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German Grammar Lessons:
German Grammar Lessons:
When most people think about grammar, groaning is usually the response. While learning a foreign language grammar can be frustrating to master, once you fully understand the ins and outs of German grammar, you will be able to manipulate the language the way you want to speak!
German Grammatical Cases:
German Grammatical Cases:
Grammatical cases represent what the subject is doing in a sentence. In English, we have three grammatical cases; subjective/nominative (he), objective/accusative (him), and possessive/genitive (his). In German, there are four grammatical cases; nominative/der Nominativ (er), accusative/der Akkusativ (ihn), dative/der Dativ (ihm), and genitive/der Genitiv (sein). Use the slideshow presentation to learn about the German grammatical cases.
Articles (Definite vs. Indefinite):
Articles (Definite vs. Indefinite):
Articles are parts of speech which are used to modify a noun. Examples of articles in English are "a" (or "an" if the noun starts with a vowel) and "the". "A" is an example of an indefinite article and "the" is an example of a definite article. The difference between definite and indefinite articles is that definite articles refer to a specific item whereas indefinite articles refer to a group of object. For example, we use "a", an indefinite article to say, "I need a book." This refers to the need of any book, it could be a textbook, a fictional book, or a diary book. Switching "a" out for "the", a definite article, makes the sentence more specific. "I need the book." In German, each grammatical case uses a different set of articles. Watch the slideshow above to learn about each case and their respective articles!
https://resources.german.lsa.umich.edu/grammatik/basic-chart/
Gender:
Gender:
Unlike in English but similar to other foreign languages, German nouns have gender. The gender of a noun tells you which articles to use with it. The German genders are masculine, feminine, and neuter. Unlike other foreign languages, the dominant/default gender in German is the feminine gender. This means that most nouns will use feminine pronouns and articles.
This picture gives a couple more examples of what word patterns are associated with each gender.
Visit Duolingo's exercise, "The" to practice articles and their gender.
Here, I have a document that explains how to tell the gender of a noun and an exercise to practice (with an answer key at the end so you can check it yourself).
Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter LessonMasculine, Feminine, and Neuter ExercisesPossession:
Possession:
I purposely put this section right where it is because possessive pronouns and adjectives heavily rely on understanding of the German grammatical cases and German gender rules.
Possessive pronouns are used to indicate that something is yours, mine, his, hers, theirs, ours, etc. In German, possessive pronouns are only used to indicate a inanimate object is a specific person's. German has six possessive pronouns (just like in English!) but (like a lot of other German words), there are five added endings depending on the grammatical case you are using in the sentence.
Possessive determiners are adjectives used to determine to whom an object belongs to. In English, these are: your, my, his, her, their, and our.
These two links from German with Laura explain Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns really well. After you read her articles, take my Possession quiz to test yourself on your understanding of the German Possessive!
*Note: Keep in mind that the root possessive pronoun, ihr- is used with the pronoun sie, not ihr.*
Numbers/Plural:
Numbers/Plural:
There are five ending you can use to a German noun to change it from singular to plural:
Add "-e" to the end ~ most nouns use this pattern and add an umlaut.
Add an "-er" ending ~ most neuter nouns that end in "-tum" use this.
Add "-n" or "-en" ~ most masculine/neuter nouns that end in "-e"
Add an "-s" ending ~ use this for most words taken from other languages
Some plurals have no endings ~ just like "sheep" or "fish" in English
It is also important to know that a lot of plural nouns get an umlaut added to the base word. While you do not need to necessarily memorize every single nouns and its plural form, it is helpful to start learning how to recognize plural forms. If you need to look up a noun in a dictionary, make note of its plural form as well.
Read this article from FluentU on plural nouns!
Duolingo's Plural lesson has great tips and a good lesson on plural nouns. Join my Duolingo Classroom (information on Home page of this website) to access this lesson at any time.
Sentence Structure:
Sentence Structure:
The subject verb order of a sentence is crucial to understanding a sentence and having proper grammar. German word order is VERY different compared to English word order and this flexibility in syntax (word order) is definitely one of the hardest parts of learning German. You can change the subject/verb order in a German sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence, but you cannot do this in English.
Sentence structure is one of the toughest things to learn about a new language, especially if it is a second language. Instead of trying to memorize syntax all at once, take each part of speech and recognize its place slowly. Look at a lot of vocabulary and maybe find an article in German that you can read. While reading, circle the subject, put a square around verbs, and maybe highlight the independent clause in one color and any dependant clauses in another. By meticulously annotating a text like this, you will start to recognize word placement in reading and then you will be able to write proper sentences yourself!
