ion,-ismus , - ist , -ment, -tät , -ieren
 Universität – studieren

4) Compound words :

The stress of the first words in the compound is the stress of the whole
compound word

Hausaufgabe – Klassenzimmer

Syllables:

1.Regular vowels and vowels with Umlaut:

There are five regular vowels and three vowels with umlaut in German: a , e
, I , o , u and ä ,ö ,ü, a , o , u and ä ,ö ,ü are pronounced differently .

A = Vater – Mann

Ä = Väter - Männer

O= Sohn – Dorf

Ö = Söhne – Dörfer

U = Kuh – Mutter

Ü = kühe – Mütter

2. Consonants + Vowel :

German vowels in pronunciation by longer and shorter sounds .

It’s a long vowerl when/

-its on its own

-it’s followed by only one consonant ,e.g “a” in “Vater” is long , and “a” in
“Mann” is short

-it’s duplicated, such as “aa” in “Maat”, “ee” in “See” and “oo” in “Boot” ; the
vowel “I” never duplicates. The long sound of “I” appears usually as”ie” , like in
“sieben” . The vowels “ u/ä/ö/ü” never duplicate.

-it’s followed by “h”, like “Huhn” (“h” is muted)

F = fest – Fehler
H = Hund – Huhn

J = Jacke – Jahr

K = Kommen – Kohl

L = Licht – Lied

M = Mann – Maat

N = Neffe – Nacken

P = packen – Paar

T = Tante – Tag

Z = Zoll – Zoo

3. Diphthongs and grouped consonants :

1) Diphthongs (vowel + vowel): au, ei/ai,eu/äu

Au = Haus – Maus

Ei/ai = Eis – Mai

Eu/äu = neu – Häuser

2) Double consonants :

When a consonant is doubled, its sound doesn’t change. For the consonant “k” ,
there is no “kk” , but there is “ck”

Ff= Neffe

Ll = Ball

Nn = nennen

Ss = Tasse

Ck = Zucker

Mm = Nummer

Pp = Puppe

Tt = Gatte
3) grouped consonants:

a) “dt” and “th” :

Stadt – Schmidt – Thomas – Thema

b) ph:

Photo – phase

C) tz, ts:

Satz – sitzen – Mietshaus – Monatsende

d) chs , x:

Fuchs – sechs – Marx – Boxen

4. Special pronunciations :

1) ch:

a) when it follows the vowels “a/o/u/au” :

Bach – Buch - hoch –auch

b) when it follows a consonant or any other vowel or diphthong besides

“a/o/u/au” :

ich – euch – möchte – leicht

2) b , d , g :

a) when they take the second last position of a syllable or followed by a

consonant , they are pronounced as “ p,t,k” :

bleibt – Rad – Tag

B) otherwise , they are pronounced as usual :

baden – Dame – Garten

3) s , ß :

a) “S” is voiced when it appears before a vowel :

sagen – See
b) when it follows a vowel or consonant :

das – Dienst

c) ß :

heiß – Füße

4 ) st , sp :

a) As the initial in a word , the “s” is always pronounced as “ sh” :

Stadt – Sport

b) Otherwise , it keeps its normal unvoiced sound :

Fenster – knospe

5) Pf , kn :

In these consonant combinations , every consonant must be pronounced ( the

trick is to pronounce the first consonant gently )

Pfeffer – Pflanze – Knabe – Kneipe

6) Ng :

lang – übung

7) Qu :

“q” can be paired with “u” only : “qu”:

Quelle – Qual

8) W , v :
a) “w” is pronounced with the upper front teech gently pressing the lower
lip, like the English “v” :

wann – Wetter

b) “v” is pronounced usually like the English “f ” :

vier – Motiv
 c) Unless it’s the final sound of a loanword , “v” is voiced like the normal
English “ v” :

Vase – Klavier

9) Ig :
a) At the end of words:

Richtig – Honig

b) Before a vowel :

richtige – wenige

10 ) sch , tsch :

Schnee , schon ,Deutsch , Quatsch

11 ) y:

a) It shares the same sound with “ü” when follows a consonant :

Typ – Symbol

b) Almost all y-initial words in German are loanwords :

York – Yoga

12) r :

a) when “ r “ is a consonant and followed by vowels :

Radio – Frau

c) When “r “ follows a short vowel , it blends with the vowel :

Herren – Kurz

d) “r” in inseparable suffixes “-er/-ern/-ert” and in inseparable prefixes

“er-/ver-/zer-“ :

Kinder – erzählen – Klettern – vergessen – Klettert – zerstören

e) “r” in the final position of words (mostly after a long vowel):

Ohr – Tier
 Basics

Part I:

1. Der , die , das:

German nouns have three grammatical genders

• “der” -masculine
• “die” - feminine
• “das” - neuter

It's very important to memorize the nouns together with their genders . The
gender of the noun is not the bioligical gender of the object .Anything that can
be named , such as lifeless objects or ideas , has a gender .

For example:

Masculine Feminine neuter

Vater - father Mutter – mother Mädchen - girl
Report – report Sonne - sun Haus – house
2. Definite articles and indefinite articles :

Nouns of different grammatical genders require articles of the corresponding

gender . When the noun is the subject of the sentence , which means it has the
nominative case , the combination goes as follows:

Gender Indefinite (a/an) Definite (the)

masculine Ein Vater/ a father Der Vater/ the father
feminine Eine Mutter / a mother Die Mutter /the mother
neuter Ein kind / a child Das kind/ the child
Part II:

1. Conjugation the “be” verb- “sein” in the singulars:

German verbs are conjugated in the tenses , persons, numbers and moods. Here
is how we conjugate the verb “sein(be)” in the singulars/

Subject sein
ich/i bin/am
du/you bist/are
 er/sie/es/he/she/it Ist/is
Extended reading:

1. Capitalization of nouns:

In written German , the first letter of all nouns must be capitalized , which
helps the readers quickly differentiate which word is a noun

2. Four grammatical cases:

The grammatical case of a noun reflects the function it plays in a sentence . The
case system in the German language has four categories , which are :

• Nominative
• Accusative
• Genitive
• Dative

In German , nouns in the nominative case are either the subject of a sentence or
the nouns after the “ sein” verb

Example:

The cat is cute ( nominative)

That cat is a cat (nominative)

3. Umlaut vowels ä, ö, ü and the special letter ß:

In the German alphabet, in addition to the 26 standard Latin letters ,

there are 4 new letters for eEnglish-speaking learners. They are ä, ö, ü
and ß ( read “Eszett” or “ Scharfess”. They can also be written as “ ae”,
“oe”, “ue” and “ss” if one does not have a German keyboard .

Umlaut vowels appear in a lot of words , such as the word “ Mädchen

(girl)” or the plural form of some nouns, such as “die Mütter ( the
mothers)”

Food and drinks

Part I:
1.simple present tense:

The simple present tense can be used to describe :

• Events that are taking place at the moment

• Habits
• Unchanging situation
• Or general truth

2. Verb conjugations :

The infinitive form of most German verbs ends with –en , some with –n
(example Klettern = climb (mountain)). The stem of the verb is the
infinitive form minus the “-en” ending.

Fo example : the infinitive form of “ drink” is “ trinken” and its stem is “

trink-”

Most verbs are conjugated by adding different endings to the verb stem:
verb stem + ending

Here's how the verb “trinken (drink)” is conjugated in 7 personal

pronouns:

Personal pronouns ending DE

i -e Ich trinke
You -st Du trinkst
hr/she/it -t Er/sie/es trinkt
we -en Wir trinken
You(pl.) -t Ihr trinkt
they -en sie trinken
Formal you (shown as -en Sie trinken
“ YOU” in the app ,
sg. And pl.)
NOTE: as you can see , the verb is inflected exactly the same in “wir(we)”
, “ sie(they) and “Sie (YOU)”
Part II:

1. The accusative case :

The grammatical object of a sentence takes the accusative case instead of

the nominative case .

Exp:

example case explanation

Es ist ein Apfel/ it is Ein Apfel is A noun is nominative
an apple nominative when it’s before or
after the sein verb
Ich kaufe einen Apfel / Einen Apfel is “Apfel” is the object of
I'm buying an apple accusative the action “kaufen” so
it is accusative
2. The inflections of articles in the cases :

German nouns , articles and adjectives are inflected in the cases.

When an article proceeds a noun , the inflection of the article can reflect
the noun’s grammatical case .

When the noun is in the accusative case, the article-noun combinations

are as follow:

With indefinite articles : (m= masculine , f= feminine , n= neuter)

Case m f n
nominative Ein Apfel /an Eine Tomate/a Ein Ei / an egg
apple tomato
accusative Einen Apfel / an Eine Tomate/ a Ein Ei / an egg
apple tomato
With definite articles :

Case m f n
nominative Der Apfel/ the Die Tomate/the Das Ei/ the egg
apple tomato
 accusative Den Apfel/the Die Tomate/ the Das Ei/ the egg
apple tomato
Extended reading:

1. The missing present progressive tense:

There is no present progressive tense in German. The simple present tense

includes the function of the present progressive tense .whether it is an
action taking place right now or a continuous event , it can be inferred
from the context in most cases.

For example:

The sentence “ich trinke Bier” can mean “i drink beer” or “ I am

drinking beer”

If you really want to emphasize that the action is happening right now ,
you can add the adverb “jetzt (now)” or “gerade (just now)” in the
sentence to indicate the ongoing status .

2. Gern - “enjoy,gladly”:

The adverb “gern” means “enjoy , gladly “ you might also hear native
speakers say “gerne” , which is exactly the same meaning . “Gern” can be
placed right after the verb

3. No articles:

In some cases, nouns do not always articles . In the following cases , we

don’t need an article to modify the noun

(1) Personal names , city names , country names ( some country

names comes with articles) and continent names :
- Anna ist 26 Jahre alt ( Anna is 26 years old)
(2) Uncountable nouns , liquid and material , human characteristics
and emotions :
- Hast du Geld? ( do you have money?)
 - Ich trinke Tee ( I drink tea)
- Er hat Hunger ( he’s hungry)
(3) Nouns that indicate nationality and profession used with “ sein”
and “werden” , nouns used after “als”, and nouns that indicate
academic subjects :
- Er ist chinese (he’s a chinese )
- Sie wird Lehrerin 5she will become a teacher)
- Ich arbeite als Polizist ( I work as a police officer (m.))
- Du studierst Geschichte ( you study history)
(4) No articles after metric units:

-ich möchte ein Kilo Orangen ( I would like a kilogram of oranges)

(5) fixed expressions :

-Ende gut , alles gut ( all’s well that ends well)

Plural

1. The plural form of nouns:

There is no easy way to memorize the plural form of many nouns.

In addition to changing the ending of the word, some words obtain

umlauts over the vowels in their ,plural forms. This means that when
memorizing a German noun , you have to memorize the gender and the
plural form altogether.

Here are 8 common ways to form plurals:

notation Singular Plural form english

form:
1 - Lehrer Lehrer Teacher (m.)
2 ::- Mutter Mütter mother
3 -e Fisch Fische fish
4 ::-e Wand Wände wall
 5 ::-er Ei Eier egg
6 ::-er Buch Bücher book
7 -(e)n Hemd Hemden shirt
Kartoffeln Kartoffeln potato
8 -s Steaks Steaks steak
In addition , there are two more commonly seen plurals:

(1) Nouns ending with –nis end with –nisse in the plurals :

Das Ergebnis > die Ergebnisse (the result , the results)

(2) Feminine nouns ending with –in end with –innen in the plurals:

Die Freundin > die Freundinnen (the girlfriend , the girlfriends)

2. Articles for plurals:

Indefinite articles have no plural forms. Plural definite articles in the

nominative case , regardless of the gender , are “ die” , same as the
singular feminine definite article .

Gender Article singular plural

masculine indefinite Ein Mann/ a Männer/men
man
Definite Der Mann/ the Die Männer /the
man men

feminine indefinite Eine Frau /a Frauen /women

woman
definite Die Frau / the Die Frauen/ the
woman women
Neutral indefinite Ein Kind/ a Kinder /children
child
definite Das Kind / the Die Kinder/the
child children
3. The inflections of “sein” and “ trinken” in the plurals:
Here's how “sein(be” and “trinken(drink)” are conjugated in the singulars
and plurals:

Sein :

Ich/i Bin /am

Du/ you Bist /are
er/sie/es/he/she/it ist/is
wir/we sind/are
Ihr /you (pl.) seid/are
Sie /they sind/are
Sie /YOU(sg./pl.) sind/are
Trinken:

I -e Ich trinke
you -st Du trinkst
he/she/it -t Er/sie/es trinkt
we -en Wir trinken
you -t Ihr trinkt
they -en sie trinken
YOU -en Sie trinken

Greetings

1. “Guten Tag!”:

Here are the easiest ways to greet people at different times of the day :

Guten Morgen! = good morning

Guten Tag! = Good afternoon/day!

Guten Abend! = good evening!

Gute Nacht! = good night!

You might have noticed that “gut” in guten Abend and gute Nacht are
not exactly the same. As a matter fact , all of these are shortened forms
of the complete versions below:
 - (ich wünsche Ihnen einen) guten Morgen! = (I wish you a) good
morning!
- (ich wünsche Ihnen einen) guten Tag! = (I wish you a) good day!
- (ich wünsche Ihnen einen) guten Abend! = (I wish you a) good
evening!
- (ich wünsche Ihnen einen) gute Nacht! = (I wish you a) good night!
2. Self-introductions:

Wie heißt du? What's you name?/how are you

called?
Ich heiße Anna I am Anna/i am called Anna
Ich bin Anna I am Anna
Mein Name ist Anna My name is Anna
Wie geht’s? How are you?
Gut, danke Good, thanks
Woher kommst du? Where are you from?
Ich komme aus Deutschland I come from Germany
Wer ist sie? Who is she?

Negation and Question

Part I:

1. Using “nicht” in negation:

In German , the word “ nicht” is used for negation

(1) To negate a sein-sentence , “ nicht” is placed:

After the sein-verb

(2) To negate a sentence with other verbs , “nicht” is placed : usually

at the end of the sentence

du/you bist/are nicht/not Anna/anna

=you are not Anna
Explanation: To negate a sein-sentence “nicht” is placed after the
conjugated sein-verb

wir/we sind/are nicht/not Aus

Deutschland/fro
m Germany
= we are not from Germany

Explanation: To negate a sein-sentence , “ nicht” is placed after the

conjugated sein-verb

Ich /i Kaufe/buy/am nicht/not

buying
=I am not buying

Explanation: To negate a sentence with other verbs, “nicht” is sually

placed at the end of the sentence

Part II:

1. Indefinite pronoun “kein”:

We put “kein” before a noun if it is the part of the sentence we want to

negate completely. You can think of “ kein” as “not one”

Addirmative negative
Ich kaufe einen Apfel / Ich kaufe keinen
I'm buying one apple Apfel/ I'm not buying
one apple
Ich trinke Kaffee / I Ich trinke keinen
drink coffee Kaffee/ I don’t drink
coffee
Like the indefinite articles , " kein " is also inflected in the genders , cases and
the numbers . In this unit , we are learning how to use " kein " along with nouns
of different genders and plural forms in the nominative and accusative cases .

When the noun is in the nominative case and in the accusative case , the
indefinite pronoun " kein " and the noun are combined as follows :
( N = Nominative , A = Accusative )

Sg./pl. N A
Masculine Sg. Kein Apfel Keinen Apfel
Pl. Keine Äpfel Keine Äpfel
Feminine Sg. Keine Orange Keine Orange
Pl. Keine Orangen Keine Orangen
Neuter Sg. Kein Kind Kein Kind

Pl. Keine Kinder Keine Kinder

Part III:

1. Yes-No questions:

A Yes-No question has only two answers , Ja (yes) or Nein ( no)

To form a yes-no question , the verb is placed at the beginning of the sentence
with the rest of the sentence left unchanged

verbs subject article object

Bist Du ein Kind?
= Are you a child?

