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7/27/2019 1 Learn German _ German Speak7 Com German_expressions

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The logic that numbers from 21 to 99 is the opposite of English, for example in English we say: twenty one for

21, in German we say one and twenty, note that its not only read the opposite way, but also there is an extraand which is in German und, and all numbers are connected (einundzwanzig).

From 100 on, und is not used between numbers

Its easy to master this your first day if you look at the table above and read the notes following it carefully.

German Cardinal Numbers0 null 21 einundzwanzig 60 sechzig1 eins 22 zweiundzwanzig 70 siebzig2 zwei 23 dreiundzwanzig 80 achtzig3 drei 24 vierundzwanzig 90 neunzig4 vier 25 fnfundzwanzig 100 einhundert5 fnf 26 sechsundzwanzig 101 einhunderteins6 sechs 27 siebenundzwanzig 102 einhundertzwei7 sieben 28 achtundzwanzig 113 einhundertdreizehn8 acht 29 neunundzwanzig 200 zweihundert9 neun 30 dreiig 500 fnfhundert10 zehn 31 einunddreiig 1000 eintausend11 elf 32 zweiunddreiig 1.000.000 eine Million12 zwlf 33 dreiunddreiig 2.000.000 zwei Millionen13 dreizehn 34 vierunddreiig

2006 = Zweitausendsechs

14 vierzehn 35 fnfunddreiig15 fnfzehn 36 sechsunddreiig16 sechzehn 37 siebenunddreiig17 siebzehn 38 achtunddreiig

18 achtzehn 39 neununddreiig19 neunzehn 40 vierzig20 zwanzig 50 fnfzig

The table below contains: German phrases, expressions and words in German, conversation and idioms,

greetings and survival phrases. Most of the sentences are used for the everyday life conversations, so theymight come handy if you memorize them, if you dont know how to say something in German then check the

alphabet page, to get some help.

Blue font refers to the polite form that you need to use in German with people you don't know or respect a lot. Also you will notice I used the dash / in some places in the German phrases table when we have more than onepossible expression, for example Good-bye can be expressed as Auf Wiedersehen! or Tsch! So you will find

a dash between the two expressions.


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German Phrases

Greetings in German Hi! Hallo!

Good Morning! Guten Morgen!

Good Evening! Guten Abend!Welcome! (to greet someone) Willkommen!

How Are You? Wie geht's dir/Ihnen?

I'm Fine, Thanks! Danke, mir geht's gut!

And You? Und dir/ Ihnen?

Good/ So-So. Gut/ So la-la

Thank You (Very Much)! Danke (vielmals)!/ Vielen Dank!

You're Welcome! (answering "thank you") Gern gescheh'n!/ Keine Ursache!/ Kein Problem!

Hey! Friend! Hey! Kumpel! (only for male people)

I Missed You So Much! Du hast/ Sie haben mir so gefehlt!

What's New? Was gibt's Neues?

Nothing Much Nicht viel.Good Night! Gute Nacht!

See You Later! Bis spter!

Good Bye! Auf Wiedersehen!/ Tsch!

Help & Directions in German

I'm Lost Ich habe mich verlaufen!

Can I Help You? Kann ich dir/ Ihnen helfen?

Can You Help Me? Kannst du/ Knnen Sie mir helfen?

Where is the (bathroom/ pharmacy)? Wo ist (das Badezimmer/ die Apotheke?)Go Straight! Then Turn Left/ Right! Gehen Sie geradeaus! Dann links / rechts abbiegen!

I'm Looking For John. Ich suche John.

One Moment Please! Einen Augenblick, bitte!

Hold On Please! (phone) Bleiben Sie dran, bitte!

How Much Is This? Was kostet das?/ Wie teuer ist das?

Excuse Me ...! ( to ask for something) Entschuldigen Sie bitte...!

Excuse Me! ( to pass by) Darf ich mal vorbei?

Come With Me! Kommen Sie mit!

Personal Info in German

Do You Speak (English/ German)? Sprechen Sie (Englisch/ Deutsch)?Just a Little. Nur ein bichen.

What's Your Name? Wie heien Sie?

My Name Is . Ich heie... / Mein Name ist...

