Capitalizing nouns In German, all nouns are capitalized. For example, "my name" is "mein Name," and "the apple" is "der Apfel." This helps you identify which are the nouns in a sentence.
Three grammatical genders, three types of nouns Nouns in German are either feminine, masculine or neuter. For example, "Frau" (woman is feminine, "!ann" (man is masculine, and "ind" (child is neuter. The grammatical gender may not match the biological gender: "Mädchen" (girl) is a neuter noun. t is !ery important to learn e!ery noun along ith its gender #ecause gender #ecause parts of German sentences chan$e dependin$ on the $ender of their nouns. Generally spea%in$, the definite article "die" (the and the indefinite article "eine" (a&an are used for feminine nouns, "der" and "ein" for masculine nouns, and "das" and "ein" for neuter nouns. For example, it is "die Frau," "der !ann," and "das ind." 'oweer, later you will see that this chan$es dependin$ on somethin$ called the "case of the noun."
)on*u$ations of the er# sein (to #e A few er#s er#s li%e "sein" (to #e are completely completely irre$ular, irre$ular, and their con*u$ations con*u$ations simply need to #e memorized+
)on*u$atin$ re$ular er#s er# con*u$ation in German is more challen$in$ than in -n$lish. To con*u$ate a re$ular er# in the present tense, identify the inariant stem of the er# and add the endin$ correspondin$ to any of the $rammatical persons, which you can simply memorize+ trinken (to drin%
Notice that the st and the /rd person plural hae the same endin$ as "you (formal."
0mlauts 0mlauts are letters (more specifically owels that hae two dots a#oe them and appear in some German words li%e "!1dchen." 2iterally, "0mlaut" means "around the sound," #ecause its function is to chan$e how the owel sounds. An umlaut can sometimes indicate the plural of a word. For example, the plural of "!utter" (mother is "!3tter." It mi$ht een chan$e the meanin$ of a word entirely. That4s why it4s ery important not to i$nore those little dots.
No continuous aspect In German, there4s no continuous aspect, i.e. there are no separate forms for "I drin%" and "I am drin%in$". There4s only one form+ Ich trinke. There4s no such thin$ as Ich bin trinke or Ich bin trinken!
5hen translatin$ into -n$lish, how can I t ell whether to use the simple (I drin% or the continuous form (I am drin%in$6 0nless the context su$$ests otherwise, either form should #e accepted.
German plurals 7 the nominatie )ase In -n$lish, ma%in$ plurals out of sin$ular nouns is typically as strai$htforward as addin$ an "s" or an "es" at the end of the word. In German, the transformation is more complex, and also the articles for each $ender chan$e. The followin$ fie su$$estions can help+ .
7e endin$+ most German one7sylla#le nouns will need 7e in their plural form. For example, in the nominatie case, "das 8rot" (the #read #ecomes "die 8rote," and "das 9piel" (the $ame #ecomes "die 9piele."
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7er endin$+ most masculine or neuter nouns will need the 7er endin$, and there may #e umlaut chan$es. For example, in the nominatie case "das ind" (the child #ecomes "die inder," and "der !ann" (the man #ecomes "die !1nner."
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7n&7en endin$+ most feminine nouns will ta%e either 7n or 7en in all four $rammatical cases, with no umlaut chan$es. For example, "die Frau" (the woman #ecomes "die Frauen" and "die artoffel" #ecomes "die artoffeln."
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7s endin$+ most forei$n7ori$in nouns will ta%e the 7s endin$ for the plural, usually with no umlaut chan$es. For example+ "der )hef" (the #oss #ecomes "die )hefs."
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There is no chan$e for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of these in the sin$ular+ 7chen, 7lein, 7el, or 7er. There may #e umlaut chan$es. For example+ "das !1dchen" (the $irl #ecomes "die !1dchen," and "die !utter" (the mother #ecomes "die !3tter."
German feminine plurals 7 nouns endin$ in 7in Feminine nouns that end in "7in" will need "7nen" in the plural. For example, "die =chin" (the female coo% #ecomes "die =chinnen" in its plural form.
ihr s er If you4re new to German, ihr and er may sound exactly same, #ut there is actually a difference. ihr sounds similar to the -n$lish word ear , and er sounds similar to the -n$lish word air (ima$ine a 8ritish&>? accent. @on4t worry if you can4t pic% up on the difference at first. ou may need some more listenin$ practice #efore you can tell them apart. Also, try usin$ headphones instead of spea%ers.