Sind sie Äpfel?

= Are they apples?

Kauft Thomas den Kuchen?

=is Thomas buying the cake?

Trinken wir Tee?

= Are we drinking tea?

Extended reading:

1. Sentence structures:

The focus of a sentence in German Is the verb. The verb is always the second
component of a sentence after the subject. In German , a sentence is divided
into several fields (“der Feld”) , and different components of the sentence are
grouped strictly into these fields.
 Vorfeld (front Linke Klammer Mittelfeld ( Rechte Klammer
field) (left bracket) middle field) (right bracket)
ich/i Bin /am Eine Tochter / a
daughter
Ich/i kaufe/buy Einen Apfel / an
apple
Ich /i habe/have Die Gemacht /done
Hausaufgabe/the
homework
2. The use of “ kein” Vs. “nicht”:

By looking at the affirmatibve sentences or questions , we use “kein” if:

• The noun is preceded by an indefinite article

• It isn’t preceded by any articles

And we use “nicht” if:

• It is preceded by a definite article (der/die/das)

• It is preceded by a possessive adjective ( example “ mein” , “dein”)
• It is a proper noun

A summary table:

kein The noun is Ich kaufe einen Ich kaufe keinen

preceded by an Apfel/ I’m buying Apfel /i’m not
indefinite article an apple buying even one
apple
No article Ich trinke Kaffee/ Ich trinke keinen
precedes the noun i drink coffee Kaffee/ I don’t
drink (any) coffee
nicht The noun is Ich kaufe den Ich kaufe den
preceded by a Apfel/i’m buying Apfel nicht /i’m
definite article the apple not buying the
apple
The noun is Ich wasche meine Ich wasche meine
preceded by a Hose/i wash my Hose nicht/ I'm
possessive pants not washing my
pronoun pants
 verbs Ich arbeite /i Ich arbeite nicht/
work I don’t work
adjectives Ich bin schwach/i Ich bin nicht
am weak schwach/ I am
not weak

Objects

1. Irregular verb” haben/have”:

The verb “habe” is also an irregular verb:

Ich /i habe/have
du/you Hast /have
er/sie/es/he/she/it hat/has
Wir/you(pl.) haben/have
Ihr /you (pl.) Habt/ have
sie /they Haben/ have
Sie /YOU haben/have
2. Ich habe Hunger/Durst :

The most common way to say “i’m hungry/thirsty” is “ich habe Hunger /Durst”
it literally means “ I have hunger/thirst” , which sounds kind of serious in
english but very casual and normal in German .

You can also say “ich bin hungrig/durstig” , which sounds slightly more serious
than “ich habe Hunger/durst” though.

3. Some common item names in German:

Der Wein wine

Das Brot bread
Der Käse cheese

Der Getränk beverage

Die Katze cat
Der Hund dog
Die Zeit time
Das Geld money
Das Handy Mobile phone
 Das Telefon telephone
Der Hut hat
Der Schal scarf
Die Kette necklace
Der Ring ring

Question 2

1. Das ist/sind....

“Das” is a demonstrative pronoun that works like “ this, that , these , those” .
Its specific reference depends on the context and situation. We use “ist” or
“sind” after “das” depending on the quantity of the subject complement

sein Subject eng

complement
Das ist Eine Pizza This/that is a
pizza
sind Äpfel These/those are
apples
2. Non-polar questions or wh-questions:

Non-polar questions are questions that cannot be answered by ys=es or no and

use interrogative pronouns (who/what/when/where/why/how) to specify what’s
being asked .

Non-polar questions in German begin with these question words : Wer ( who) ,
was (what), wann (when), wo (where) , warum ( why) and wie (how).

W- questions Answer
Was ist das?/ what is that? Das ist eine Pizza / that is a pizza
Wer trinkt Tee?/ who drinks tea? Anna trinkt Tee / Anna drinks tea
As you can see, the verb is always the second component of the question

3. More on “Was” and “wer” :

“Was( what)” can used to interrogate thenouns are in the nominative case oe
the accusative case .

(1) when “was” refers to the subject (pizza) in the answer:

Q: Was ist das? ( what is that?)

A: Das ist eine Pizza ( that is a pizza)

(2) When “was refers to the object (pizza) in the answer:

Q: Was isst er? ( what is he eating?)

A: Er isst eine Pizza (he’s eating a pizza)

The question word “wer” interrogates the person in the nominative case only

Q: Wer ist sie? (who is she?)

A: Sie ist Anna ( she’s Anna)

Q: Wer trinkt Tee? ( who drinks/is drinking tea?)

A: Lena trinkt Tee ( Lena drinks/is drinking tea)

4. irregular verb “essen”:

Many verbs that are frequently used in day-to-day life are the irregular verbs .
Some verbs don’t only change their endings according to the personal pronouns ,
but they also change their vowels.

Let's look at the inflection rules for “Essen/eat”:

ich/i esse/eat
du/you isst/eat
er/sie/es/he/she/it Isst /eats
wir/we essen/eat
Ihr /you (pl.) esst/eat
sie /they essen/eat
Sie/YOU Essen/eat
As you can see , if the vowel changes , it usually happens to the second singular,
“du” , and the third sungular personal pronoun “es/sie/es”

NUMBERS 1

1. One:
The number “one” is “eins” do not confuse it with indefinite articles “ein, eine,
ein”

Eine Katze A cat

Eins plus eins macht zwei One plus one is two
2. 0 to 10:

null 0
eins 1
zwei 2
drei 3
vier 4
fünf 5
sechs 6
sieben 7
acht 8
neun 9
zehn 10
3. Basic math:

Expressing “plus, minus , times and divided by” :

Eins plus eins macht zwei 1 plus 1 equals 2

Fünf minus zwei macht drei 5 minus 2 equals 3
Drei mal drei ist neun 3 times 3 is 9
Zehn durch zwei ist fünf 10 divided by 2 is 5
4.Asking for numbers:

In english we can interrogate telephone numbers or house numbers with the

word “what” , but in German the word “wie/how” is used for this purpose

Wie ist die Hausnummer? What's the house number?

Wie ist deine Telefonnummer? What's your telephone number?

Times

1. Time expressions:

There are two ways to ask about the time :

 Wie viel Uhr ist es? What time is it?
Wie spät ist es? How late is it?
To answer , we can say:

Expression example
On the dot Es ist XX Uhr Es ist drei Uhr / it’s
3am (3:00)
Es ist vierzehn Uhr/ it’s
2 pm (14:00)
Not on the dot Es ist XX Uhr AA Es ist acht Uhr dreißig /
it’s 8:30 am (8:30)
Es ist fünfzehn / it’s
3:17 pm(15:17)
NOTE: the 24-hour format is used in Germany instead of the “12-hour
+am/pm” format in the U.S

2. 11 to 19:

Pay special attention to the spelling of 16 and 17 :

eins 1 elf 11
zwei 2 zwölf 12
drei 3 dreizehn 13
vier 4 vierzehn 14
fünf 5 fünfzehn 15
sechs 6 sechzehn 16
sieben 7 siebzehn 17
acht 8 achtzehn 18
neun 9 neunzehn 19
3. Multiples of 10:

Numbers like “20” and “70” ending with”-ty”, just add “-zig”

zwei 2 zwanzig 20
drei 3 dreißig 30
vier 4 vierzig 40
fünf 5 fünfzig 50
 sechs 6 sechzig 60
sieben 7 siebzig 70
acht 8 achtzig 80
neun 9 neunzig 90
Note / 30 is dreißig, not –zig

4. 21 –99:

Here comes the hard part of learning German numbers. It is quite

counterintuitive.

German numbers 21-99 except multiples of 10 are expressed in reverse ,

that is, one-and-twenty (21), three-and-forty (43) , achtundneunzig
(98) , etc.

This includes the numbers in the hundreds place, thousands place or

millions place.

einundzwanzig 21
achtunddreißig 38
siebenundvierzig 47
zweiundvierzigtausend 42000
In numbers 21, 31, 41, ...91, it’s “einund+zwanzig~neunzig” not
“einsund+zwanzig~neunzig”

HOUSEHOLD

1. “Es gibt...” :

“es gibt...” is equivalent to “there is /are something”. The noun following

“es gibt” has the accusative case, so pay attention to the inflections of the
articles:

Es gibt einen Garten There is a garden

Es gibt ein Bett im/in dem There is a bed in the bedroom
Schlafzimmer
The word “im” is the shortened form of “ in dem (in the)”. Unless one
wants to emphasize “in the room” , it’s almost always “im”than “in
dem”

2. Prepositions:

There are 3 types of prepositions:

(1) Accusative prepositions are prepositions thatprecede only nouns

and pronouns in the accusative case
(2) Dative prepositions are prepositions that precede only nouns or
pronouns in the dative case
(3) Two-way prepositions are prepositions that can be both accusative
and dative depending on the situation

“In” and “ auf” are two very commonly used two-way prepositions.
When the preposition is used to indicate location , the noun or pronoun
after the preposition is in the dative case.

An easy trick to differentiate which case to use is to ask if it’s about “wo
(where)” or “wohin (where to)”

For example:

statement The question we ask Case

ourselves
Ich bin in dem Where am I ? Dative
Restaurant /i’m in the
restaurant
Ich gehe in das Where wm I going to? accusative
Restaurant /i’m going
to the restaurant
Sie ist in der Where is she? Dative
Schule/she’s in the
school
Der, die , das ,dative forms:
Nominative case der die das
Dative case dem Der dem
3.”in” and”auf”:

prepositions meaning examples

in In dem Keller/in the
basement
In, inside In der Küche/in the
kitchen
auf On Auf dem Balkon/ on
the balcony
Auf dem Tisch/on the
table
German prepositions are used in a more flexible way for example , the
preposition “auf” is primarily used like “on” in english but can sometimes
also play the role of “onto”or “at” depending on the exact phrase.

4. conjunction word “aber”:

“aber” Is the German “but”. It can be used to connect two sentences or

start a sentence . This conjunction word does not affect the word order
of the sentence when placed at the beginning of the sentence.

For examples:

-Gibt es einen Garten? (is thre a garden?)

-Ja, aber der Garten is klein ( yes, but the garden is small)

- Aber es gibt keinen Balkon ( but there’s no balcony)

ACTIVITIES

1. More on preposition + dative case:

To determine which case to use after the preposition , you can always ask
yourself the question “where or where to”
Statement: Du kochst in der Küche ( you cook in the kitchen)

Question: where do you cook?

If the question starts with “where” , use dative case after the preposition:

2. Common verbs:

kochen cook
duschen shower
singen sing
hören hear
machen make
schreiben write

PLACES

1. common location names:

schule School ( grade school and middle

school)
Bibliothek library
Klassenzimmer classroom
Krankenhaus hospital
Apotheke Pharmacy
Hotel hotel
Restaurant Restaurant
Café Coffee shop
Kneipe pub
Supermarkt Grocery store
Postmat Post office
2. Gender in professions:

Every profession has a masculine form and a feminine form. The feminine
form of most professions is the masculine form plus “-in” at the end. For
some professions, the feminine form also gets an umlaut over the vowel:
a/o/u/au becomes ä/ö/ü/aü
For example:

teacher Lehrer Lehrerin

doctor Arzt Ärztin
3. Asking for the location with “wo”:

The question word” wo” is equivalent to “where”:

Wo ist Fabian?/ where is Fabian? Fabian ist in der Küche/ Fabiann is

in the kitchen
Wo sind die Orangen?/ where are Die Orangen sind auf dem Tisch/
the oranges? the oranges are on the table
Wo kaufst du Kartoffeln?/ whrre Ich kaufe Kartoffeln im
do you buy potatoes? Supermarkt/i buy potatoes in the
supermarket

QUANTITY

1. wie viel:

To ask for the quantity of something , we can use “wie viel” or “ wie
viele” dpending on if the object is countable or not :

explanation examples
Wie viele + countable objects Wie viele Bücher hat das
Kind?/how many books does the
child have?
Das kind that sechs Bücher/the
child has 6 books
Wie viel + uncountable object Wie viel Milch trinkst du?/ how
much milk do you drink?
Ich trinke ein Glas Milch/ I drink a
glass of milk
2. Measure word:

To express “ a glass of milk” or ” three liters of water”, we can follow

this structure :
Article/number + measure word + noun

Note that the gendre of the article in this structure is the same with that
of the measure word ,not the noun . there is also no preposition between
the measure word and noun.

So “ a glass of milk” is “ein Glas Milch”. The gender of the article “ein”
here is neutral, same with the gender of “Glas (glass)” , not feminine like
“Milch (milk)” (r= der, e= die, s=das)

Ein Glas Milch (s Glas , e Milch) a glass of milk

Eine Flasche Wasser ( e Flasche , s A bottle of water
Wasser)
Ein Eimer Öl (r Eimer, s Öl) A bucket of oil
If there is more than one portion of the uncountable object , we pluralize
the measure word, except when it’s metric units like “kilo” or “Liter”

Zwei Gläser Milch Two glasses of milk

Drei Liter Wasser Three liters of water

COLORS

1. welch-:

To ask for “ which one” in German we must pay attention to the gender,
the case and the number of the noun that follows

For example:

noun case Question

der Mann nominative Welcher Mann trinkt
Wein?/which man
drinks wine?
accusative Welchen Mann liebt
du?/ which man do
you love?
Die Farbe nominative Welche Farbe ist das?/
which color is that ?
accusative Welche Farbe hat die
Blume?/ which color
does the flower have?
Das Buch nominative Welches Buch ist gut?/
which book is good?
accusative Welches Buch kaufst
du? Which book are
you buying?
Die Häuser nominative Welche Häuser sind
rot?/ which houses are
red?
accusative Welche Häuser kaufen
wir?/ which houses
are we buying?
2. Sein+ adjectives:

Encountered German adjectives:

The use of ajectives after the sein-verbs is very simple , but the use of
adjectives before nouns, like a simple expression for “ a red flower” in
German , requires the knowledge of inflecting the adjective according to
the gender , the case and the quantity of the noun , which is
unnecessarily complicated at this point of learning.

3. Color as nouns:

For many adjectives and verbs in German, capitilizing the first letter will
give you the noun form . A great example is the color nouns:

adjective noun
rot/red Rot/red
schwarz/black Schwarz black
4.”am” = “an” + “dem”
5. more colors:

Rot red
Grün green
Gelb yellow
Blau blue
Rosa pink
weiß whute
Schwarz black
Grau gray

ANIMALS

1. “was für”

The question words “was für” are similar to “what kind/type of” . It can
be placed before nouns to ask for more details related to the subject

• was für + uncountable noun

• was für + plural form of a countable noun
• was für + ein(e) + singular form of a countable noun

Example:

- was für ein Auto hast du? ( what kind of car do you have?)

-ich habe ein roted Auto ( i have a red car)

- was für ein Tier ist das? (what kind of animal is that?)

-Das ist ein Bär ( that is a bear)

2. Adverbs:

Words that modify actions are called adverbs. In German , adverbs have
the same form as the adjectives . They can be placed directly after the
verbs .

For example:
- Der Löwe läuft schnell ( the lion runs fast)

- Der Panda läuft langsam ( the panda runs slowly )

3. Animal nouns :

Der Bär bear

Der Elefant Elephant
Die Ente duck
Die Gans goose
Die Giraffe giraffe
Der Hase rabbit
Das Huhn hen
Die Kuh cow
Der Löwe lion
Die Maus mouse
Der Panda panda
Das Pferd horse
Das Schwein pig
Der Tiger tiger
Der Vogel bird
Der Affe monkey
Die Biene bee
Der Eisbär Polar bear
Der Fuchs fox
Das Schaf sheep
Die Schlange snake
Der Schmetterling butterfly
Der Schwan swan
Die Taube pigeon
Der Wolf wolf
Die Ziege goat
4. Pets in Germany:
According to statistics website Statista, more than 30 million pets are
living happily in Germany ( the population is approximately 80 milion) .
The most popular pets in Germany are cats, dogs, fishes , hamsters ,
rabbits and birds

CLOTHES

1. Possessive pronouns:

Possessive pronouns are words , like “ my” , “your” and “his” , that
indicate the possession of the objects. Possessive pronouns in German
change according to the gender, the quantity and the case of the object .

