GERMAN GRAMMAR

 

Alınan Kaynak: http://www.germanfortravellers.com 

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1. Gender

Here are some guidelines to determine the gender of nouns:

Masculine: days, months, seasons, mountains (but: die Alpen), lakes, precipitations, all N-nouns, nouns ending in -ich, -ig, -ling,-or, -el,-en -er ('Elener')

Feminine: flowers, trees, nouns ending in -heit, -keit, -schaft, -tät, -ung, -in (persons only), -ei, -ine,-ik, -ion (foreign words like die Nation), -en/n/-nen.

Neuter: towns and countries (exceptions: die Schweiz, die USA, etc.), names of hotels, cafés and theatres, nouns ending in -chen, -lein, -nis, -tum, -um, -ment.

 

2. Plural Forms

German uses five endings to mark the plural of nouns:

- (no change)

- e

- er

- (e)n

- s

Some nouns of the first three types add an umlaut in the plural. There is a gender distinction for German nouns in the singular (der, die, das) but there is no gender distinction in the plural. All plural nouns (in the nominative and accusative) take the definite article "die". The indefinite article "ein" has no plural form but other "ein"-words like "kein" do (keine). Possessive adjectives (like "mein, dein," etc.) are also ein-words and form the plural accordingly ("meine, deine," etc.).

When learning a new noun, always memorize the plural form as well. There is no sure way to predict the plural form but these rules will help you to make an educated guess.

Examples:

Type 1 (no change): das Zimmer (die Zimmer), das Mädchen (die Mädchen)
Type 1 (with umlaut): der Vater (die Väter), der Garten (die Gärten), der Bruder (die Brüder), die Mutter (die Mütter)

Type 2 (-e): der Abend, der Monat, das Geräusch, das Telefon
Type 2 (with umlaut): der Fuß (die Füße), der Stuhl, der Sohn, die Wand, die Hand

Type 3 (-er): das Kind (die Kinder)
Type 3 (with umlaut): der Mann (die Männer), das Wort, das Buch, das Haus

Type 4 (-en/n/nen)
-en: der Professor (die Professoren), die Tür, die Uhr, das Bett.

-n: a) nouns which end on a vowel (mainly on -e) in the singular: die Adresse, die Straße, die Woche but a number of b) nouns ending on consonants (mostly -r) in the singular: die Nummer (die Nummern)

-n: N- nouns are a group of masculine nouns that take -n or -en in all cases but the nominative singular e.g.: der Student -en, (den Studenten, dem Studenten, die Studenten), der Mensch-en, -en, der Junge-n,-n, der Nachbar-n,-n

-nen: nouns derived from masculine forms. Their singular forms end in -in: die Studentin (die Studentinnen), die Amerikanerin, die Professorin. These nouns are always feminine.

Type 5 (-s): foreign words like: das Auto, das Radio

 

3. Articles

In English a male person is masculine in grammatical gender, and we refer to the person as he; a female person is feminine in gender and we refer to the person as she. All things are neuter and we refer to each thing as it. However, some people sometimes personify things such as cars, ships etc., and refer to them as she. Thus: she (the car) is really fast. She (the ship) is an oceanliner.

 In German the matter of grammatical gender is quite different. Gender does not depend entirely on sex. The noun for a male is generally (though not always) masculine and takes the definite article der, the noun for a female is generally (though not always) feminine and takes the definite article die. Things are not always neuter. Some are masculine, some are feminine, and some are neuter and take the definite article das.

 

DEFINITE ARTICLES

 

INDEFINITE ARTICLES

 

4. Nominative

The subject of a sentence (who/what does the action) is in the nominative. She works a lot.

To find out what the subject of a sentence is, you ask 'Who (or What)?'

In this case, you would ask: 'Who (or What)' works a lot?        The answer is: She.

What is the subject (= the nominative case) in these sentences?

My brother eats a Schnitzel.          'Who or what' eats a Schnitzel? My brother.

My sister likes to play.                   'Who or what' likes to play? My sister.

This computer is very expensive.    'Who or what' is very expensive? This computer.