Mr.../ Mrs./ Miss Herr/ Frau/ Frulein (not used anymore)

Nice To Meet You! Schn, Sie kennenzulernen!

You're Very Kind! Du bist/ Sie sind sehr freundlich!

Where Are You From? Woher kommst du/ kommen Sie?

I'm From (the U.S/ Germany) Ich komme (aus den U.S.A./ aus Amerika / aus Deutschland)

Im (American) Ich bin (Amerikaner)

Where Do You Live? Wo wohnst du/ wohnen Sie?I live in (the U.S/ Germany) Ich wohne (in den U.S.A./ in Amerika/ in Deutschland)


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Did You Like It Here? Gefllt es dir/ Ihnen hier?

Germany Is a Wonderful Country Deutschland ist wunderschn.

What Do You Do For A Living? Was ist dein/ IhrBeruf?

I Work As A (Translator/ Businessman) Ich bin (bersetzer/Dolmetscher) / Geschftsmann

I Like German Ich mag Deutsch

I've Been Learning German For 1 Month Ich lerne seit einem Monat DeutschOh! That's Good! Oh! Das ist toll!

How Old Are You? Wie alt bist du/ sind Sie?

I'm (twenty, thirty) Years Old. Ich bin (zwanzig, dreiig,...) Jahre (alt).

I Have To Go Ich mu gehen/ los!

I Will Be Right Back! Ich bin sofort wieder da!

Wishes in German

Good Luck! Viel Glck!

Happy Birthday! Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Happy New Year! Ein frohes neues Jahr!

Merry Christmas! Frhliche Weihnachten!Congratulations! (Herzlichen) Glckwunsch!

Enjoy! (For meals) Guten Appetit!

I'd Like To Visit Germany One Day Ich mchte eines Tages (mal) nach Deutschland reisen

Say Hi To John For me. Gr/ Gren Sie John von mir!

Bless you (when sneezing) Gesundheit!

Good Night & Sweet Dreams! Gute Nacht und trum was schnes!

Misunderstanding in German

I'm Sorry! (if you don't hear something) Entschuldigung, ich habe Sie nicht verstanden!Sorry (for a mistake) Entschuldigung!/ Es tut mir leid!

No Problem! Kein Problem!/ Keine Ursache!

Can You Say It Again? Kannst du/ Knnen Sie das nochmal wiederholen?

Can You Speak Slowly? Kannst du/ Knnen Sie (etwas) langsamer sprechen?

Write It Down Please! Schreib/ Schreiben Sie es bitte auf!I Don't Understand! Ich verstehe das/ dich/ Sie nicht! (das:that, dich:you, Sie:you

polite)

I Don't Know! Ich wei (es) nicht!

I Have No Idea. Ich habe keine Ahnung.

What's That Called In German? Wie heit das auf deutsch?

What Does " gato" Mean In English? Was bedeutet "nacht" auf englisch?How Do You Say "Please" In German? Wie sagt man "please" auf deutsch?

What Is This? Was ist das (hier)?

My German Is Bad. Mein Deutsch ist schlecht.I need to practice my German Ich mu (mein) Deutsch ben.

Don't Worry! (Nur) Keine Sorge!

Expressions & Words in German

Good/ Bad/ So-So. gut/ schlecht/ so la-la

Big/ Small gro/ klein.

Today/ Now heute/ jetzt

Tomorrow/ Yesterday morgen/ gestern

Yes/ No ja/ neinHere You Go! (when giving something) Bitte sehr!/ Bitte schn!


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Do You Like It? Gefllt's dir/ Ihnen?

I Really Like It! Mir gefllt es sehr gut!

I'm Hungry/ Thirsty. Ich habe Hunger/ Durst.

In The Morning/ Evening/ At Night. am Morgen/ morgens/ am Abend/ abends/ in der NachtThis/ That. Here/There dies(es/er/e)/ das. hier/ dort.

Me/ You. Him/ Her. Ich/ Du. Er/ sieReally! Wirklich?!/ Echt?!

Look! Guck (mal)/ Schau (mal)!

Hurry Up! Beeil dich!/ beeilen Sie sich!

What? Where? was?/ wo?

What Time Is It? Wieviel Uhr ist es?/ Wie spt ist es?