Possessive pronouns in the nominative case:

(1) when the noun is in the nominative case, the variations of

“mein(my)” are as follows :

m f n
possessive Mein Mantel/my Meine Jacke/ Mein Kleid/ my
coat mu jacket dress
plurals Meine Meine Jacken/ Meine Kleider
Mäntel/my mu jackets /my dresses
coats
(2) All possessive pronouns (preceding singular masculine nouns)

mein my
dein your
sein his/its
ihr her
unser our
euer Your (pl.)
ihr their
Ihr YOUR
Note: when “euer” precedes a feminine noun or plurals , it is “eure” not
“euere”
2. Wessen ( whose):

The question word “ wessen” can be used to interrogate the owner of an

object . It does not change according to gender or plurals

-A: Wessen Schule sind das?( whose shoes are those?)

-B: Das sind unsere Schuhe (thoses are our shoes)

SHOPPING

1. Möchten:

The verb “möchten” is an important one in spoken Geramn. It is both

indicative verb, which states a fact , and a subjunctive mood verb , which
expresses an attitude.

the use of möchten as an indicative verb that expresses the wish to have
something:

For example:

Ich möchten sechs Orangen i would like 6 oranges

Was möchten sein Sohn? What would like his son like?
The conjugation of “Möchten”:

Sg. Personal pronouns Pl. Personal pronouns

Ich möchte Wir möchten
Du möchtest Ihr möchtet
Er/sie/es möchte sie/Sie möchten
2. how much...

Q Wie viel kostet das/A? How much does

that/A cost?
A Das /A kostet XX That/ A costs XX
Euro/ Dollar/Cent euro(es)/ dollar(s)/
cent(s)

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 5ACCUSATIVE

 1. Personal pronouns in the accusative case:

nominative accusative
Ich mich
du dich
er ihn
sie sie
es es
wir uns
ihr euch
sie sie
Sie Sie
2. The conjugation of “sehen ( see)” and “Mögen (like)” :

subject sehen Mögen

ich sehe mag
du siehst magst
er/sie/es sieht mag
wir sehen Mögen
ihr seht Mögt
sie sehen Mögen
Sie sehen Mögen
3. Question word “ wen”:

The question word” wen” interrogates the person in the accusative case
only

-wen liebt sie? (whom does she love?)

-Sie liebt ihn (she loves him)

-wen kennen sie? ( whom do they know?)

-Sie kennen uns (they know us)

DAILY LIFE
Part I:

1. “Mahlzeit (mealtime)!:

The words for lunch and dinner are fairly straightforward : Mittagessen
(=Mittag/noon + Essen/food) and Abendessen (= Abend/evening +
Essen/food)

to say “have lunch/dinner” , you need the fixed phrase “zu Mittag/Abend
essen”

The word for breakfast is “Frühstück”, and it has its own verb form
“Frühstücken (have breakfast)”

Examples:

Ich Frühstücke I'm having breakfast

Ich esse zu Mittag I'm having lunch
Ich esse zu Abend I'm having dinner
2. Time:

The question to ask for time is “wann (when)” . be aware that it cannot
be used in conditional sentences like in english , such as “ i will call you
when you get home” . The word “ wann” can only be used to interrogate
the time of an action/event .

To answer a “wann” question , we need the preposition “um” to say “

um X Uhr (at X o’clock)”

For example:

Um neun Uhr At 9 o’clock

Um zwanzig Uhr vierzig At 8:30 pm (20:40)
Wir Frühstücken um sieben Uhr We have breakfast at 7
Part II:

1. Am + time :
 (1) to say ”in the afternoon” or “at the weekend”, we just need the
preposition “am (an+dem)”

Am Vormittag in the morning

Am Abend In the evening
Am Wochenende at the weekend
(2) Except for “ at night” , we say “in der Nacht” in German. 3die
Nacht” is feminine , and time nouns following prepositions have the
dative case.

2 . Von...bis..:

To say “from Time A to Time B” just use “von..bis..” with any time
nouns

For example:

Von morgens bis abends From the morning to the evening

Von neun Uhr bis siebzehn Uhr From 9 am to 5 pm
3. conjugation “arbeiten (work)” :

Sg. Personal pronouns Pl. Personal pronouns

Ich arbeite Wir arbeiten
Du arbeitest Ihr arbeitet
Er/sie/es arbeitet Sie/sie arbeiten
Note: for verbs with the stems ending in-t , -d (exp: arbeiten , finden,
antworten) or a consonant-plus-m/n combination (exp: öffnen, atmen,
zeichnen), we add an “ e” before”-st/t” in the du/er/ihr- form for the
ease of pronounciation

for example, counjugation of “finden (find)”:

Ich finde Wir finden

du findest Ihr findet
Er/sie/es findet Sie/sie finden
Conjugation "atmen( breathe)”:
 Ich atme Wir atmen
Du atmest Ihe atmet
Er/sie/es atmet Sie/sie atmen
Part III:

1. Conjugating “schlafen (sleep)”:

Ich schlafe Wir schlafen

Du schläfst Ihr schlaft
Er/sie/es schläft Sie/sie schlafen
Pay attention to the umlaut added to the variation for “du” and
“er/sie/es”

2. Conjugation “lesen (read)”:

Ich lese Wir lesen

Du liest Ihe lest
Er/sie/es liest Sie/sie lesen

WEEK

1. “Am Montag”:

To express “ on Monday-Sunday" , we need “am”again

-am Montag (on Monday)

-am Mittwoch ( on wednesday)

2. Eine Woche ( a week):

Der Montag Monday

Der Dienstag Tuesday
Der Mittwoch Wednesday
Der Donnerstag thursday
Der Freitag friday
Der Samstag saturday
Der Sonntag Sunday
Das Wochenende weekend
 SEAsons

1. Jahreszeiten (seasons):

All season nouns in German are masculine. So “in

spring/summer/fall/winter” in German is always “im/in dem...”

Jahreszeit Im...
Frühling (spring) Im frühling
Sommer (summer) Im Sommer
Herbst (fall) Im Herbst
Winter (winter) Im Winter
2. Monate (months):

All month nouns in German are masculine “in January /.../ December” in
German is therefore “ im/in dem..”:

Monat (month) Im...

Januar (January) Im Januar
Februar ( February) Im Februar
März (March) Im März
April (april) Im April
Mai (May) Im Mai
Juni ( June) Im Juni
Juli (July) Im Juli
August (August) Im August
September ( september) Im september
Oktober ( october) Im Oktober
November ( november) Im November
Dezember (december) Im Dezember
3. Other nouns related to times in a year:

Das Jahr year

Die Jahreszeit season
Der Monat month
 Der Geburtstag birthday
Weihnachten christmas

POSITION

1. prepositions:

Prepositions that indicate positions:

As mentioned before ,some prepositions in German are two-way

prepositions. If the statement focuses on the location (where) of a still
event , we use the dative case after the preposition .

If the statement focuses on a movement (where to) , we use the

accusative case after the preposition.

Dative prepositions:

Prep. Meaning example

auf On top of ( touching Auf dem Tisch /on the
the surface) table
unter under Unter dem Bett
/under the bed
in inside in der Küche /in the
kitchen
vor In front of Vor der Bibliothek/in
front of the library
hinter behind Hinter dem Haus
/behind the house
NOTE: the dative form of ”der” and “das” is “dem” and the dative form
of “die” is “der”

2. Location adverbs:

To describe “to the left/right” , we use “links/rechts”

-Der Flughafen ist links (the airport is to the lest)

-Der Bahnof ist rechts (the train station is to the right)

To describe something is “to the left/right of..” we need the preposition
“von”

-Der Park ist rechts von dem café (the park is to the right of the café)

-Das Krankenhaus ist links von der Schule ( the hospital is to the left of
the school)

Family

1. family members:

Die Eltern parents

Die Mutter mother
der Vater father
Die Großeltern grandparents
Die Großmutter grandmother
Der Großvater grandfather
Das Enkelkind grandchild
Die Enkelin granddaughter
Der Knkel grandson
Das Geschwister sibling
Die Schwester sister
Der Bruder brother
Die Tante aunt
Der Onkel uncle
Die Nichte niece
Der Neffe nephew
Die Cousine Couqin (f.)
Der Cousin Cousin (M.)
Mama, Mutti mom
Papa, Papi, Vati dad
oma grandma
opa grandpa
 PROFESSION

1. Verb +er/erin:

Some professions are formed by adding “-er/erin” to the verb

stems. For example:

verb Profession Name EN (male and

female)
singen Sänger/Sängerin singer
Tanzen Tänzer/Tänzerin dancer
malen Maler/Malerin painter
arbeiten Arbeiter/Arbeiterin worker
fahren Fahrer/Fahrerin driver
kochen Koch/köchin Cook, chef
NOTE the noun “der kocher” is not the person who cooks but the:
stove

2 . Asking one’s profession:

To ask the question what one does for a living , we say “von Beruf”
( by trade)” . The word “der Beruf” means profession , career.
“Von” is a preposition that introduces sources , similar to “of ,
from , by”

-was ist Anna von Beruf? ( what does Anna do for a living?)

-Sie ist (von Beruf) Lehrerin ( she’s a teacher)

- was ist sein Vter von Beruf?( what does his father do for a
living?)

-Er ist ( von Beruf) Polizist ( he’s a policeman)

To answer this question , we can say “name/pronoun +sein (+von

Beruf) + profession”. there’s no need to use an article before the
profession name.
3 . Conjugation “fahren (drive, ride):

The verb “fahren “ is an irregular verb. Its vowel gets an umlaut at

the second and the third personal pronoun

Ich fahre Wir fahren

Du fährst Ihr fahrt
Er/sie/es fährt Sie/sie fahren

FREQUENCY

1. Frequency adverbs:

Frequency adverbs in stars :

DE EN Frequency stars
nie never *
manchmal sometimes **
oft often ***
immer always *****
2 . Every day/week/year/

here are the words for “ daily, weekly , monthly and yearly”:

Alternatively , there’s also the word for “every” -

“jeder/jede/jedes”. As you can see, it inflects in the genders and
cases, just like an article.

The "-lich” words are more common in written German , while

“jeden/jede/jedes” are more common in spoken German. Both
work as adverbs in a sentence

noun -lich jeder

Tag/day täglich/daily Jeden Tag/ every
day
woche/week wöchentlich/weekly Jede woche/every
week
Monat/month monatlich/monthly Jeden Monat /every
month
Jahr/year Jährlich/yearly ,a Jedes Jahr /every
nnually year
For example:

- h lerne jeden Tag Deutsch ( i learn German every day)

- Die Zeitung erscheint täglich ( the newspaper publishes daily)

3 . asking about frequency:

the question word to ask about the frequency of an event is “ wie

oft ( how often)”

the adverbs for the number of occurrences , such as “ once” or

“three times” , is “number + mal”

-wie oft reist er? ( how often does he travel?)

- Er reist zweimal jährlich ( he travels twice a year)

NOTE: “once” is not “einsmal” but “einmal”

COMPARATIVE

1. comparative adjectives:

The rules of forming comparative adjectives are as follows:

• For most words , just attach “-er” at the end of the word

(2) in some cases , the vowels are umlauted: a/o/u/au => ä/ö/ü/äu

(3) For words that end with “-e”, attach “-r” only

(4) For words ending with –el" , “-er” and “-en”, remove “e” and
attach “-er” at the end

(5) Only a few adjectives do not follow the rules above and require
separate memorieation
For example:

adjectives Comparative form

klein/small kleiner
Gro/big größer
leise/quiet leiser
teuer/expensive teurer
gut/good Besser (irregular)
NOTE: the “+er” rule works for even longer words. Do not use
“mehr+adj”

2. Comarative sentences:

To compare two things , we need the conjunction words “als”

• Der Bär ist größer als der Hase ( the bear is bigger than the
rabbit)
• Thomas ist jünger als Peter ( Thomas is younger than Peter)

3. Welch- :

To ask for “ which one” in German we must pay attention to the

gender , the case and the number of the noun that follows .

For example:

Noun Case questions

Der Mann Nominative Welcher Mann trinkt
Wein?/which man
drinks wine?
Accusative Welchen Mann liebst
du?/which man do
you love?
Die Farbe Nominative Welche Farbe ist
das?/ which color is
that?
 Accusative Welche Farbe hat die
Blume?/which color
does the flower
have?
Das Buch Nominative Welches Buch ist
gut?/which book is
good?
Accusative Welche Buch kaufst
du?/which book are
you buying?
Die Häuser Nominative Welche Häuser sind
rot?/ which houses
are red?
Accusative Welche Häuser
kaufen wir?/which
houses are we
buying?

NATURE

1. Irregular comparative adjectives:

Some words are irregular and require special attention. The

adjective “hoch (high)” gets an umlaut and removal of the letter
“c” in the comparative form “höher (higher)”

2. Dual gender noun “See”:

See is actually a noun since the capital “S” tell you that . It has two
genders , and each represents a different object:

(1) Der See =lake

(2) die See = sea

3. Vocabulary of “Nature”:

Die Sonne sun

 Der Mond moon
Die Wolke cloud
Die Luft air
Die Erde Earth
Der Berg mountain
Der Wald forest
Der Baum tree
Der See lake
Das Meer ocean
Der Fluss river
Der Wind wind
Die Blume flower
Das Gras grass
Der Stern star
Der Himmel sky

BODY

Part I:

1. Superlatives:

To form the superlative form of an adjective:

(1) Use preposition “am” first and the adjective plus the ending
“-sten”

(2) For some words , their vowels are umlauted : a/o/u/au =>
ä/ö/ü/äu

(3) For words ending with –s, -t, -d, -ß, -z, the ending to attach
is “-esten”

(4) Some words are irregular and require separate memorization

For example:

adjective Superlative form

Klein /small Am kleinsten
warm/warm Am wärmsten
Breit/ wide Am breitesten
gut/good Am besten (irregular!)
NOTE: just like with forming comparatives, do not try to form a
superlative by searching for a conversion of “the most..” like in
english

2. Indicating possession with “ von”:

(1) To say “A of B” , there are two ways: one involves the use of
the genitive case, and one involves the preposition “von”. The use of
“von” to indicate possession is equivalent to the preposition “of” in
english

Foe example:

Der Kopf von dem Löwen ist The head of the lion is round
rund
(2) We can also add the letter “s” after the name of a person to
refer to the owner of something. If the nale ends with “s,ß, x” , we
use an apostrophe or the “von” - form

Annas Haare sind schwarz Anna’s hair is black

Max Haare/Die Haare von Max Max’s hair is red
sind rot
(3) To express “B of A” with A being a location, there are three
ways:

Format DE En
B von A Die Blumen von The flowers of
Frankreich France
B A+s Die Autos Cars of Germany
Deutschlands
 A+er B Das Berliner The Berlin breadrolls
Brötchen
Part II:

1. Indefinite pronoun “man”:

The pronoun “man”means “someone, any person” , equivalent to

“one” in english. Its first letter is not capitalized unless it is the first
word of a sentence . We can only use “man” when it’s in the
nominative case, we use “einen”in the accusative case and “ einem”
in the dative case

For example:

case DE EN
nominative Man riecht mit der One smells with the
Nase nose
Darf man hier Can one smoke
rauchen? here?
accusative Die Nachricht freut The news pleases one
einen
Dative Es tut einem weh, It hurts one to see
das zu sehen that
2. Womit:

The question word “ womit” means “with what” , it can be used to

interrogate the means or tool employed in an action. It is derived
from “ mit + was (with+ what)”

Womit sieht man?/with what Man sieht mit den Augen/ one
does one see? sees with the eyes
Womit riecht man?/ with what Man riecht mit der Nase/one
does one smell? smells with the nose
Likewise , other question words with “wo +preposition” , such as “
wodurch”, “wobei” , “worauf” , etc, follow the same principle. They
are derived from “durch was”, “bei was” and ”auf was”, etc

3. Vocabulary of “Body:

Der Kopf head

Das Haar hair
Das Gesicht face
Die Hand hand
Die Schulter shoulder
Der Bauch stomach
Das Bein leg
Der Fuß foot
Das Auge eye
Die Nase nose
Das Ohr ear
Der Mund mouth
Die Lippe lip
4. Schwache substantive (weak nouns):

Some nouns German are called “schwache substantive ( weak

nouns)”. Their plural forms or singular forms in non-nominative
cases always end with “-n” or “-en”. Their plural forms do not
umlauts.