 

Und jetzt auf Deutsch!

Die Frau geht nach Deutschland.     'Wer oder was' geht nach Deutschland? Die Frau.

Das Kind spielt.                             'Wer oder was' spielt? Das Kind.

Der Computer ist sehr teuer.          'Wer oder was' ist sehr teuer? Der Computer.

 

5. Accusativ

 

In English as in German, there are different cases. The direct object in English is not visible in nouns while in German it is visible in masculine nouns

Subject and object in English

Is the woman here?	Is she here?
Can you see the woman?	Can you see her?
Is the man here?	Is he here?
Can you see the man?	Can you see him?

The difference of subject (nominative) and direct object (accusative) in English is visible only in personal pronouns (i.e. her / him), in German it is visible in personal pronouns as well as in masculine nouns.

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	ein/der Hund	ein/das Tier	eine/die Katze	viele Tiere
Accusative	einen/den Hund	ein/das Tier	eine/die Katze	die Tiere

Articles for feminine nouns, neuter nouns and for plural forms are exactly the same in the nominative and in the accusative case. 

 

Only the article for masculine nouns changes in the accusative case.

Subject	I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they	WHO?
Object	me	you	him	her	it	us	you	them	WHOM?

 

6. Dative

The dative case is the case of the indirect object and answers the question "to whom?" or "for whom?", i.e. to whom or for whom the action described in this sentence is being done.

In English, you oftentimes use the prepositions 'to' or 'for' to indicate such an indirect object. You do not always use these prepositions, though.

I'm giving my brother a new bike. OR: I'm giving a new bike to my brother.

Both sentences mean the same.

In German you don't have a choice - the indirect object is always expressed by the dative case, never with 'to' or 'for'.

Ich gebe meinem Partner Blumen.
I'm giving my partner flowers. OR: I'm giving flowers to my partner.

Mein Partner gibt mir auch Blumen.
My partner is also giving me flowers. OR: My partner is also giving flowers to me

7. Definite articles and der-words

Definite articles

Like English, German uses definite and indefinite articles. If you are talking about a specific person, animal, place, event, thing, or idea, you use a definite article, i.e. the. The German definite article must agree (=match) with the gender of the noun it precedes, its number [i.e. singular (=one) or plural (=many)], and its case [i.e. nominative or accusative]. As you can see, the definite article in the plural is always "die".

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	der	das	die	die
Accusative	den	das	die	die

Beispiel: Die Frau kauft den Computer.

der-words:

Dieser (=this one), jeder (=every one), welcher (=which one) take (almost) the same endings as the definite articles and are therefore called der-words.

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	dieser jeder welcher	dieses jedes welches	diese jede welche	diese jede welche
Accusative	diesen jeden welchen	dieses jedes welches	diese jede welche	diese jede welche

Beispiel: Diese Frau kauft diesen Computer.

 

8. Indefinite articles and ein-words

Indefinite articles

Like English, German uses definite and indefinite articles. If you are talking about an unspecified person, animal, place, event, thing, or idea, you use an indefinite article, i.e. a or an. The German equivalent to a or an is ein. Unlike English, though, ein takes an ending which agrees with the gender of the noun it precedes, its number [i.e. singular (=one) or plural (=many)], and its case [i.e. nominative or accusative]. As you can see from this table, in three cases ein does not take an ending.

Obviously, a/an and ein are only used in the singular. The negative form of ein is kein (=not a, not (any), no). Kein can be used in the plural and always takes an -e, i.e. keine.

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	ein	ein	eine	keine/meine
Accusative	einen	ein	eine	keine/meine

Zum Beispiel: Eine Frau kauft einen Computer.

 

ein-words

Ein and kein are so-called ein-words. Adjectives indicating possessions or relationships are also ein-words and behave exactly like the indefinite articles ein and kein and take the same endings.

For example, mein (=my):

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	(k)ein mein...	(k) ein mein...	(k) eine meine...	keine meine...
Accusative	(k) einen meinen...	(k) ein mein...	(k) eine meine...	keine meine...