-en if this doesn4t seem to help, %nowin$ your con*u$ation ta#les will $reatly reduce the amount of am#i$uity.
#M$%& '&M* $&#&*T T&*#& In -n$lish, the present tense can #e simple or pro$ressie (as in "I eat" or "I am eatin$". 8oth forms translate to *ust one German present tense form, #ecause there is no continuous tense in standard German. 9o, "she learns" and "she is learnin$" are #oth "sie lernt."
+& '&T-# There are many ways to as% someone how he or she is doin$. Ta%e "'ow are you6," "'ow do you do6" and "'ow is it $oin$6" as examples. In German, the common phrase or idiom uses the er# "$ehen" ($o+ "5ie $eht es dir6" ('ow are you6.
WILLKOMMEN C* /& 0%#& 0&*1 In German, "5ill%ommen" means welcome as in "5elcome to our home", #ut it does not mean welcome as in "Than% you 7 ou4re welcome". The German for the latter is "Gern $eschehen" or "eine 0rsache".
German )ases In -n$lish, the words "he" and "I" can #e used as su#*ects (the ones doin$ the action in a sentence, and they chan$e to "him" and "me" when they are o#*ects (the ones the action is applied to. For example, we say "'e li%es me" and "I li%e him." This is exactly the notion of a "$rammatical case+" the same word chan$es its form dependin$ on its relationship to the er#. In -n$lish, only pronouns hae
cases, #ut in German most words other than er#s hae cases+ nouns, pronouns, determiners, ad*ecties, etc. 0nderstandin$ the four German cases is one of the #i$$est hurdles in learnin$ the lan$ua$e. The $ood news is that most words chan$e ery predicta#ly so you only hae to memorize a small set of rules. 5e4ll see more a#out cases later, #ut for now you *ust need to understand the difference #etween the two simplest cases+ nominatie and accusatie. The su#*ect of a sentence (the one doin$ the action is in the nominatie case. 9o when we say "@ie Frau spielt" (the woman plays, "Frau" is in the nominatie. The accusatie o#*ect is the thin$ or person that i s directly receiin$ the action. For example, in "@er 2ehrer sieht den 8all" (the teacher sees the #all, "2ehrer" is the nominatie su#*ect and "8all" is the accusatie o#*ect. Notice that the articles for accusatie o#*ects are not the same as the articles in the nominatie case+ "the" is "der" in the nominatie case and "den" in the accusatie. The followin$ ta#le shows how the articles chan$e #ased on these two cases+
The fact that most words in German are affected #y the case explains why the sentence order is more flexi#le than in -n$lish. For example, you can say "@as !1dchen hat den Apfel" (the $irl has the apple or "@en Apfel hat das !1dchen." In #oth cases, "den Apfel" (the apple is the accusatie o#*ect, and "das !1dchen" is the nominatie su#*ect.
)on*u$ations of the er# sein (to #e The er# "sein" (to #e is irre$ular, and its con*u$ations simply need to #e memorized+
)on*u$ations of the er# essen (to eat The er# "essen" (to eat is sli$htly irre$ular in that the stem owel chan$es from e to i in the second (du isst and third person sin$ular (er&sie&es isst forms.
'ow can you hear the difference #etween isst and ist? ou can4t. "isst" and "ist" sound exactly the same. In colloBuial (rapid speech, some spea%ers drop the "t" in "ist". 9o "-s ist ein Apfel" and "-s isst ein Apfel" sound the same6
es, #ut you can tell it4s "-s i st ein Apfel" #ecause "-s isst ein Apfel" is un$rammatical. The accusatie of "ein Apfel" is "einen Apfel". 'ence, "It is eatin$ an apple" translates as "-s i sst einen Apfel."
The er# haben (to hae In -n$lish, you can say "I4m hain$ #read" when you really mean that you4re eatin$ or a#out to eat #read. This does not or2 in 'erman. The er# haben refers to possession only. 'ence, the sentence Ich habe Brot only translates to I have bread , not I'm having bread. Cf course, the same applies to drin%s. Ich habe Wasser only translates to I have water, not I'm having water.
The !erb haben (to ha!e) In -n$lish, you can say "I4m hain$ #read" when you really mean that you4re eatin$ or a#out to eat #read. This does not or2 in 'erman. The er# haben refers to possession only. 'ence, the sentence Ich habe Brot only translates to I have bread , not I'm having bread. Cf course, the same applies to drin%s. Ich habe Wasser only translates to I have water, not I'm having water.