It's 10 o'clock. 07:30pm. Es ist zehn Uhr. Sieben Uhr dreiig/ halb acht.

Give Me This! Gib mir das!

I Love You! Ich liebe dich/ Sie!

I Feel Sick. Ich fhle mich nicht wohl.

I Need A Doctor Ich brauche einen Arzt.

One, Two, Three eins, zwei, dreiFour, Five, Six vier, fnf, sechs

Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten sieben, acht, neun, zehn

German Articles

If you dont know it yet articles in German change depending on the case used in the sentences. If youre notfamiliar with that then please check theGerman Casespage before proceeding to this page.

German Definite Articles

The definite articles in German refer to specific persons, objects, ideasetc. and they are : der, die, das, die(plural) they all mean the expression the in English, der is used for masculine nouns, die is used for femininenouns, das is used for neuter nouns, and finally die used also for plural nouns.

German Definite ArticleMasculine der Mann (the man)Feminine die Frau (the woman)Neuter das Brot (the bread)Plural die Mnner (the men), die Frauen (the women), die Brote (the breads)

Well, thats not all; the form we went through above is only for the nominative case. Now lets have a look at allthe rest:

German Definite Articles masculine feminine neuter plural
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Nominative case der die das die theAccusative case den die das die theDative case dem der dem den to theGenitive cases des der des der of the

Here are some examples:

Nominative: der Mann ist hier (the man is here)

Accusative: Ich gre den Mann (I greet the man)

Dative: Ich gebe dem Mann ein Buch (I give the bookto the man)

Genitive: Ich habe das Buch des Mannes (I have the bookof the man)

You may have noticed how the definite article changes each time the case changes. So try to memorize the tableabove by heart, Im sure its not that hard.

German Indefinite Articles

The indefinite articles in German refer to unspecified persons, objects, ideasetc. and they are: ein, eine, ein,they all mean the indefinite article a, an in English, ein is used for masculine nouns, eine is used for femininenouns, ein is used for neuter nouns, and there is no plural for the indefinite article.

German Indefinite ArticleMasculine ein Mann (a man)Feminine eine Frau (the woman)Neuter ein Brot (a bread)

Again, thats not all; the form we went through above is only for the nominative case. Now lets have a look atall the rest:

German Indefinite Articles masculine feminine neuterNominative case ein eine ein a, anAccusative case einen eine ein a, anDative case einem einer einem to a, to anGenitive cases eines einer eines of a, of an

Here are some examples:

Nominative: ein Mann ist hier (a man is here)


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Accusative: Ich gre einen Mann (I greet a man)

Dative: Ich gebe einem Mann ein Buch (I give the bookto a man)

Genitive: Ich habe das Buch eines Mannes (I have the bookof a man)

So the same thing happens to the indefinite article, it changes each time the case changes. So try to memorize the

table above by heart as well. Good luck!

Germancases are four: the nominative case (subject of the sentence); the accusative case (the direct object); thedative case (the indirect object), and the genitive case (possessive). Cases are not something strange to English,pronouns for example use a certain kind of cases, for example we say he speaks, and give him and not givehe, did you see how he became him in the second example, well the same thing happens in German, theonly difference is that in German its much more widely used, not only in pronouns, even nouns/ adjectives/

articles use the same thing. The German case indicates the role of an element in a sentence.

German Nominative

The nominative is the easiest case in German and also the one dictionaries use as the standard form of nouns,adjectives, articlesand refers to the subject of the sentence. The teacher went to school, The teacher is thesubject of the sentence, and therefore The teacher is nominative.

So it will take the nominative form in German, which is Der Lehrer.

Below is a table of some forms of Nominative, you will only know the difference when you will go through the

3 other cases (accusative, Dative, Genitive).

German Nominative CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter, plural)

Der, die, das, die(they all means the)

Ein, Eine, Ein(they all mean a, an)

Ich, du, er, sie,

wir, ihr, sie.

(I, you, he, she...)

Weier, weie, weies, weie

(all these forms mean white)

These are just some examples to show the nominative form of some elements such as articles, pronouns,adjectives. Note that the nominative case can be used in a much wider scope such as in Nouns, interrogative

pronounswhat comes next will help you notice the difference between Nominative and what the other 3German cases.