Masculine nouns that represent male living beings and end”-e” are
always weak.

For examples:

(1) Masculine living beings ending with “-e”

- der Junge, den Jungen (the boy)
- Der Hase, den Hasen (the hare)
- Der Neffe, den Neffen (the nephew)
 - Der Löwe , den Löwen ( the lion)

(2) Masculine nouns ending with “-and” , “-ant”,”-ist” are usually

weak:

-der Doktorand , den Doktoranden ( the doctorate)

- der Elefant , den Elefanten ( the elephant)

- der Polizist , den Polizisten (the policeman)

(3) Nouns with greek roots (also tend to be professions):

-der Architekt , den Architekten (the architect)

- der Biologe, den Biologen ( the biologist)

(4) Some additional nouns:

- der Herr, den Herrn (the sir)

- der Bär , den Bären ( the bear)

- der bauer , den Bauern ( the farmer)

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS(ACCUSATIVE)

1. Possessive pronouns in the accusative case:

The combinations of possessive pronouns and nouns in the

accusative case are as follows:

Sg./pl. Nominative Accusative

M Sg. Mein Schal Meinen Schal
Pl. Meine Schale Meine Schale
F Sg. Meine Tasse Meine Tasse
Pl. Mein Tassen Meine Tassen
N Sg. Mein Hemd Mein Hemd
Pl. Meine Hemden Meine Hemden
2. conjugating “waschen (wash)”:
Sg. Personal pronouns Pl. Personal pronouns
Ich wasche Wir wascht
Du wäschst Ihr wascht
Er/sie/es wäscht Sie/ sie waschen
3.Conjugating “tragen (wear , carry):

Ich trage Wir tragen

Du trägst Ihr tragt
Er/sie/es trägt Sie/sie tragen

SIE- FORMAT “YOU”

1. “Sie” vs.”du”:

In many languages , there is another second personal pronoun

reserved to express a higher degree of respect and politeness .in
german, the polite “you” is “Sie”. It is often used under these
circumstances:

“Sie”(sg. And pl.) “du” and “ihr”

• On formal occasions • “Du” and “ihr” are
• To strangers (except usually used between
children) friends and families
• One can move from”Sie” • Young people tend to use
to “du” when they get to “du/ihr” among peers
know each other better ,
the change is usually
proposed by the elder
person or the lady
The use of “du” or “Sie” should be consistent between both parties:
no “du” from one side and “Sie” from the other. Some people may
use “du” between each other in private but change to “Sie” in
professional settings

2. The grammar of “Sie”:

(1) the first letter of “Sie” is always capitalized regardless the
position of “Sie” in a sentence , otherwise it can be confused with
“sie (she)” and “sie (they, them)”

(2) The “sein” verb for “Sie” is “sind”

(3) The verbs that follow “Sie” are conjugated the same as following
“wir/sie”. So “wir” and “Sie” share the same conjugation rule

(4) The possessive pronoun of “Sie” is “Ihré , with the letter always
capitalized

3. “Herr” and “Frau”:

To adress someone on formal occasions , such as “Mr. XX” and “Ms.

XX” , in German , we can say :

-Herr + Nachname (Mr. + last name)

- Frau + Nachname (Ms. + last name)

IMPERATIVE

1. imperative:

Imperative is used to give instructions or commands. For each

“you” in German , there’re three ways of imperative formation:

(1) To a person you’re on a “Sie” basis with :

Verb(conjugated for “Sie”) +Sie+ bitte!

Actually , there’re three options of the position of “bitte”:

- At the beginning of the sentence followed by a comma

- In the middle of the sentence , after “Sie”
- At the end of the sentence (preceded by or without a comma)

Bitte, waschen Sie Ihren Please, wish your coat!

Mantel!
 Lernen Sie bitte Deutsch! Please learn German!
Sprechen Sie langsam (,) Speak slowly , please!
bitte!
(2) To an individual you’re on a “du” basics with:
This one is a bit complex

a)Regular verbs and verbs taking an umlaut in the second and third
person conjugation:

Verb stem (-e)(+bitte)!

-Foe a lot of verbs , it(s ok to just keep the bare verb stem. But, do
not cut off “-e” from a verb stem that ends in any one of “-t”, “-
d” , “-ig” , “-ffn” or “-chn”!

-Same as in 1) feel free to choose your preferred “bitte” position

from the three options. That said , “bitte” is not obligatory in du-
imperative.

- what are verbs that take an umlaut in the second and third
person conjugation form?

These are irregular verbs with “a”/ “au” in the stem that when
conjugating for “du/er/sie/es” , their “a”/”au” turn into “ä/äu”

Foe example:

Schlafen/to sleep Laufen/to run/walk

Ich schlafe Ich laufe
Du schläfst Du läufst
Er schläft Sie läuft
Some du-imperatives:

Frag bitte! Ask, please!

Bitte, antworte! Please, answer !
Schlaf bitte! Sleep , please!
Wasch die Flasche! Wash this bottle!
 c) Verbs with ablaut:

Verbs with ablaut are verbs whose vowel sound change when in the
second and third person conjugation form:

Sprechen/to speak Lesen /to read

Ich spreche Ich lese
Du sprichst Du liest
Er spricht Sie liest
The imperative of verbs with ablaut:

Verb (conjugated for “du”) without conjugation ending (+bitte)!

“bitte” is optional in this formula and can be in any of the three

positions

Sprich bitte! Speak ,please!

Lies bitte das Buch! Read the book , please!
(3) To more than one individual with whom you are on a “du”
basis:

Verb (conjugated for “ihr”) (+bitte)!

“bitt” is optional in this formula and can be in any of the three

positions

Kommt schnell! Come quickly!

Sptecht bitte langsam! Speak slowly, please!
2. Imperative of “Sein”:

The imperative forms of the verb”sein” are irregular:

subject “sein”in the example

imperative
Sie seien Seien Sie nicht so
laut!/don’t be so
loud!
du sei Sei nicht so laut!/
don’t be so loud!
ihr seid Seid nicht so
laut!/don’t be so
loud
3. Imperative of “Essen”:

The imperative forms of the verb “essen” are:

subject “essen” in the example

imperative
Sie essen Essen Sie die
Suppe!/(YOU)Eat
the soup!
Du iss Iss die
Suppe!/(YOU)Eat
the soup!
ihe esst Esst die Suppe!/(you
pl.) Eat the soup!

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

1. The indefinite pronoun “Alle”:

As the name suggests, indefinite pronouns point to people or things

that are not definite, such as “everything”, “anyone”etc.

“alle” meaning “all/everything/everyone” , which can function as

either an adjective that require a noun to follow, or an
independenly used pronoun

Usage Meaning Example

Alle + noun plural all Alle Kleider/all
-”Alle” can’t take a dresses
noun singular Alle Hunde/ all dogs
- The ending of
“alle” inflects for
nouns the same way
the plural definite
article does
Alle (as pronoun) Alle = everyone Alle sind
-when used as a Alles= everything hier/everyone is here
pronoun, “alle” Alles ist
means “everyone” kaputt/everything is
and takes a plural broken
verb
-”Alles” means
“everything” and
takes a singular verb
2. The indefinite pronouns “Einige/Wenige/Viele”:

Same as how “alle” is used , “einige”, “wenige” and “viele” can be

applied as either an adjective or a pronoun

(1) When they are used as adjectives , their ending varies the
same way the plural definite article does:
- Einige +noun plural = some/a few...
- Wenige + noun plural = few/a very few....
- Viele + noun plural = many /a lot of...

For example:

einige wenige viele

Einige Bücher/ some Wenige Jacken/few Viele Damen/many
books jackets ladies
Einige Häuser/ some Wenige Kinder /few Viele Herren/ many
houses kids gentlemen
(2) As the pattern drawn from “alle”, when “einige”, “wenige” and
“ viele” are used alone as pronouns , the ending “-e” is for people
and “-es” is for lifeless objects.

Also , respectively , the former takes a plural verb form and the
latter a singular one.

Indefinite pronoun -e ending -es ending

einige Einige kommen/ Ich weiß einiges /i
some (people) come know some things
wenige Wenige kommen Ich weiß weniges/i
/few ( people) come know few things
viele Viele kommen / a Ich weiß vieles /i
lot of (people) come know many things

MODAL VERBS1

1. what is a modal verb :

A modal verb indicates the attitude of the speaker

Modal verb meaning example

möchten Would like to do Ich möchte schlafen /
I would like to sleep
können Possibility /choices, Sie können ein Buch
can do lesen/ you (formal)

- ability , can do can read a book .

- Er kann schwimmen
/ he can swim
wollen A strong personal Ich will ein Eis
desire to do essen/ I (really)
want to eat ice
cream
2. Conjugating Modal verbs:

Modal verbs do need to comply with each subject pronoun and

tense.
The table below lays out every conjugation of each one of the three
modal verbs for every subject pronoun in the simple present tense:

Subject Möchten können wollen

pronoun
ich möchte kann will
du möchtest kannst willst
er/sie/es möchte kann will
wir möchten können wollen
ihr möchtet könnt wollt
sie möchten können wollen
Sie möchten können wollen
Attention:

- The modal verb conjugation for “ich” is identical to that for

“er/sie/es”
- The conjugation for “du” = the conjugation for “ich/er/sie/es”
+”-st”
- The conjugation for “wir” , for the third person plural “sie”
and for the “Sie” are identical

3. Using Modal verbs:

Two ways to use German modal verbs:

Independently or with another verb infinitive

(1) Used independently :

It means treating a modal verb as a finite verb, example, the modal

verb takes the position of the main verb in a sentence . No other
verbs are present except the modal verb.

Consequently , the modal verb must conjugate to the corresponding

form for the sentence subject . Meanwhile, the noun after the
modal verb must be in the accusative case because it’s in the object
position.

For example:

- Ich mag Pizza ( I like pizza)

- Möchtest du einen Kaffee? ( do you want a coffee?)

NOTE: “Mögen” ( to like) is also a modal verb , but it usually stands alone
as a finite verb to indicate preference and doesn’t go with another
infinitive

(2) Used with another verb infinitive:

When the modal verbs partner up with infinitives , modal verbs take the
second position, the “linke Klammer” (left bracket) , and infinitives
occupy the “ rechte Klammer” (right bracket)

Once those two positions are secured , we finish the sentence building by
putting the subject in the “ Vorfeld” (front field) and shoving other
sentence components , for example , the object of the infinitive , in the
“Mittelfeld” (middle field)

Vorfeld Linke Mittelfeld Rechte Nachfeld (

(front field) Klammer (middle Klammer back field)
(left bracket) field) (right
bracket)
Er /he Kann/ can Deutsch Sprechen.
/German /to speak
Translation: He can speak German

Wir/ we Möchten/ Ein Haus/ a Kaufen /to

would like house buy
Translation : we would like to buy a house

Ich / i Will /want Ein Eis / Essen/ to

(an) ice eat
cream
Translation : I want to eat (an) ice cream
 (3) Negation in the “Modal verb-infinitive “ combination:

a) Negating with “nicht”:

- To negate the action : put “nicht” before the infinitive verb

- To negate a certain sentence component : put “ nicht” before the

component

The position of “ nicht” makes a difference in meanings

For example:

Negating the entire action Negating one component

Ich möchte das Buch nicht kaufen/ Ich möchte nicht das Buch kaufen/
I wouldn’t want to buy the book I wouldn’t to buy that particular
book ( this emphasises that “I”
would buy this other book)
c) Negating with “kein”:
- “kein” replaces an indefinite article or zero article

For example:

Subject Modal verb Negation Noun (Object) infinitive

Ich /i Kann/ can keinen/no kaffee/coffee trinken/drink
Translation: I can’t drink coffee ( literally : I can drink no coffee)

Ihr/You Möchtet / Kein/do not Haus / (a) Kaufen/to

would like house buy
Translation : you wouldn’t like to buy a house ( literally: you would like to buy
no house)

(4) Modal verb questions:

a) Constructing yes-no questions:

Swap the modal verb and the subject, keep the rest of the sentence
components the way they are and throw in a question mark at the end.

For example:

Statement : Du möchtest tanzen ( you want to dance)

Yes-no question: Möchtest du tanzen? ( do you want to dance)

b) Constructing wh-questions:

Go through the procedure for a yes-no question , and put the question
word in the very front :

Question word Modal verb Other infinitive

components
Was/ what Möchten/ would Sie?/ YOU
like
Translation: what would YOU like?

Was/ what Können /can wir/we Machen?/ do?

Translation: what can we do/make?

4. Irregular verb “Sprechen” ( to speak) :

The verb “sprechen” has ablaut ,a linguistic phenomenon where a vowel

sound change to a different one in the verb’s second and third person
singular conjugation .

Ablaut occurs only in the conjugations for “ du” and “ er/sie/es”

“sprechen” conjugation in the simple present tense:

Ich spreche I speak

Du sprichst You speak
Er/sie/es spricht He/she/it speaks
Wir sprechen We speak
Ihr sprecht You speak
sie sprechen They speak
Sie soprechen YOU speak

RESTAURANT

1. Using “können” to request politely:

Casual request Polite request

Die Rechnung , bitte!/ check , Können wir die Rechnung haben?/
please! could we have the check(please)?
 Die Speisekarte, bitte!/ Menu, Können wir die Speisekarte
please! haben?/could we have the menu
(please)?
2. Preposition “mit”:

The preposition “mit” resembles “with” or “by”

Remember : mit+ dative case

How “mit” used:

Usage Example
Food combination - Schweinebraten mit Sauerkraut
/Roast pork with sauerkraut
- Ich möchte ein Eis mit Obst/ I
want /would like an ice cream
with fruit
Method - Sie können mit Kreditkarte
bezahlen/you can pay by credit
card
- Sie können mit Bargeld bezahlen
/you can pay in cash
3. Useful phrases for dining out :

When dining at a restaurant , it’s common for both the customer and the
waitor to use “Sie” toward each other:

Situation German english

Looking for a table Entschuldigung, ist Excuse me, is this
der Tisch frei? table taken?
Ja , hier ist frei/ nein, No, it’s not taken/yes
hier ist nicht frei it’s taken
Ordering Die Speisekarte, bitte! Menu, please!
Was möchten Sie? What would you like?
While eating Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal!
Prost! Cheers!
Zum Wohl! Cheers!/ to your well-
being!
Wie schmeckt XX? How does XX taste!
 XX schmeckt.. XX taste(s)...
Getting the check Die Rechnung, bitte! Check, please!
Zusammen oder Would you like to play
getrennt? together or
separately?
Stimmt so -Keep the change (as
your tip)
- (usually, the
standard tip in
Germany is 10% of
the consumed
amount)

SPORT

1. Irregular verbs “Laufen”(to run/walk) and “Fahren” (to drive/ride):

There is a whole lot of German verbs with “a” or “au” that need to have the
extra two dots on top when they conjugate for “du” and “er/sie/es”. The two
verbs we’re handling belong to that category.