Sentence StructureAlso I wasn't sure where to put this fact, but keep in mind that a lot of "feelings" we have in English, we use to verb "to be" but German uses "to have." So instead of "I am hungry" it would be "Ich hat Hunger" (I have hunger.)
Verb Conjugation, Tenses, and Mood:
Verb Conjugation, Tenses, and Mood:
This section is probably the central part of grammar. Unfortunately, verb conjugation, tenses, and moods are some of, if not the most crucial part about learning grammar. Was it kind of crazy to put the biggest part of grammar together in one section? Most definitely. But these three lessons all build on each other, so I put them together anyways. I have included a LOT of slides in this slideshow on verb conjugation and tenses and it might seem overwhelming but I did this so I could carefully lay out all definitions you will need to know!
Moods convey the speaker's attitude towards what they are talking about. Examples of this are commands, potential, and interrogative. The button under the slideshow will send you to an article which can explain what the German moods are and how to use them.
Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives describe a noun. In German, like in English, the adjective is placed before the noun it describes. However, in order to match a German adjective with its noun, you will need to add an ending to the adjective depending on the gender of the noun and what grammatical case to use.
Adverbs describe a verb. They are simpler than adjectives in that there is only one word form for an adverb and they precede the verb they describe.
Visit BBC's Bitesize program to learn about adjectives and adverbs. They also have a practice test!
Comparatives and Superlative:
Comparatives and Superlative:
Comparatives and Superlatives are often taught together in foreign language classes. This is because they most are words that are added onto adjectives. Since you just saw my article on Adjectives above, I will now share Comparatives and Superlatives in German!
Negation:
Negation:
Negation means to turn a sentence into a negative form. For example, "I have a puppy" and "I do not have a puppy." German has two ways to say "not." They are kein and nicht.
Kein is used as more of a way to say "no" or "none." Kein is only used with nouns who do not have an article or who use an indefinite article. Think of it as a negative way to say "a" or "ein." K-ein. Kein! When using kein with a plural noun, use keine. Kein always goes before the noun or at the end of the sentence if you choose to not include the noun.
Nicht is used to negate verbs, adjectives, or a noun which uses definite articles. Nicht most often goes at the end of the sentence. The exceptions to this rule are if nicht is being used to negate an adjective or a preposition in which case it goes before the adjective or prepositions. The other exceptions are if there is an infinitive verb in the sentence or if it is only being used to negate part of the sentence.
Visit this link from FluentU to read more about German negation!
Questions:
Questions:
To ask Questions that can be answered in a simple yes or no (ja oder nein) use one of these methods:
Put a question mark at the end of a sentence.
Add "...,nicht wahr?" (...,is that right?) the the end of a statement.
Invert the subject and the verb of a sentence and add a question mark.
To form a question with a question word, use this formula:
Question Word + Object + Verb + Subject = Question
(Don't forget the question mark on the end as well!)
Why: German has SIX different ways to ask "Why?"
Warum/Weswegen: to ask about the reason (Warum is the more common option.)
Wieso: ask for the cause (also direct translation for "why")
Weshalb/Wofür: ask about the purpose
Wozu is the sixth way to ask why. It is not used often and means "what for." This is all I can find on it, so I don't think you'll have to worry that much about it! But just know it exists and you'll be fine.
Prepositions:
Prepositions:
Prepositions express relation between two parts of a sentence. Just as a verb describes the action a subject is doing, a preposition describes where a noun is. Examples of prepositions are on, under, in, out, at with, and many many more! German prepositions act exactly like English prepositions and are placed in the same places in sentences. Unfortunately, you need to use German grammatical cases to choose which preposition to use (there's a reason I placed that lesson first!). Fortunately, the preposition will be able to tell you which case to use.
Remember how the case is determined by what the subject is doing in a sentence? Well the preposition in that sentence will tell you what that subject is doing! For example, the sentence, "I was going to the grocery store to pick up some apples," uses the accusative case because the to describes the (direct) object that is receiving the action. Using this "reverse" method, you can choose which prepositions are appropriate to use when.
Some examples of German prepositions.
Conjunctions:
Conjunctions:
Conjunctions link words and clauses together in one sentence. Coordinating conjunctions specifically link two similar ideas together (and, but, yet, or, etc.). Subordinating conjunctions link independant and dependant clauses together (because, although, however, etc.).
This picture shows some examples of German conjunctions and what kind of conjunction they are (coordinating or subordinating).
German conjugations are placed in the same relation to verbs and subjects as English conjugations are placed. If you are using a conjunction to link two subjects together, place it in between the two subjects. If it is linking two clauses together, place it at the end of the first clause and before the second clause.
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