The same applies for all other possessive adjectives, like dein (=your), sein (=his / its), ihr (=her), unser (=our), euer (=your, plural), ihr (=their), Ihr (=your, formal, singular and plural).

Although only some of the possessive adjectives rhyme with "ein" (i.e. mein, dein, sein), all possessive adjectives are ein-words and therefore take an ein-word ending.

Keep in mind that the possessive adjective sein can mean "his" and "its" and that ihr can mean "her" and "their".

  

9. All Cases

NOMINATIVE, ACCUSATIVE, DATIVE, GENITIVE

Definite articles:

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	der	das	die	die
Accusative	den	das	die	die
Dative	dem	dem	der	den +-n
Genitive	des	des	der	der

Die Frau kauft den Computer.
Die Frau kauft dem Kind den Computer.

 

der-words:

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	dieser jeder welcher	dieses jedes welches	diese jede welche	diese jede welche
Accusative	diesen jeden welchen	dieses jedes welches	diese jede welche	diese jede welche
Dative	diesem jedem welchem	diesem jedem welchem	dieser jeder welcher	diesen jeden welchen +-n
Genitive	dieses jedes welches	dieses jedes welches	dieser jeder welcher	dieser jeder welcher

Diese Frau kauft diesen Computer.
Diese Frau kauft diesem Kind diesen Computer.

 

 

10. Present Tense of „sein

ich bin	I am	wir sind	we are
du bist	you are	ihr seid	you are
er/es/sie ist	he/it/she is	sie sind	they are
Sie sind - you are (formal address)

 

The correct form of "sein".

Die Studentin / sie	aus Kanada.
Der Student / er	aus den USA.
Meine Freunde / sie	aus der Schweiz.
Thomas und Irene / sie	aus Österreich.
Amanda und ich / wir	aus Mexiko.
Herr und Frau Müller / sie	aus Deutschland.
Das Kind / es	aus China.

 

11. Present Tense

In English, the infinitive (the basic form of the verb) is signalled by "to"; i.e. to learn, to play, to do.

In German, the infinitive consists of the verb stem plus en or, less often, n; i.e. lernen, spielen, tun.

In English, verbs only have an ending in the third person singular; i.e. he/it/she learns, plays, does.

In German, all forms of the present tense have an ending. The verb stem is not changed, but the infinitive ending en or n is changed to:

 

 Note than in the 1st and 3rd person plural the ending is identical to the infinitive ending; i.e. wir lernen, sie lernen. Therefore verbs with an n as their infinite ending also also end in n in the 1st and 3rd personal plural and in the Sie-form; i.e. wir tun, sie tun, Sie tun.

If the stem ends in d (like "finden") or t (like "arbeiten"), or in combinations like gn (like "regnen"), an e is inserted before the personal endings st and t.

 

 

 

If the stem ends in s, z, or ß, the personal ending in the 2nd person singular is t and not st:

 

12. Present Perfect

The present perfect is also called "colloquial past". It is used for conversations but not for formal narration.

In English, the present perfect is always formed with the auxiliary verb 'to have' and a past participle, i.e. I have played.

In German, this is also the case for a number of verbs which form the present perfect with 'haben' and the past participle, i.e.

 

Regular or weak verbs form the past participle this way:

ge- stem -t

i.e.: gespielt; getanzt, gemacht; gekauft, etc.

Verbs ending in -ieren only add -t to form the past participle: i.e. diskutieren -> diskutiert; studieren --> studiert

Ich habe Deutsch studiert.
Wir haben lang diskutiert.

Strong or irregular verbs form the past participle this way:

ge - stem -en

i.e. gefahren; gekommen; etc.

Because "en" is the infinitive ending, you only have to add "ge" to the infinitive of the verb.

  3. Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are a small group of verbs which modify the meaning of the verb. They express ability (können), necessity (müssen), permission (dürfen), liking / fondness (mögen), desire (wollen), obligation (sollen). Modal Verbs in the Present Tense

	können			müssen			wollen
ich	kann		ich	muss