Second/third/ person laufen fahren

singular pronoun
du läufst fährst
er/sie/es läuft fährt
2. Playing ball games and driving:

(1) XX spielen = to play a ball game

-Basketball spielen =to play basketball

-Möchtet ihr Volleyball spielen? = do you want to play volleyball?

(2) XX fahren = to drive a vehicle

-Auto fahren = to drive a car

- ich kann Fahrrad fahren = I can ride a bike

3. Adverb counterparts of “in the Morning / afternoon” etc:

In German using “am + time of the day” from previous lessons. There is
an easier way to say the same thing by using adverbs.

The makeup of such adverbs is:

Time of the day with the initial lowercased +-s

Noun Adverb
Morgen Morgens = am Morgen (in the
morning) (usually before 10 a.m)
Vormittag Vormittags = am Vormittag (in
the morning) (usually between 10
a.m to noon)
Mittag Mittags = am Mittag (at noon)
Nachmittag Nachmittags = am Nachmittag (in
the afternoon)
Abend Abends = am Abend (in the
evening)
Nacht Nachts = in der Nacht ( at night)

SPARE TIME

1. I like...

Three more ways to tell people what you like :

DE En
Ich mache gern XX I like doing...
XX gefällt mir sehr i like XX very much (XX is the
subject)
XX ist mein Lieblings- XX is my favorite .. ( sport , music
etc)
2. How long?

We use “wie lange” to ask about the duration of something with either
the simple present tense or the present perfect tense .

To answer such questions , the preposition “seit” comes in handy , it takes

the dative case :

Seit + duration (dative)

For example:

- Wie lange lernen Sie schon Deutsch?( how long have YOU been
learning German?)
- Ich lerne Deutsch seit zwei Monaten (I've been learning German for
two months)

3. Scheduling to meet:

Haben Sie am XX Zeit? Do YOU have time on/in XX?

Haben Sie am XX frei? Do YOU have time on/in XX?(
literally : would you be free on/in
XX?)
Tut mir leid, ich habe leider keine Sorry , I don’t have time
Zeit
Natürlich! Sure!
Warte bitte einen Moment! Just a moment , please
Ich habe es eilig I'm in hurry
Lass uns XX machen! Let’s do...!
Wir treffen uns um XX Uhr (wo) We’ll meet at (time) at (place)
PREPOSITION WITH DATIVE

1. The dative case:

The German dative case is widely used :

-to indicate the indirect object of a verb

- after certain verbs that require an object in the dative

- after certain prepositions

For example:

Example Note
Vor dem Museum /in front of the The preposition “vor” requires the
museum dative. (“dem” is the dative form
of “das”)
Ich gebe dem Kind ein Bonbon /i The verb “geben” (to give) has an
give the kid a candy indirect and a direct object here:
 - “A candy” is the direct object
that the verb directly acts upon ,
hence the accusative for it
- “the kid” is the indirect object ,
the receiver of the candy, hence
the dative “dem Kind”
Ich danke Ihnen /i thank YOU The verb “ dranken”(to thank)
takes objects in the dative (“ihnen”
is the dative form of “Sie”)
2. Dative definite articles :

Here's the comparison between the nominative and the dative definite
articles with nouns:

Noun gender Noun number Nominative Dative

masculine singular Der Laden Dem Laden
plural Die Läden Den Läden
Feminine singular Die Bäckerei Der Bäckerei
plural Die Bäckereien Den Bäckereien
Neuter singular Das Haus Dem Haus
plural Die Häuser Den Häusern
Attention:

When a plural noun is in the dative , it needs to have a dative article as

well as an extra “-n” at the end, as seen in “den Häusern”. However , If
the plural ends in “-n” or “-s” , it doesn’t need that extra ending “-n”

3. Preposition + Dative:

There're two kinds of prepositions that take the dative:

- Prepositions that take only the dative

- Prepositions that can take both the dative and the accusative

The latter usually takes nouns in the dative when indicating a static
position/location , and takes the accusative when implying a movement .

For example:

Dative: -Ich sitze im café (im= in dem) ( I'm sitting in the coffee shop)
 Accusative: - Ich gehe in die Stadt ( I’m heading to the city)

The following are examples of prepositions preceding a dative noun :

Prepositions Meaning Example

vor On front of Vor dem Museum/ in
front of the museum
hinter behind Hinter dem Rathaus /
behind the city hall
unter Under (neath) Unter dem Schloss /
under (neath) the
castle
auf On ( but there in the Auf dem Markt / at
example, it means the market
“at”)
In In(side) In der Bäckerei
/in(side) the bakery
Aus + only the dative Out of (from the Aus dem Kaufhaus/
inside to the outside) out of the shopping
mall
Mit + only the dative with Mit den Kindern/with
the kids
Von + only the dative from Von dem Mond/ from
the moon
Zu + only the dative To/ toward Zum (= zu dem)
NOTE: “zu” usually Bahnhof / to / toward
pairs with smaller the train station
places such as a
station, a post office,
a school etc

TRAVEL 1

1. Means of transportation:

“Fahren mit + XX ( Fahrzeug)” = take.. (a vehicle)

- Fahren mit dem Bus = take the bus

- Wir fahren mit dem Zug = we take the train
List of transportation vehicles :

Der Zug train

Der Bus bus
Das Taxi taxi
Das Flugzeug plane
Das Schiff ship
2. Going to a city/country: nach/in :

“The USA” has the definite article as a part of the country name . In German,
there’s something similar. Some city or country names carry a definite article in
them. Therefore , when we say we’re going to a specific city or country in
German, we need to choose which preposition to use (“nach” or “in”) according
to whether the city /country name carries a definite article or not

(1) When the city/country name doesn’t have a definite article:

Verb +nach + city / country name

For example:

-Ich fahre nach Deutschland (I'm going to Germany)

- Sein Bruder reist nach Wien ( his brother is traveling to Vienna)

(2) when the city /country name carries a definite article:

Verb +in + accusative definite article + city/country name

For example:

-Er fährt in die Schweiz ( he is going to Switzerland)

-Wir reisen in die USA ( we are traveling to the US)

3. Questions word “Wohin”:

“Wohin” means “where to” , and is employed to ask about the direction/aim of
a movement. It can be comprehended as the motionless question word “wo” plus
the adverb “hin” that implies the direction of the movement

For example:
-Wohin gehst du? ( where are you going?)

- Wohin fahren wir? ( where are we driving to?)

4. Question word “Woher”:

“Woher” means “from where” and it comprises “wo” and the adverb “her” that
indicates the direction that the movement comes from

For example:

- Woher kommst du? ( where do you come from?)

- Woher kommen die Kinder? (where do the kids come from?)

Extended reading:

1. Names of countries:

Deutschland Germany
Frankreich French
Österreich Austria
Spanien Spain
Italien Italy
Die USA The USA
Die Schweiz Switzerland
2. Names of cities and state:

Berlin Berlin
Köln Cologne
München Munich
Hamburg Hamburg
Frankfurt Frankfurt
Bayern Bavaria (state)
Wien Vienna
London London
Paris Paris

DIRECTION

1. Cardinal points:
(1) This is how German speakers say the cardinal direction of something :
-Berlin liegt im Norden Deutschlands (Berlin is in Northern Germany )

- Wir gehen nach Osten ( we’re going east )

(2) To say “A is south /north/east/west of B” :

-Frankreich liegt westlich von der Schweiz ( france is west of Switzeland)

Names and adjectives forms of the four cardinal directions:

Cardinal direction Noun adjective

North Norden Nördlich
South Süden südlich
East Osten östlich
West Westen westlich
2. Asking for and giving directions:

Scene DE EN
Gibt es XX in der Nähe? Is there XX nearbly?
Asking for directions Könnten Sie mir sagen, Could you tell me the
wie ich zu XX komme? way to XX?
Wo ist XX? Where is XX?
Giving directions Gehen Sie geradeaus Go straight on
Biegen Sie nach links Turn left/right
/rechts
Gehen Sie die straße Go along the street
entlang
A ist gegenüber von B A is opposite B
A ist neben B A is next to B
3. Indicating possession:

To indicate possession , we need to apply the genitive case

- Die Autos Deutschlands ( German cars)

- Das Berliner Brötchen ( the Berliner bun)
- Die Blumen von Frankreich ( the flowers of france)

To indicate the possession of something by a specific place :

-noun + place –s
- place –er + noun

- noun + von + place ( dative)

VERBS +DATIVE

Part I:

1. Verb + indirect object (dative) + direct object (accusative)

Certain transitive verbs must have an indirect object and a direct one in order
to make full sense.

List of verbs :

verb Meaning Example

geben To give Ich gebe dem Kind ein
Bonbon /i give the kid a
candy
zeigen To show/ present Fabian zeigt den
Schülern die Landkarte
/Fabian is showing the
middle schoolers the
map
schenken To give as a gift Ich schenke einem
Mädchen eine Blume/ i
give a girl a flower
leihen To lend Ich leihe einer
Schriftstellerin das Buch
/ I lend a (female)
writer the book
2. Dative definite articles:

Noun gender Noun number Nominative Dative

masculine singular Der Laden Dem Laden
plural Die Läden Den Läden
Feminine singular Die Bäckerei Der Bäckerei
plural Die Bäckereien Den Bäckereien
Neuter singular Das Haus Dem Haus
 plural Die Häuser Den Häusern
Attention:

When the plural noun is in the dative , it needs to have a dative article as well
as an extra “-n” at the end, as seen in “den Häusern”. However , if the plural
ends in “-n” or “-s” , it doesn’t need that extra ending “-n”

3. Irregular verb “Beben” (to give):

“geben” is a verb with ablaut

Verbs with ablaut are verbs whose vowel sound change when in the second and
third person conjugation form

“geben “ conjugation in the simple present tense:

Ich gebe I give

Du gibst You give
Er/sie/es gibt He/she/it gives
Wir geben We give
Ihr gebt You give
sie geben They give
sie geben YOU give
Part II:

1. Dative indefinite articles:

The comparison between the nominative and the dative indefinite articles with
nouns : (there’s no plural indefinite article in German)

Noun gender Noun number Nominative Dative

Masculine singular Ein Apfel Einem Apfel
plural Äpfel Äpfeln
Feminine singular Eine Kuh Einer Kuh
plural Küche Küchen
Neuter singular Ein Auto Einem Auto
plural Autos Autos
Attention:
When a plural noun is in the dative , it needs to have a dative articles as well as
an extra “-n” at the end , as seen in “ Küchen”. However , if the plural ends in
“-n” or ”-s” , it doesn’t need that extra ending “-n”

2. Dative possessive pronouns:

Taking “mein” ad an example to show the difference between the nominative

and the dative possessive pronouns:

Noun gender Noun number Nominative Dative

Masculine singular Mein Bruder Meinem Bruder
plural Meine Brüder Meinen Brüdern
Feminine singular Meine Tochter Meiner Tochter
plural Meine Töchter Meinen Töchtern
Neuter singular Mein Kind Meinem Kind
plural Meine Kinder Meinen Kindern
Attention :

When a plural noun is in the dative , it needs to have a dative article as well as

an extra “-n” at the end , as seen in “ Meinen Brüdern” , “Meinen T öchtern”

and “Meinen Kindern”. However , if the plural ends in “-n” or ”-s” , it doesn’t
need that extra ending “-n”

3. Etwas (some) +uncountable noun :

“Etwas” means “some , a little” and modifies uncountable nouns. It doesn’t need
to change its appearance at any times

For example:

Etwas Geld Some/ a little money

Etwas Salz Some/ a little salt
Extended reading :

1. Verb categories :

In German , verbs are the key to determining the object’s number and case

Some german verbs can take an object directly , some can’t

Same as in many languages , verbs are broken up into transitive and
intransitive ones in German

(1) Transitive verbs :

a) Some transitive verbs have only one object , and this object can be
accusative or dative depending on which case the verb demands

For example:

example Note
Anna speilt Tennis /Anna plays tennis The verb “ spielen” (to p^lay) requires
an accusative object
Ich danke Ihnen / I thank you The verb “ danken” ( to thank)
requires a dative object ( “ihnen” is
the dative form of “Sie”)
b) Some transitive verbs need to have two objects , an indirect one and a
direct one

As mentioned before, the indirect object is dative and the direct object is
accusative. In most cases, the dative precedes the accusative ,but exceptions do
exist

For example:

Example Note
Ich gebe dem Kind ein Bonbon /i give The verb ” geben” (to give) demands
a kid a candy an indirect object (dative) and a
direct object (accusative)
Thomas schenkt einem Freund eine The verb “ schenken” (to give as a
Torte / Thomas gives a (male) friend gift) demands an indirect object
a cake as a gift (dative) and a direct object
(accusative)
(2) intransitive verbs:

Intransitive verbs can’t take a direct object , they must go hand in hand with a
preposition

For example:

Example Note
 Ich warte auf dich / I’m waiting for The verb “ warten” (to wait) is
you /i’ll wait for you intransitive and takes the preposition
“auf” which requires the accusative to
follow

PERSONAL PRONOUNS (DATIVE)

1. Dative personal pronouns:

Two attributes about German transitive verbs:

- Some of them need only a direct object to make sense. The direct object
can be accusative or dative depending on the grammatical requirement of
the verb
- Some of them need an indirect and a direct object to make the meaning
of the sentence complete. The indirect object must be dative and the
direct object accusative .

When you come upon a verb in the former division that demands a dative direct
object, and the object is a personal pronoun , you’ll need the following list that
sets out all the personal pronouns in the nominative , accusative and dative case

Personal pronoun nominative Accusative

i ich mich
You du dich
he er ihn
she sie sie
it es es
we wir uns
You (pl.) ihr euch
they sie sie
YOU (sg. And pl.) Sie Sie
Attention :

- The dative form of “sie” (she) looks identical to the nominative form of
“ihr” (you pl.)

But we can tell which one it is from the verb conjugation in a sentence
 - The dative form of “er” and “es” are both “ihm”. Since “er” and “es”
also share the same verb conjugation form, we can only identify what
“ihm” refers to from the context
- The dative form of “Sie” is “Ihnen” , with the initial always capitalized
2. Verbs and verb phrases that demand a dative object :

Verbs and verb phrases of such kind :

Verb + dative Meaning Eexample

danken To thank Ich danke Ihnen/i thank
YOU
Es geht Be.. (used to answer Mir geht es gut/ I'm fine
“how are you?”)
helfen To help Mia hilft ihm / Mia helps
him
folgen To follow Er folgt uns/ he follows
us
gehören To belong to Ich gehöre nur mir/i
belong only to me
3. Question word “Wem”:

“Wem” is the dative form of “wer” (who)

We use “wem” to ask about a dative personal pronoun

for example:

- Wem dankt Fabian? (whom does Fabian thank?)