German Accusative

Now we will learn the second case in German which is the accusative, the good news is that apart from the

masculine, the other 2 genders + the plural (feminine, neuter and plural) look just like the Nominative. Now letslearn what the accusative really is. The accusative case is considered the direct object. I see the teacher, theteacher is the direct object of the sentence, and therefore would take the accusative form, and since the


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teacher is masculine it will become in German den Lehrer and not der Lehrer as in the nominative case. Isee the teacher = Ich sehe den Lehrer.

German Accusative CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter, plural)

Den, die, das, die(they all means the)

Einen, Eine, Ein(they all mean a, an)

mich, dich, ihn, sie,

uns, euch, sie.

(me, you, him, her...)

Weien, weie, weies, weie


Lets get adjectives involved as well. I see the young teacher = ich sehe den jungen Lehrer. Young in German isjung, but since were using the accusative case, then the adjective should copy the article it follows, which is

den/ the = masculine, so den jungen. If you look at the table above you will understand why we added enafter the adjective jung. Now lets get personal pronouns involved. I see him = ich sehe ihn. Easy, isnt it!

German Dative

Now things will get serious because the dative case is very important in German, and it also changes in all the 3genders + the plural (masculine, feminine, neuter and plural). But first lets learn what the Dative means. TheDative in German is just like the indirect object in English, or in other words, its like the receiver of the direct

object. So for example: I give the book to him, I is the subject of the sentence, the book is the direct object,and him is the receiver, therefore also called the indirect object, in which were interested when it comes to thedative case.

German Dative CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter)

Dem, der, dem, den(they all means tothe)

Einem, Einer, Einem(they all mean toa, toan)

mir, dir, ihm, ihr,

uns, euch, ihnen.

(to me, to you, to him, toher...)

Weien, weien, weien, weien

(all these forms mean towhite)

Usually the equivalent of the dative case in English would include to, like our example above, I give the book

to him, I send it to him, I show it to him but in German that to is usually included in the expression used, forexample to him = ihm to the = dem so its not that complicated after all.

German Genitive

Finally we will learn the genitive in German. Its not used as often as the other cases, but still has its ownimportance, because the genitive in German means possession, or in other words it means the expression of

or s. The bookof my teacher = das Buch meines Lehrers.


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German Genitive CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter)

Des, der, des, der(they all means ofthe)

Eines, Einer, Eines(they all mean ofa, ofan)

mir, dir, ihm, ihr,

uns, euch, ihnen.

(to me, to you, to him, to

her...)

Weien, weien, weien, weie


Note that nouns in the masculine and neuter take an s at the end, as in our example: The bookof my teacher= das Buch meines Lehrers.

Feminine and plural nouns dont take any s at the end. More detailed information would be in the GermanNouns page. Also you can check out the adjectives and articles page to see how they form in different cases with

some examples. Good luck!

A pronoun in German as well as in English is like a shortcut to refer to a noun, a word that stands for orrepresents a noun or noun phrase, a pronoun is identified only in the context of the sentence in which it is used.So you must have a prior idea about who "he or she" "er or sie" is. In English we find "I, her, what, that, his", In

German pronouns use is governed by cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), number and gender. All

these three factors can affect the pronoun.

Types of pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or thepersons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative (connect parts of sentences), reciprocal or reflexive

pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb's subject), demonstrative, and interrogativepronouns.

German Personal Pronouns

The personal (subject) pronouns in German are (ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, Sie, sie.), and make the equivalent of(I, you, he, she, it, we, you people, you all, they) in English, usually they take the nominative form, since theyre

the subject of the sentence. Theyre very important and therefore they must be memorized by heart.

I have a pen = Ich habe einen Kugelschreiber.

Personal Pronouns in GermanSingular

I ich

you (familiar) du

you (formal) Sie

he, she, it er, sie, es

Pluralwe wir

you (familiar) ihr

you (formal) Sie

they sie


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German Object Pronouns

Object pronouns replace the object of a sentence; direct object pronouns take the place of the direct objectnouns, lets take this example I see a man, a man can be replaced in English by the direct object pronounhim and not he, so it would be I see him, the same thing happens in German:

Ich sehe einen Mann becomes Ich sehe ihn.