Mittagessen 3 lunch or dinner 5e4re aware that dinner is sometimes used synonymously with lunch, #ut for the purpose of this course, we4re definin$ Frühstück as breakfast, ittagessen as lunch, anddinner & suer as "ben dessen & "bendbrot.
Compound ords A compound word is a word that consists of two or more words. These are written as one word (no spaces.
The $ender of a compound noun is always determined #y its last element. This shouldn4t #e too difficult to remem#er #ecause the last element is always the most important one. All the preious elements merely descri#e the last element. •
die Autobahn (das Auto D die 8ahn
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der Cran$ensaft (die Cran$e D der 9aft
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das 'undefutter (der 'und D das Futter
9ometimes, there4s a connectin$ sound ( Fugenlaut #etween two elements. For instance, die #range D der $aft #ecomes der #rangensaft, der %und D das Futter #ecomes das %und efutter , die &iebe D das &ied #ecomes das &iebeslied , and der ag Ddas (ericht #ecomes das ag esgericht .
Cute li2e sugar4 The word sü) means sweet when referrin$ to food, and cute when referrin$ to liin$ #ein$s. •
@er Euc%er ist s3. (The su$ar is sweet.
•
@ie atze ist s3. (The cat is cute.
Tips and notes 0nli%e -n$lish, German has two similar #ut different er#s for to eat+ essen and fressen. The latter is the standard way of expressin$ that an animal is eatin$ somethin$. 8e careful not to use fressen to refer to humans this would #e a serious insult. Assumin$ you care a#out politeness, we will not accept your solutions if you use fressen with human su#*ects. The most common way to express that a human #ein$ is eatin$ somethin$ is the er#essen. It is not wron$ to use it for animals as well, so we will accept #oth solutions. 8ut we stron$ly recommend you accustom yourself to the distinction #etween essen andfressen. Fortunately, #oth er#s are con*u$ated ery similarly+
'erman plurals 3 the nominati!e Case In -n$lish, ma%in$ plurals out of sin$ular nouns is typically as strai$htforward as addin$ an "s" or an "es" at the end of the word. In German, the transformation is more complex. The followin$ fie su$$estions can help+ .
7e endin$+ most German one7sylla#le nouns will need 7e in their plural form. For example, in the nominatie case, "das 8rot" (the #read #ecomes "die 8rote," and "das 9piel" (the $ame #ecomes "die 9piele."
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7er endin$+ most other masculine or neuter nouns will need the 7er endin$, and there may #e umlaut chan$es. For example, in the nominatie case "das ind" (the child #ecomes "die inder," and "der !ann" (the man #ecomes "die !1nner."
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7n&7en endin$+ most feminine nouns will ta%e either 7n or 7en in all four $rammatical cases, with no umlaut chan$es. For example, "die Frau" (the woman #ecomes "die Frauen" and "die artoffel" #ecomes "die artoffeln." All nouns endin$ in 7e will hae an added 7n, so "die -nte" #ecomes "die -nten".
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7s endin$+ most forei$n7ori$in nouns will ta%e the 7s endin$ for the plural, usually with no umlaut chan$es. For example+ "der )hef" (the #oss #ecomes "die )hefs."
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There is no chan$e for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of these in the sin$ular+ 7chen, 7lein, 7el, or 7er. There may #e umlaut chan$es. For example+ "das !1dchen" (the $irl #ecomes "die !1dchen," and "der 8ruder" (the #rother #ecomes "die 8r3der."
'erman feminine plurals 3 nouns ending in 3in Feminine nouns that end in "7in" will need "7nen" in the plural. For example, "die =chin" (the female coo% #ecomes "die =chinnen" in its plural form.
ihr !s er If you4re new to German, ihr and er may sound exactly same, #ut there is actually a difference. ihr sounds similar to the -n$lish word ear , and er sounds similar to the -n$lish word air (ima$ine a 8ritish&>? accent. @on4t worry if you can4t pic% up on the difference at first. ou may need some more listenin$ practice #efore you can tell them apart. Also, try usin$ headphones instead of spea%ers. -en if this doesn4t seem to help, %nowin$ your con*u$ation ta#les will $reatly reduce the amount of am#i$uity.
?redicate ad*ecties ?redicate ad*ecties, i.e. ad*ecties that don4t precede a noun, are not inflected. *er ann ist groß. *ie +nner sind groß. *ie Frau ist groß. *ie Frauen sind groß. *as %aus ist groß. *ie %+user sind groß. As you can see, the ad*ectie remains in the #ase form, re$ardless of num#er and $ender.