- Fabian dankt mir ( Fabian thanks me)
4. Irregular verb “helfen” (to help):

“helfen” is a verb with ablaut , meaning , its second and third person singular
conjugation each has a vowel sound shift

DE EN
Ich helfe i help
Du hilfst You help
Er/sie/es hilft He/she/it helps
Wir helfen We help
 Ihr helft You help
sie helfen They help
Sie helfen YOU help

FUTURE I

Part I:

1. The future tense:

The future tense is used to :

- talk about future events

- State intention
- Express prediction

Here is how the future tense is constructed:

Subject + werden+ other components + infinitive

“werden” (will) is the must-have auxiliary verb in this formula and it must
conjugate to agree with the sentence subject

Examples:

- Er wird regnen ( It will rain )

- Ich werde den Schrank öffnen ( i will open the cabinet)
2. The conjugation of “ werden” :

Ich werde i will

Du wirst You will
Er/sie/es wird He/she/it will
Wir werden We will
Ihr werdet You will
sie werden They will
Sie werden YOU will
Part II:

1. Negation in the future tense :

The formation of negation in the future tense is very similar to that of modal
verbs:
 (1) Negating with “nicht”
a) Negating the entire statement : “nicht” before the infinitive
b) Negation a certain component in the sentence : “nicht” before the
component

for example:

Subject “Werden” Other Negation Infinitive

components
Ich/ i Werde /will Nicht /not Essen /to eat
Translation : i will not eat

Er /he wird/will die Tür /the Nicht /not Öffnen /to

door open
Translation : he will not open the door

(2) Negating with ”kein”:

“kein” is used to negate nouns. It replaces an indefinite article or zero article

For example:

Subject “Werden” Negation Other Infinitive

components
Ich /i Werde /will Keinen /no Apfel/apple Essen/to eat
Translation: i will not eat apples ( literally : i will eat no apple)

Sie/she wird/will keine/no Bücher /books Lesen / to

read
Translation: she will not read books ( literally : she will read no books)

2. Time adverbs used with the future tense :

morgen tomorrow
übermorgen the day after tomorrow
Nächstes Jahr Next year
Nächste Woche Next week
3. Irregular verb “Nehmen” (to take):

“Nehmen” is a member of the ablaut verbs category

 Ich nehme i take
du nimmst You take
Er/sie/es nimmt He/she/it takes
Wir nehmen We take
Ihr nehmt You take
sie nehmen They take
Sie nehmen YOU take
Part III:

1. Questions in the future tense :

Forming questions in the future tense is also quite the same as with modal verbs:

(1) Forming yes-no questions:

Reverse the sentence subject and “ werden” , keep the rest of the sentence
uncharged , and put a question mark at the end

(2) forming wh-questions:

- switch the position of the sentence subject and “werden” , and keep the rest
of the sentence uncharged

- place the question word before “werden”

- put a question mark at the end , after the infinitive

Examples will explain themselves well:

Statement Question
ich werde die Tür Öffnen /i will open Wirst du die Tür Öffnen ?/ will you
the door open the door?
Er wird nach Berlin fahren /he will go Wohin wird er fahren?/ where will he
to Berlin go?
2. verbs with prepositions :

some verbs need to be combined with prepositions to give a certain meaning

There's no predictable pattern in these combinations , memorization is the only

way to go
Some prepositions demand the accusative case to follow while some take the
dative case .

Here are few “verb + preposition” combinations :

- ich warte auf dich ( i’m waiting for you /i’ll wait for you )
- Bitte antworten Sie auf die Frage ( please answer the question!)
- Er redet mit seinem Chef ( he’s talking with his boss)
- Wirst du bei mir bleiben? ( will you stay with me?)

WEATHER

Part I:

1. Asking about weather condition and temperature :

(1) Asking about the weather :
• Wie ist das Wetter heute? ( how’s the weather today?)
• Was sagt der Wetterbericht ?( what does the weather forecast say?)
(2) Asking about the temperature:
• Wie viel Grad haben wir heute? ( how many degrees do we have today?)
• Er ist XX Grad ( it’s XX degrees )

2. Names of weather conditions :

Regen rain
Schnee snow
Nebel fog
Blitz lightning
Donner thunder
3. weather verbs :

regnen To rain
schneien To snow
scheinen to shine
wehen To blow (wind)
4. weather adjectives :

Sonnig sunny
Wolkig cloudy
 Kühl cool
heiß hot
trocken dry
feucht humid
5.Irregular verb “ fallen” (to fall) :

“Fallen” is one of those verbs that have umlaut on top of its second and third
person singular conjugation

Ich falle i fall

du fällst You fall
Er/sie/es fällt He/she/it falls
Wir fallen We fall
Ihr fallt You fall
sie fallen They fall
Sie fallen YOU fall
Part II:

1. Two-Digit numbers :

A two-digit German number is built in a way that is the exact opposite of an

English one :

The ones + und+ the tens

It's written with neither a hyphen nor space in between

For example :

Einundzwanzig /one and twenty Twenty-one

Dreiundvierzig/ three and forty Forty-three
Fünfundneunzig / five and ninety Ninety-five
Attention:

The "one” in a two-digit number is always “ein" , never “eins

MODAL VERBS 2

1. More modal verbs :

We already know three modal verbs “möchten “, “können” and ” wollen”

 Modal verb meaning Example
Dürfen Permission: “may/be Darf ich hier rauchen?/
allowed” May I smoke here?
sollen Suggestion , obligation : Wir sollen ihm helfen /
“should” we should help him
müssen Necessity “must” Ich muss mit dir reden
/i must talk to you
2. The conjugation of “ Dürfen” , “Sollen” and “Müssen”:

Here is a complete list of conjugations of the three mofal verbs corresponding to

each subject pronoun in the simple present tense

Subject pronoun dürfen sollen Müssen

Ich darf soll muss
du darfst sollst musst
er/sie/es darf soll Muss
wir dürfen sollen müssen
ihr dürft sollt müsst
sie dürfen sollen müssen
Sie dürfen sollen müssen
3. Using modal verbs :

two ways to use German modal verbs: independently or with another verb
infinitive

(1) Used independently :

it means treating a modal verb as a finite verb ,example, the modal verb takes
the position of the main verb in a sentence. No other verbs are present except
the modal verb. Consequently , the modal verb must conjugate to the
corresponding form for the sentence subject. Meanwhile , the noun after the
modal verb must be in the accusative case .

For example:

• Ich mag Pizza ( i like pizza)

• Möchtest du einen Kaffee? ( do you want a coffee?)
Note: “Mögen” (to like) is also a modal verb n but it usually stands alone as a
finite verb to indicate preference and doesn’t go with another infinitive

(2) used with another verb infinitive :

When modal verbs partner up with infinitives , modal verbs take the second
position , the “linke Klammer “ (left bracket) , and infinitives occupy the
“rechte Klammer” ( right bracket)

Once those two positions are secured , we finish the sentence building by putting
the subject in the “ Vorfeld” (front field ) and shoving other sentence
components , for example, the object of the infinitive , in the “Mittelfeld”
(middle field)

Vorfeld (front Linke Mittelfeld ( Rechte Nachfeld

field) Klammer (left middle field) Klammer (back field)
bracket) (right
bracket)
Er /he muss/must Arbeiten/to
work
Translation : he must work

wir/we sollen/should Nach Fahren/to go

Berlin/to /drive
Berlin
Translation: we should go /drive to Berlin

(3) Negation in the “modal verb- infinitive" combination:

- negating with ”nicht” :

• To negate the entire statement : “nicht” before the infinitive

• To negate a certain sentence component : ”nicht” before the component

for example:

Subject Modal verb Negation Other Infinitive

components
Wie/we Dürfen / can Nicht /not Rauchen/to
smoke
Translation : we can’t smoke

ich /i Soll/ should Nicht /not Mit dir/with Reden/to talk

you
Translation : i shouldn’t talk with you

- negation with “ kein” :

“kein” replaces an indefinite article or zero article

for example :

Subject Modal verb Negation Other Infinitive

components
Du /you darfst /can keinen/no Bonbon/cand Essen/to eat
y
Translation : you can’t eat candy (literally : you can eat no candy)

Ich /i soll/should keinen/no Kaffee/coffee Trinken/to

drink
Translation : i shouldn’t drink coffee ( literally : I souldn’t drink no coffee)

(4) Modal verb questions:

- constructing yes-no questions:

Swap the modal verb and the subject , keep the rest to the sentence
components the way they are and throw in a question mark at the end.

For example:

• Statement : Du möchtest tanzen ( you want to dance)

• Yes-no question : Möchtest du tanzen? ( do you want to dance?)

-constructing wh-questions:

Go through the procedure for a yes-no question, and put the question word in
the very front

Statement Question
Ich darf fotografieren/i can take Darf ich fotografieren ?/ can I take
photos photos?
 Ich soll ihm helfen /i should help him Wem sollst du helfen?/whom should
you help?

HEALTH

1. Sickness :

Ich habe eine Grippe i have a flu

Ich habe Fieber i have a fever
Ich habe Husten i have a cough
Mir ist ein bisschen übel i feel a little nauseated
Mir ist ein bisschen schwindelig i feel a little dizzy
2. Two ways of expressing physical pain:
(1) “Body part-schmerzen +haben”:

Some body parts can make a compound noun with “Schmerz” (pain). Similarly
in english, we have “headache”, “toothache” etc. Here is how we say “to have
pain in a specific body part” in German : "Schmerz” takes the plural form in
this expression)

Body part-schmerzen +haben

Magenschmerzen stomachache
Ich habe Magenschmerzen i have a stomachache
Halsschmerzen Sore throat
Mein Kind hat Halsschmerzen My child has a sore throat
Kopfschmerzen headache
Haben Sie Kopfschmerzen Do you have a headache?
Bauchschmerzen Belly pain
Alle Kinder hier haben All the kids here have belly pain
Bauchschmerzen
Zahnschmerzen toothache
Ich kann nicht essen. Ich habe i can’t eat. i have a toothache
Zahnschmerzen
(2) Body part +tut mir weh :

Not all body parts can build compound nouns with “Schmerz”

This is when we should use the second expression od pain:

Body part + put mir weh

Meine Hand tut mir weh My hand hurts (literally: my hand

makes me feel pain)
Meine Augen tun mir weh My eyes hurt ( literally : my eyes
make me feel pain)
3. Seeing a doctor :

Generally , the doctor and the patient use “Sue” toward each other

Was fehlt Ihnen? What's up with you?/what’s the

matter?/ what are your symptoms?
Bleiben Sie im Bett! Please stay in bed!
Trinken Sie viel Wasser! Please drink a lot of water!
Nehmen Sie bitte das Rezept! Please take the prescription!
Machen Sie bitte den Okerkörper frei Please take off your top
Öffnen Sie bitte den Mund und sagen Please open your mouth and say “
Sie A Ah”
Nehmen Sie die Tablette dreimal Please take the tablet three times a
täglich! day
Ich muss Ihre Temperatur messen i need to measure your temperature
Sie brauchen noch eine You still need a blood test
Blutuntersuchung

CONJUNCTIONS

1. Simple conjunctions and compound conjunctions:

We use conjunctions to connect words, phrases and clauses

Through inflection is everywhere in German, conjunctions don’t need any

inflection at all.

In German , there’re simple and compound conjunctions

Here's a list of all the conjunctions in this unit :

(“SC” stands for “simple conjunctions” and “CC”for “compound conjunctions”)

DE EN Example
 und and Anna und
SC Thomas haben ein
Kind /Anna and
Thomas have a
child
aber but - Sie kann
schwimmen, aber
ich kann nicht
schwimmen /she
can swim, but i
can’t swim
- Aber ich kann
tanzen / but i can
dance
oder or Trinken Sie Tee
oder Kaffee? /do
you drink tea or
coffee?
Nicht /kein.., Not..but.. Wir fahren nicht
CC sondern.. nach Italien,
sondern nach
Spanien /we’re
not going/ driving
to Italy , but to
Spain
Weder.. Neither...nor.. Ich kann weder
Noch... lesen noch
schreiben /i can
neither read nor
write
Entweder.. Either...or.. Wir fahren
Oder... entweder nach
Deutschland oder
nach
Frankreich/we’re
going/driving to
 either Germany
or France
Sowohl..als auch... Both..and../as well Sie ist sowohl
as Tänzerin als auch
Malerin/ she is
both a dancer
and a painter/
she is a dancer as
well as a painter

OPINION

1. Subordinate clauses :

A subordinate clause can’t function alone. It needs a main clause to make full
sense.

here are four hard-and-fast rules of German subordinate clauses:

• A subordinate clause is always introduced by a subordinating conjunction

• The verb in the subordinate clause always goes to the end position
• The subordinate clause can stand before or after the main clause with a
comma to set them apart
• When the subordinate clause precedes the main clause, the verb in the
main clause switches position with the main clause subject

Examples always help:

Subordinate and Main DE EN

clause position
Main, subordinate Ich denke, dass du heute i think that you’re not
nicht kommst coming today
Subordinate , Main Wenn du die Wahrheit If you tell the truth, I
sagst, werde ich dir will believe you
glauben
The subordinating conjunctions :

Subordinating English equivalent example

conjunction
 dass that Ich denke, dass du heute
nicht kommst/i think
that you’re not coming
today
ob Whether, if Mia fragt, ob wir
nachmittags Tennis
spielen möchten / Mia is
asking if we would like
to play tennis in the
afternoon
wenn When, if Wenn du die Wahrheit
sagst, werde ich dir
glauben / if you tell the
truth, I’ll believe you
weil because Ich bin im Krankenhaus,
weil ich Krank bin /i’m
in the hospital because
I'm sick
2. Question word “Warum” (why):

This is how we build a why-question:

Warum + verb +subject +other components?

And we have two options to answer a why-question:

(pay ver close attention to where the verb is at)

1) “Weil + subject + other components + verb”

2) “Denn + subject +verb+ other components”

Example of questioning and answering :

• Warum bist du im Krankenhaus? ( why are you in the hospital?)

• Weil ich Krank bin
• OR
• Denn ich bin krank ( because I'm sick)

PRESENT PERFECT
 1. Present perfect :

(1) the present perfect tense is used to describe:

• Past events
• Past events that still have some kind of connection to the current
situation

The name “ present perfect” can be confusing for english speakers because in
day-to-day speech , German speakers use the present perfect so much more
often than the past tense to talk about things that happened in the past .

The past tense is more prevalent in written German such as news reports and
letters

(2) The construction of the present perfect:

We need auxiliary verbs to build the present perfect

In the present perfect, we have two quxiliary verbs: we use either “haben” or
“sein”

Subject +haben/sein+ other components + past participle

- “Haben” or “sein”?:

• The majority of verbs use “ haben”

• Intransitive verbs that imply movement use “ sein”

For example:

• Ich have Deutsch gelernt ( i learned German/ I've learned German)

• Sie ist gegangen (she went/ left/she has gone)

Here is a summary of verbs that use “sein”:

Verb Example
Intransitive verbs that imply Ihr seid gelaufen /you (plural)ran/
movement from one point to another you (plural) have run
Intransitive verbs that imply changes Die Kinder sind schnell eingeschlafen
/the kids quickly fell asleep/the kids
have quickly fallen asleep
 “sein” and “bleiben” Er ist hier gewesen/ he was here/ he
has been here
Du bist bei mir geblieben / you stayed
with me/you have stayed with me
2. Past participles :

Here are the rules to form past participles :

Regular /irregular Forming rule Infinitive Past participle

verb
Regular Ge +verb stem +- lernen gelernt
t
Verb stems arbeiten gearbeitet
ending in any of
“-d, -t, -chn, -
ffn, -gn”: ge+
verbstem +et
Infinitives with studieren studiert
the ending “-
ieren”=>"-iert”
Separable verbs: einkaufen eingekauft
prefix-ge- verb's
past participle
Irregular Ge + verb stem schlafen geschlafen
(mostly with
ablaut) +en
No pattern finden gefunden
sein gewesen

PRESENT PERFECT (MODAL VERBS)

1. Modal verbs in the present perfect :

Here is how to form the present perfect tense with modal verbs:

Subject +haben +other components +infinitive + modal verb ( uninflected)

Examples:

• Ich habe gestern nicht lernen können ( I couldn’t study yesterday )

 • Sie hat vorgestern bei ihrer Tante bleiben müssen ( she needed to stay
with her aunt the day before yesterday )

SEPARABLE VERBS

1. Separable verbs:

A separable verb consists of a separable prefix and a verb

A couple of things to remember about separable verbs:

(1) The stress always falls on the prefix

(2) In declarative sentences in the simple present and the past tense , the
prefix is separated from the verb

The verb takes the second position (example, “linke Klammer”, the left bracket
in “Satzklammer”) and the prefix goes to “rechte Klammer”, the right bracket:

Subject +verb+ other components +prefix

(3) Two circumstance where a separable verb isn’t set apart :

• When applied in the future tense
• When applied with a modal verb

(4) in the present perfect and past perfect tense (also known as “the
pluperfect”) , a past participle of a separable verb has”-ge-” between the prefix
and the verb

Examples:

Separable verb Example Note

Ein/stellen Ich stelle dich wieder ein The simple present
/i hire you again
An /ziehen Anna zog ihr Kleid an/ The past
Anna put on her dress
auf/stehen Ich möchte nicht used with a modal verb
aufstehen/i don’t want
to get up
 aus/steigen Wir werden bald The future
aussteigen /we will get
off (the bus/car) soon
an/rufen Hast du gestern mich The present perfect
angerufen?/did you call
me yesterday?
an/rufen Hattest du mich The past perfect
angerufen, bevor du
gestern ins Bett gingst?/
did you call me
yesterday , before you
went to bed ?
Memory refreshment of “Satzklammer”:

Vorfeld (front Linke Mittelfeld Rechte Nachfeld

field) Klammer ( (middle field) Klammer (back field)
left bracket) (right
bracket)
Ich /i Stelle/hire dich Ein/hire (the
(the verb part wieder/you prefix part of
of the again the separable
separable verb )
verb)
Translation : i hire you again /i rehire you

Anna/anna zog/ put on Ihr Kleid /her An/put on

(the verb part dress (the prefix
of the part of the
separable separable
verb) verb)
Translation : Anna put on her dress

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

1. reflexive pronouns :

Reflexive pronouns refer to the subject itself

English speakers must be careful with this:

Not every German reflexive pronoun can find its English counterpart , because
of how they are used

There's a type of Geramn verbs called “reflexive verbs” that must be used with
reflexive pronouns at all times. We can interpret it as the subject performing the
action on itself , which could easily make sense to us and help with
memorization . Howerver , this kind of interpretation doesn’t apply to all
reflexive verbs. For example, the German verb of ”to fall in love with someone”
is reflexive , but no matter how hard we’d try , it just couldn’t make sense to
comprehend it in the sense of “performing the falling in love action on oneself”

Reflexive pronouns have only accusative and dative forms :

Subject pronoun Reflexive pronoun Reflexive pronoun (

(accusative) dative)
Ich mich mir
Du dich dir
Er/sie /es sich sich
Wir uns uns
Ihr euch euch
sie sich sich
Sie sich sich
2. Reflexive verbs :
(1) some reflexive verbs are always reflexive , meaning , they can’t function
without reflexive pronouns. Generally , the reflexive pronoun is accusative
(2) Other reflexive verbs are more flexible with the options of being used
reflexively or non-reflexively depending on what we’re trying to say:

-if an action’s doer and receiver are the same , the verb takes a reflexive
pronoun

For example:

• Peter hat sich verletzt ( peter hurt himself)

• Ich habe mich geschnitten! ( I cut myself!)

-Some verbs can mean something entirely different when taking reflexive
pronouns or objects of other kinds
For example:

• ich wasche mich (I'm washing up)

• ich wasche den Boden ( I'm washing the floor)
(3) When the verb takes a reflexive pronoun and an accusative object at the
same time, the reflexive pronoun is dative

For example:

• Du hast die ein Haus gekauft ( you(‘ve) bought yourself a house)

Category Verb Example

1) always Sich verlieben Ich verliebe mich
reflexive, in dich /i’m
obligatory falling in love
with you
Sich ausruhen Sie müssen sich
im Bett ausruhen
/YOU must rest
in bed
2) can be used Sich treffen Wo treffen wir Er trifft zufällig
reflexively or uns?/ where do seinen Freund auf
otherwise, we meet? der Straße/ he
optional runs into his
friend on the
street
Sich entschuldigen Ihr müsst euch Entschuldigen Sie
entschuldigen / die
you must Störung!/sorry
apologize for the
interruption!
3) dative reflexive Sich waschen Ich wasche mir
pronoun+ die Hände/ i wash
accusative object my (own) hands
Sich die Zähne Du putzt dir die
putzen Zähne/ you brush
your (own) teeth
 ADJECTIVE BEFORE NOUN (NOMINATIVE)

1. Adjective + noun :

In German , adjectives can follow certain verbs such as “sein” as in “Das Auto
ist rot” (the car is red), which is called predicative adjectives , they can also
precede nouns as attributive adjectives as in “Das rote Auto ist billig” ( the red
car is cheap) , we can see that the attributive adjective has an extra “-e” at the
end .

In German , articles have a great impact on the endings of adjectives . When an

adjective modifies a noun, it must agree with the noun in both gender and
number.

This is what we do the agreement , three steps:

• First, identify the case of the noun

• Second, check the article and the noun itself to make sure its gender and
number
• Third ,apply the correct ending to the adjective , based on the
information above

How German adjective modifiers work :

Das ist ein roter Apfel This is a red apple

Der junge Mann trinkt Bier The young man drinks/is drinking
beer
Ich kaufe das blaue Kleid I'm buying this blue dress
2. Definite article + adjective + noun (Nominative):

When an adjective modifies a noun led by a definite article , this is how the
adjective’s ending changes in the nominative case:

Noun (m.) Noun (f.) Noun (n.) Noun (pl.)

Nominative Der junge Die schöne Das süße die schönen
Mann/the Frau /the Kind/ the Frauen/the
young man pretty lovely kid pretty
woman women
Adj. Ending -e -e -e -en
Attention:

in “alle/manche +adjective +noun” , the ending of the adjective follows the same
pattern as “Noun (pl.)” displayed in the table. for example, “alle jungen
Männer” (all young men)

3. Indefinite (singular)/possessive pronoun /kein+ adjective +noun

(nominative):

Noun (m.) Noun (f.) Noun (n.) Noun (pl.)

Nominative Ein/mein/kei Eine/meine/k Ein/mein/kei Meine/keine
n junger eine schöne n süßes Kind schönen
Mann Frau Frauen
Adj. Ending -er -e -es -en
4. No article + adjective +noun (nominative) :

When there’s no article before the noun :

Noun (m.) Noun (f.) Noun (n.) Noun (pl.)

Nominative Heißer Tee Süße Kaltes Wasser Kleine
/hot tea Milch/sweet /cold water Kinder/little
milk kids
Adj.ending -er -e -es -e
Attention:

In “number+adjective +noun” and “einige/viele/wenige+adjective+noun”, the

ending of the adjective follows the same pattern as “noun (pl.)” displayed in the
table above. (in “number +adjective+ noun” , when the number is one, the
adjective ending inflects the same way as that after the indefinite article)

For example:

• “Zwei rote Äpfel” (two red apples)

• “viele kleine Kinder” (many little kids)
• “einige schöne Tage” ( a few beautiful days )

ADJECTIVE FOR NOUN (ACCUSSATIVE)

1. Definite article+adjective+noun (all four cases):

 Noun (m.) Noun (f.) Noun (n.) Noun (pl.)
Nominative -e -e -e -en
Accusative -en -e -e -en
Dative -en -en -en -en
Genitive -en -en -en -en
Attention:
In "alle/manche +adjective +noun” , the ending of the adjective follows the
same pattern in each case as displayed in the table
2. Indefinite (singular)/possessive pronoun/kein + afjective +noun (all four
cases):

Noun (m.) Noun (f.) Noun (n.) Noun (pl.)

Nominative -er -e -es -en
Accusative -en -e -es -en
Dative -en -en -en -en
Genitive -en -en -en -en
3. No article +adjective +noun (all four cases):

Noun (m.) Noun (f.) Noun (n.) Noun (pl.)

Nominative -er -e -es -e
Accusative -en -e -es -e
Dative -em -er -em -en
Genitive -en -er -en -er
Attention :

In “number + adjective +noun” and “einige /viele/wenige+ adjective +noun” , the

ending of the adjective follows the same pattern in each as displayed in the
table

NUMBERS 2

1. hundred / thousand /million/billion and year :

Here is how to say years in German :

The thousand + the hundred + the ones + und+ the tens

From the year 1100 to 1999:

11-19 hundred +the ones +und +the tens

All the numbers in German are written as one word without hyphens or space .
An artificial slash to separate each number part :

Hundert hundred
Tausend thousand
Million million
Milliarde billion
Das Jahr dreitausendachtundsechzig The year 3068
(drei/tausend/acht/und/sechzig)
Im Jahr In 1872
achtzehnhundertzweiundsiebzig (
achtzehn/hundert/zwei/und/siebzig)
2. Ordinal numbers :

German ordinal numbers are used as adjectives and follow every adjective
inflection rule

The makeup of ordinal numbers:

• “First” is “erste”
• “second” to “Nineteenth” : cardinal number +-te(n)
• “Twentieth” and above : cardinal number +-ste(n)

Cardinal number Ordinal number

eins Der erste Tag /the first day
zwei Die zweite Frau/the second woman
drei der dritte Tag / the third day
sieben der siebte Tag /the seventh day
acht der achte Tag /the eighth day
elf der elfete Tag /the eleventh day
einundzwanzig der eunundzwanzigste Tag /the
twenty-first day
neunundneunzig Der neunundneunzigste Tag /the
ninety-nineth day
Note: that “dritte” (third), “siebte” (seventh) and “achte” (eighth) are slightly
different
 3. Dates :

To say a specific date:

der +ordinal number +month

To say on a specific date :

am + ordinal number + month

Pay attention that the endings of the same ordinal number are not the same in
the two expressions here :

Date On a specific date

der achtzehnte Oktober /october am achtzehnten Oktober /on October
18th 18th
Der erste Januar /January 1st Am ersten Januar /on January 1st
Der fünfundzwanzigste Dezember/ Am fünfundzwanzigsten Dezember/on
december 25th December 25th
der einunddreißigste Mai/ May 31st am einunddreißigsten Mai /on May
31st

FESTIVAL

1. Weihnachten ( christmas):

“Weihnachtsmarkt” ( christmas market) starts in many cities around Germany

about four weeks prior to Christmas .

At a Weihnachtsmarkt , people can buy Lebkuchen (honey gingerbread), candy,

christmas decorations, scented candles etc, pretty much everything you would
need for Christmas celebration .

“Glühwein” (mulled wine) is a must-have beverage at every Weihnachtsmarkt.

It's warm wine with a variety of spices such as cinnamon and citrus. Apart from
that , roast geese and Christmas fruitcake are also must-haves on German
people’s Christmas dinner table.

2. (the Munich) Oktoberfest :

The world-famous Oktoberfest held in Munich attracts numerous tourists every

year. The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 to celebrate the wedding of
Bavarian Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Ever
since then, there has been an annual celebration from late September to early
October .

People set up tents, drinking beer and catching up , with bands playing on stage
festivity everywhere.During Oktoberfest , women would dress themselves in
traditional Bavarian costume Dirndl and men in Lederhose (leather
pants/trousers)

SIMPLE PAST

1. the simple past tense :

The name says itself clearly : it’s used to describe past events.

However , Germans use the present perfect to describe past events instead of
the simple past . The latter is more often seen in writing .

2. Verbs in the simple past :

Verb forms in the simple past are divided into the regular and irregular

(1) Regular verbs:

Verb stem + -te +conjugation suffix to the subject

Subject pronoun Sagen to say kaufen to buy

ich sagte kaufte
Du sagtest kauftest
Er/sie/es sagte kaufte
wir sagten kauften
Ihr sagtet kauftet
sie sagten kauften
Sie sagten kauften
Attention:

the simple past verb forms for “ich” and “er/sie/es” are the same

For verbs whose stem ends in one of the following : -t, -d, -ffn, -chn, -gn

Verb stem +-ete+ conjugation suffix of the subject

 Subject pronoun Arbeiten to work Regnen to rain
ich arbeitete regnete
Du arbeitetest regnetest
Er/sie/es arbeitete regnete
Wir arbeiteten regneten
Ihr arbeitetet regnetet
sie arbeiteten regneten
Sie arbeiteten regneten
Attention :

The simple past verb forms for “ich” and “er/sie/es” are the same

(2) irregular verbs:

Few predictable patterns of the simple past conjugation of irregular verbs :

A lot of irregular verbs don’t have a conjugation ^pattern to follow at all .

e=>a ei=>ie i=>a a=>u ie=>o au=>ie

Sehen Schreiben Singen/ Fahren/ Riechen/ Laufen/
/to see /to write to sing to drive to smell to
run/walk
Ich sah schrieb sang fuhr roch lief
Du sahst schriebst sangst fuhrst rochst liefst
Er/sie/es sah schrieb sang fuhr roch lief
Wir sahen schrieben sangen fuhren rochen liefen
Ihr saht schriebt sangt fuhrt rocht lieft
sie sahen schrieben sangen fuhren rochen liefen
Sie sahen schrieben sangen fuhren rochen liefen
Attention:

The simple past verb forms for “ich” and “er/sie/es” are the same

3. Time adverbs revisit:

heute today
morgen tomorrow
übermorgen The day after tomorrow
gestern yesterday
 vorgestern The day before yesterday
vorvorgestern Three days ago
3. The simple past of “ haben” and “sein":

“haben” and “sein” are irregular:

Subject pronoun Sein /to be Haben/to have

Ich war hatte
du warst hattest
Er/sie/es war hatte
wir Waren hatten
ihr Wart hattet
sie Waren hatten
Sie Waren hatten
Attention :

the simple past verb forms for “ich” and “er/sie/es” are the same

TRAVEL 2

1. Names of continents :

Antarktis Antarctica
Afrika Africa
Asien Asia
Europa Europe
Nordamerika North America
Ozeanien Oceania
Südamerika South America
2. Travel activities :

Einen Urlaub machen To go on vacation

Fotos machen To take photos
Einen Ausflug machen To do an excursion
Ski fahren to go skiing
Souvenirs kaufen To buy souvenirs
Extended reading :

- Tourism in Germany :
According to the statistics from the GNTB ( the German National Tourist
Board), Germany has always been a popular travel destination for Europeans.
Tourists from outside Germany tend to favor larger cities such as Berlin and
Munich. The most popular states for tourists from outside Germany are: Bavaria
(Bayern), Baden-Wuerttemberg (Baden-Württemberg), Berlin and North
Rhine-Westphalia ( Nordrhein-Westfalen)

- Famous German foods:

Cologne beer (Kölsch)

Riesling wine (Riesling )

Curry sausage (Currywurst)

Lübecker Marzipan

Black forest cake ( Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte)

SIMPLE PAST MODAL VERB

1. Modal verbs in the simple past:

In a simple past sentence where a modal verb and an infinitive are present, the
modal verb needs to be in its simple past form while the infinitive stays
unchanged.

The rule to form the simple past form of a modal verb :

• Wipe off the two dots on the vowel of the modal verb
• Next , keep the “-n” ending of the verb, and put “-te” after the verb
stem

Simple present Simple past

können konnten
möchten mochten
wollen wollten
dürfen durften
sollen sollten
müssen mussten
2. Modal verbs conjugation in the simple past :
 Subject können möchten wollen dürfen sollen müssen
pronoun
Ich konnte mochte wollte durfte sollte musste
Du konntest mochtest wolltest durftest solltest musstest
Er/sie/es konnte mochte wollte durfte sollte musste
Wir konnten mochten wollten durften sollten mussten
Ihr konntet mochtet wolltet durftet solltet musstet
sie konnten mochten wollten durften sollten mussten
Sie konnten mochten wollten durften sollten mussten

PAST PERFECT

1. The past perfect tense:

The past perfect tense (also called the pluperfect ) usually appears with the
simple past because it describes events or actions that had taken place before
another one happened.