Note that the direct object pronoun in German is associated with the accusative case:

Direct Object Pronouns in GermanSingular

me mich

you (familiar) dich

you (formal) Sie

him, her, it ihn, sie, esPluralus uns

you (familiar) euch

you (formal) Sie

them sie

The indirect object pronouns (IOP) are used to replace nouns (people or things) in a sentence to which theaction of the verb occurs. In English usually it is preceded by a preposition, I give the book to Katja, the name

Katja is an indirect object noun, to replace it with a pronoun we would say in English her, in German we

would say ihr, note that since the IOP is associated with the dative, the preposition to that we would usuallyuse in English is not used in German, or rather we would say that its mixed with the pronoun (look at the tablebelow to understand the concept better), for example to her in German will become one word ihr.

Indirect Object Pronouns in GermanSingular

to me mir

to you (familiar) dir

to you (familiar) Ihnen

to him, to her, to it ihm, ihr, ihm

Pluralto us uns

to you (familiar) euch

to you (formal) Ihnen

to them ihnen

German Possessive Pronouns

The possessive is another aspect that you need to master in German, the possessive pronouns indicate ownershipand they replace a noun just like in English, example: it is my house becomes it is mine. but while inEnglish you can use mine to the singular and feminine, in German you have to add an e to for the feminine,


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yourself (formal) sich

himself, herself, itself sich

ourselves uns

yourselves (familiar) euch

yourselves (formal) sich

themselves sich

Dativemyself mir

yourself (familiar) dir

yourself (formal) sich

himself, herself, itself sich

ourselves uns

yourselves (familiar) euch

yourselves (formal) sich

themselves sich

A brief summery of the pronouns weve learned so far:

German Pronounsnominative accusative dative genitive

1st singular ich mich mir mein-

2nd singular du dich dir dein-

3rd singular feminine sie sie ihr ihr-

3rd singular masculine er ihn ihm sein-

3rd singular neuter es es ihm sein-

1st plural wir uns uns unser-

2nd plural ihr euch euch eur-

3rd plural sie sie ihnen ihr-

formal (singular and plural) Sie Sie Ihnen Ihr-

German Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstratives usually refer to a previously mentioned noun in a sentence, just like adjectives they must agreewith the gender and number of the noun. The equivalent to them in English would be this/these.

German Demonstratives masculine feminine neuter pluralNominative case dieser diese dieses diese this/ theseAccusative case diesen diese dieses diese this/ theseDative case diesem dieser diesem diesen to this/ theseGenitive cases dieses dieser dieses dieser of this/ these

Other Pronouns:


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Relative Pronouns: in German they are der, die, das (who, that, which), wer, was (who, that) and welcher(who, that). The gender, number, and case of the relative pronoun should agree with its antecedent.

Interrogative Pronouns: the most important in German are: wer (who), wen (whom), wem (to whom), wessen(whose), was (what), welcher (which).

Indefinite pronouns are:all- (all), ander- (other), einig- (one), etwas (some),jed- (each), kein- (no), nichts(nothing), man (we, one), niemand (no one).

Gender in German

Nouns in German are quite different than in English; the gender is not an issue in English because all nounshave the same gender, well except humans and some animals... for example a spoon and a fork have the

same gender, but in German its a little bit more diverse, for some reason the spoon is masculine (der Lffel), thefork is feminine (die Gabel), and the knife is neuter (das Messer). This may sound weird but well even in English

in some rare cases we do the same thing, for example you may hear in rare occasions she is a nice car, as if acar is feminine, or when talking about a baby we use it instead of he/she. In German this happens all the time

with all nouns, so the best thing to do is: when you memorize new words try to memorize them with their

definite article, for example the word book in German is das Buch, note that I added the definite articlesdas to it, which tells me that the book is neuter in German. If you get used to doing that way you wouldknow if nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter, the good news is that in may occasions you can guess the

gender of nouns given some hints, either thanks to a suffix or to a rule:

German Gender: MasulineSuffix: Most nouns ending in -en, -el, -ling, -ner, -ismus, -ig, -ich, or -er are masculine:der Boden (ground), der Vogel (bird), der Frhling (spring), der Vater (father).Rules: Days, months, and seasons, weather (rain, snow) are usually masculine in German.

der Sonntag (Sunday), der Winter (winter), der Februar (February, der Regen (rain), der Schnee (snow), but dasWetter (the weather).