In past perfect sentence , replace “haben/sein” in the formula for the present
perfect with their simple past form:

Subject +haben/sein (in the simple past) +other components + past participle

The present perfect ich habe Deutsch gelernt I(ihave) learned German
The past perfect ich hatte Deutsch i had learned German
gelernt
the present perfect Sie ist gegangen She has gone/she left
the past perfect Sie war gegangen She had gone
2. Past participles revisit :

Here are the rules to form past perticiples:

Regular/irregular Forming rule infinitive Past participle

verb
Regular Ge +verb stem + - lernen gelernt
t
Verb stems arbeiten gearbeitet
ending in any of
“-d, -t, -chn, -
 ffn, -gn”: ge+
verb stem +et
Infinitives with studieren studiert
the ending “-
ieren” => “-iert”
Separable verbs: einkaufen eingekauft
prefix-ge- verb's
past participle
irregular Ge +verb stem schlafen geschlafen
(mostly with
ablaut) +en
finden gefunden
no pattern sein gewesen
3. Subordinating conjunctions ”bevor” (before) and “nachdem” (after):

“Bevor” and ”nachdem” are subordinating conjunctions to link a main clause

and a subordinate clause. These two are commonly seen with ( but not limited
to) the past perfect and the simple past.

Pay attention to the tense of the main clause and the subordinate clause in
these examples:

(”Sub.C.” stands for “subordinating conjunction”)

Sub.C. Meaning Main clause Subordinate Example

tense clause tense
bevor before the past The simple Sie war
perfect past gegangen,
bevor er
kam/she had
gone before
he came
nachdem after the simple the past Nachdem ich
past perfect gegessen
hatte, hatte
ich keinen
Hunger
mehr/ i
 wasn’t hungry
anymore
after i had
eaten

GENITIVE

1. The genetive case :

The german genitive case indicates possession and ownership . The message it
sends is the exact same as the English “of”

in modern spoken German, people tend to use the preposition ”von" to imply
ownership or possession much more often than the genitive.

The genitive appears more frequently in written German .

The genitive is used for ”the owner” and follows right after “the owned”. It
doesn’t get affected by the case , nor the gender , nor the number of “the
owned”.

A complete chart of genitive definite articles with nouns :

Nominative Genitive
(sg.) der Schüler das Buch des Schülers/ the book of
the middle schooler
(sg.) das Mädchen das Buch des Mädchens /the book of
the girl
(sg.) die Tänzein Die Schuhe der Tänzein/the shoes of
the (female) dancer
(pl.) die Kinder Die Spielzeuge der Kinder /the toys of
the children
(sg.) der Mann Die Frau des Mannes / the wife of the
man
(sg.) das Schloss der Tor des Schlosses /the gate of the
castle
(sg.) der Polizist (weak noun) das Auto des Polizisten /the car of the
police
(sg.) das Herz (weak noun) Der Wunsch des Herzens /the desire
of the heart
Notes :

(1) Masculine and neuter nouns add “-s” to their end in the genitive (for
some it’s “-es”)
(2) Masculine and neuter nouns that end in any of the following “-s, -ss,-ß,
-x ,-z, -tz” have the ending ”-es” in their genitive forms. for example,
“das Schloss”=> “des Schlosses”
(3) Single-syllable masculine and neuter nouns generally take “-es” in their
genitive forms as well. For example, ”der Mann” => "des Mannes”
(4) Feminine nouns and plural nouns don’t carry any extra endings in the
genitive
(5) Weak nouns such as ”Polizist” nned to have the suffix “-en” on them in
the genitive. “Herz” is an exception xception where it takes an extra “-s”
apart from “-en”
2. Genitive articles :

the genitive has everything to do with “ the owner” and nothing to do with
“the owned”

(1) Definite article +noun :

Noun m. f. n.
Sg. Des Schülers Der Frau des Kindes
Pl. Der Schüler Der Frauen der Kinder
(2) Indefinite article +noun:

Noun m. f. N.
Sg. Eines Schülers Einer Frau Eines Kindes
Pl. none none none
(3) Possessive pronoun +noun :

Noun m. f. n.
Sg. Meines Schülers Meiner Frau Meines Kindes
Pl. Meiner Schüler Meiner Frauen Meiner Kinder
3. Weak nouns (schwache substantive ) :
There’s a group of German nouns called ”weak nouns”. They end in “-en” in
every case except in the nominative , and they don’t change sound in the plural
wherever they are placed .

These weak nouns are all masculine with one exception : das Herz (the heart)

The following are the patterns of weak nouns:

(1) Masculine nouns ending in “-e” are always weak:

for exam

- der Junge , die Jungen (the boy(s))

- der Hase , die Hasen (the hare(s))

- der Neffe , die Neffen (the nephew(s))

(2) Masculine nouns ending in “-and” , “-ant” , “-ist” are usually weak:

- der Doktorand ,die Doktoranden (the doctorate(s))

- der Elefant , die Elefanten (the elephant(s))

- der Polizist , die Polizisten (the policeman (men))

(3) Nouns with greek roots (also tend to be professions):

- der Architekt , die Architekten (the architect(s))

- der Biologe , die Biologen (the biologist(s))

(4) Some additional nouns :

- der Herr, die Herren (the sir(s))

- der Bär , die B ä ,ären (the bear(s))

- der Bauer , die Bauern (the farmer(s))

PASSIVE VOICE

1. Passive voice:

In German , there’re also active voice and passive voice .

The former indicates that the subject is the one that is doing the action of the
verb whereas the latter implies that the subject is the one that the action is
being performed on.

German passive voice falls into two parts:

Process-emphasizing and result/state-emphasizing passive voice zeroes in on the

resn the result/state of the subject .

Both of them need an auxiliary verb. The former uses “werden” and the latter
uses “sein” :

Werden+past participle

Sein+ past participle

“Werden” and “sein” need to conjugate to the right form according to the
sentence subject .

How to make the cative voice passive ?:

1) The accusative object in the active voice becomes the nominative subject in
the passive voice

2) now in the passive voice, the subject in the active voice can appear either in
the dative form after “von”, or can be omitted entirely

3) The verb in the active voice is now in its passive. Other than that , other
components stay unchanged

Examples :

Tense Active Passive

the simple Er sieht uns/he Wir werden (von
present sees us ihm) gesehen /we
are being seen by
him
the simple past Er sah uns /he Wir wurden (von
saw us ihm) gesehen/we
were seen by him
 The simple Wir öffnen die Process- Die Tür wird (von
present Tür/ we are emphasizing uns) geöffnet/thr
opening the door door is being
opened by us
Result /state Die Tür ist
emphasizing geöffnet/ the
door is open
Pay attention to how the case of each component changes from the active to
the passive.

2. The process-Emphasizing passive in each tense:

Here's how we build the process-emphasizing passive using “werden” in every

tense: ( keep in mind that “werden” must inflect for the sentence subject , also,
“sein” is used in the perfect tenses)

The simple present :

“werden + past participle”

The simple past :

“wurden + past participle”

The present perfect :

“sein + past participle +worden”

The past perfect :

“waren + past participle +worden”

The future:

“werden + past participle + werden “

The future perfect :

“werden +past participle +worden +sein”

Examples :

Tense Examples
 The simple present Ich werde gefragt
The simple past du wurdest gefragt
The present perfect Er ist gefragt worden
The past perfect Wir waren gefragt worden
The Future Ihr werdet gefragt werden
The future perfect Sie werden gefragt worden sein
List of conjugations of “werden” in the simple present and in the simple past :

Subject pronoun The simple present The simple past

Ich werde wurde
Du wirst wurdest
er/sie/es wird wurde
Wir werden wurden
Ihr werdet wurdet
sie werden wurden
Sie werden wurden
3. the subject-less passive using “Es”:

Only the accusative object in an active sentence can be the nominative subject in
the passive . If there’s no accusative object in the active voice, it would mean
that there’s no subject in the passive. Or the subject in the active voice is “man”
and the verb is intransitive. In those cases, we’ll need the dummy subject “es” to
form the subject-less passive .

“Es” is used to occupy the first position , which is supposed to be taken by the
subject , since according to the “Satzklammer”, the first position can’t be
vacant, or we can put whatever that succeeds the verb in the sentence to the
front to take that first position .

Active Passive
Die Studenten helfen ihm / the college Es wird ihm (von den
students is helping him (“ihm” is Studenten)geholfen (“es” takes the
dative , so no accusative object here) subject’s position)
Ihm wird (von den Studenten) (“ihm”
stays dative, “er” would be wrong)
He is being helped (by the college
students)
 Man arbeitet am Wochenende nicht Es wird am Wochenende nicht
/people don’t work on weekends (no gearbeitet (“es” takes the subject’s
accusative object of the verb position)
“arbeitet”)
Am Wochenende wird nicht gearbeitet
(the time adverbial phrase “am
Wochenende” takes the first position)
People don’t work on weekends
Attention :

The dummy “es” takes the verb conjugation for the third person singular

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

1. Relative clauses:

Relative clauses are a type of subordinate clauses.

They provide supplementary in the main clause , and are introduced by relative
pronouns. The noun/pronoun is called “Bezugswort”,and the verb in the relative
clause should be in the end position

Main Relative
clause clause
Er Ist ein Mann der sehr nett ist
he is a Man( (relative very nice is
Bezugs pronou
wort) n)
Translation : he is a very nice man

Main Relativ
clause e
clause
Das ist der Markt auf dem wir Obst kaufen
this is the Marke on (relati we fruit buy
t ve
(Bezug pronou
swort) n)
Translation : this is the market at which/where we buy fruit
 Main Relative
clause clause
Das ist die Frau deren Schuhe schmut sind
zig
This is the Woman shoes dirty are
(Bezugs
wort)
Translation : this is the woman whose shoes are dirty

2. Relative pronouns :

The relative pronoun of choice depends on the gender and number of the
“Bezugswort”

What case role the relative pronoun plays in the relative clause is critical for
choosing the right form :

(1) when the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause , it should be
nominative

For example :

• Er ist ein Mann, der sehr nett ist ( “der Mann ist sehr nett”, nominative)
/he is a very nice man

(2) when the relative pronoun is the direct object of the verb/phrasal verb in
the relative clause, depending on the grammatical requirement of the verb/the
preposition in the phrasal verb , the relative pronoun will be either accusative or
dative

For example :

• Ich lese das Buch , das meine Freundin hasst (“Meine Freundin hasst das
Buch”, accusative)/i’m reading the book (that)my girlfriend hates
• Wir reden mit dem Mann, dem wir vorher geholfen haben. (“wir haben
dem Mann geholfen”, dative)/we’re talking to the man (whom) we helped
before
 • Leo möchte sich mit der jungen Frau treffen, von der er täglich träumt
(“Er träumt täglich von der jungen Frau” von +dative)/leo wants to meet
the young lady (whom) he dreams of everyday

(3) when the relative pronoun is the indirect object of the verb/phrasal verb in
the relative clause , the , the pronoun should be dative

for example:

• Ich mag den Professor, dem ich mein Gedicht vorgelesen hebe ( “Ich habe
dem Professor mein Gedicht vorgelesen” , dative)/i like the professor who
i read my peom to

(4) When the relative pronoun indicates the possession of something by the
“Bezugswort”, the pronoun should be genitive

for example:

• Das ist die Frau, deren Schuhe schmutzig sind (Die Schuhe der Frau sind
schmutzig , genitive)/this is the woman whose shoes are dirty

Case m. f. n. Pl.
Nominative der die das die
Accusative den die das die
Dative dem der dem denen
Genitive dessen deren dessen deren

SUBJUNCTIVE II

1. Subjunctive II (Der Konjunktiv II) :

The subjunctive II is generally applied to describe something hypothetical , such

as wishes, comparison , conditions etc

“Wenn” is used as an introductory word with particles like “doch”, “nur”,

“doch nur” and “bloß” in the sentence for emphasis.

Other than that , the subjunctive II can also express polite requests, which is
usually in the form of , the subjunctive II can also express polite requests, which
is usually in the form of questions

Wenn du mir bloß zuhören würdest! If only you would just listen to me!
 Könnten Sie mir helfen? Could YOU help me?
The construction of the present subjunctive II:

(1) Regular verbs :

( the same as the simple past)

Verb stem + -te + conjugation suffix of the subject

For verbs whose stem ends in one of the following : -t, -d, -ffn, -chn, -gn

verb stem + -ete + conjugation suffix of the subject

Examples :

Subject pronoun Sagen /to say Arbeiten /to work

Ich sagte arbeitete
Du sagtest arbeitetest
Er/sie/es sagte arbeitete
Wir sagten arbeiteten
Ihr sagtet arbeitetet
sie sagten arbeiteten
Sie sagten arbeiteten
Attention :

the subjunctive II verb forms for ”ich” and “er/sie/es” are the same

(2) irregular verbs:

the simple past + -e+conjugation suffix of the subject

if there’s “a/o/u” in the simple past verb, it needs umlaut and becomes “ä/ö/ü”

Subject pronoun bleiben /to stay Fliegen /to fly

Ich bliebe flöge
Du bliebest flögest
Er/sie /es bliebe flöge
Wir blieben flögen
Ihr bliebet flöget
sie blieben flögen
Sie blieben flögen
Attention: the subjunctive II verb forms for “ich” and “er/sie/es” are the same
(3) Würden +infinitive :

Because a great number of regular verbs share the same verb form in the simple
past and in the subjunctive II, people often use “würden (inflected for the
subject ) +infinitive “ as a replacement

2. The past subjunctive II:

The formula for the formation of the subjunctive II in the simple past is :

Hätten/wären (inflected for the subject) + past participle

we decide on “hätten” or “wären” using the same principle of the present

perfect :

“Hätten” or “wären” ?

• the majority of verbs use “hätten”

• Intransitive verbs that imply movement from one point to another use
“wären”

Examples :

Wenn ich mich doch nicht erkältet If only i hadn’t caught a cold !
hätte!
Was hättest du gemacht , wenn du If you had been free yesterday , what
gestern frei gewesen wärst? would you have done?
3. The subjunctive II of “sein” , “werden” and “haben” :

Subject pronoun sein werden haben

Ich wäre würde hätte
Du wärst würdest hättest
Er/sie/es wäre würde hätte
Wir wären würden Hätten
Ihr wärt würdet hättet
sie wären würden hätten
Sie wären würden hätten
4. the subjunctive II of modal verbs :

Subject pronoun Können wollen dürfen

ich könnte wollte dürfte
 Du könntest wolltest dürftest
Er/sie/es könnte wollte dürfte
Wir könnten wollten dürften
Ihr könntet wolltet dürftet
sie könnten wollten dürften
Sie könnten wollten dürften

FUTURE II

1. the future perfect :

The future perfect describes actions that will haveb been completed by a certain
point in the future

the future perfect consists of :

Werden + past participle + haben/sein

Wir werden alles vergessen haben We will have forgotten everything

In zehn Jahren wirst du deinen In ten years , you will have realized
Traum verwirklicht haben your dream
2. Negation and questioning in the future perfect :
(1) negation in the future perfect follows the same rule for the future tense

-Negating with “nicht”:

• Negating the entire statement : “nicht” before the infinitive

• Negating a certain component in the sentence : ”nicht” before the
component
- Negating with ”kein”:

“kein" is used to negate nouns. It replaces an indefinite article or zero article

(2) Questions :

- Forming yes-no questions:

Reverse the sentence subject and “werden” , keep the rest of the sentence
unchanged , and put a question mark at the end

- Forming wh-questions:

Question word + werden +other components + past participle + haben/sein?

 Sie werden die Hausaufgaben nicht they will not have done the
gemacht haben homework
Wird sie den Computer gefunden Will she have found the computer?
haben?
Wohin werde ich gegangen sein? Where will i have gone?
3. Expression of “in a period of time”:

To express “in a certain period of time “ :

in + time expression (dative)

In zwanzig Minuten In twenty minutes

In sechs Stunden in six hours
in fünf Tagen In five days
In vier Wochen In four weeks
In drei Monaten In three months
In zehn Jahren In ten years