Note that these suffixes and rules can only assist you in increasing your chance of guessing what the gender

would be, but its still guessing, because there are some exceptions that can be found time to time.

German Gender: FeminineSuffix: Nouns ending in -heit, -ie, -ik, -age, -ei ,-ion, -itis, -keit, -ur, -schaft, -tt, and -ung arefeminine:die Freiheit (freedom), die Garage (garage), die Operation (operation), die Mglichkeit (possibility), die Natur(nature), die Freundschaft (friendship), die Qualitt (quality), die Ehrung, (honor).

Rules: Trees, flowers, fruit, and cardinal numbers are most of the time feminine:die Fhre (pine tree), die Rose (rose), die Orange (Orange), die Sieben (the seven).

German Gender: NeuterSuffix: Nouns ending in -ett, -chen, -lein, -il, -ium, -ma, -ment, -nis, -tel, -tum, -um and -o are neuter:das Bett (bed), das Kaninchen (Rabbit), das Stadium (stage), das Klima (climat), das Geheimnis (secret), dasViertel (quarter), das Album (album), das Frulein (young lady).

Rules: Names oftowns, countries, colors, infinitives used as nouns, and the diminutives that weve seen aboveending in -chen or-lein, theyre all usually neuter: das Berlin (Berlin), das Deutschland (Germany), das Rot(Red), das Schwimmen (swimming), das Hndchen (little dog), das Kindlein (little child).


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Note that you should check the other pages ofGerman Cases andArticles to have a better idea on how nouns can

change depending on the case, and what articles they take in each case.

The Plural in German

German is more diverse in its plural than in English, to express the plural in English we simply add s or esto the end of the noun, well in German its not the case. Some nouns add e to their end: der Freund (friend)becomes die Freunde (friends), der Schuh (a shoe) becomes die Schuhe (shoes).

Other nouns add en to their end: der Student (student) becomes die Studenten (students), die Zeit (time)becomes die Zeiten (times).

The other forms of plural in German are:

(-n) for example: die Schule becomes die Schulen (schools).

(no diffrence) for example: das Fenster (window) stays die Fenster (windows).

(-) for example: der Bruder becomes die Brder (brothers).

(-er or -er) for example: das Haus becomes die Huser (houses), ordas Kind becomes die Kinder (childen).

(-s) for example: das Radio becomes die Radios (this form can be used usually with foreign words) das Babybecomes die Babys

Tips: Note that most nouns ending in the suffixes (-heit, -ie, -ik, -age, -ei ,-ion, -itis, -keit, -ur, -schaft, -tt, and-ung) add -en in the plural.

Feminine nouns ending in (-in) add -nen to form their plural.

Note that most German plurals add an extra -n or -en to the plural form in the dative case.

Finally note that while English takes capital letter only in countries names or days in German all nouns take acapital letter as you may have noticed in this lesson.

Verbs in German are more diverse than in English; in this page we will learn their categories, and the most usedtenses in German, note that this page is including only the important information you should know about in

German verbs, and it doesnt include details about each category or each tense.

German VerbsIn German verbs are categorized into three categories: weak verbs, strong, and mixed verbs.

Weak verbs (schwacheVerben) do not change the stem vowel in the past tense and the past participle andtheyre considered like regular verbs in English, examples: arbeiten (to work), spielen (to play).

Strong verbs (starke Verben) do change the stem vowel in both the past tense and the past participle, examples:sprechen (to speak), fahren (to drive, go)

Mixed verbs contain parts of both weak and strong verbs. Theyre used very often and therefore they should not

be overlooked, examples: bringen (to bring), senden (to send)
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one for the weak verb. But like any other language there are some

exceptions for all three types of verbs.

Now we will have a look at the past tense, also called the imperfect, another very important fact in knowing howto conjugate verbs in German:

German Past Tense (Imperfect)In German as well as in English the simple past tense (imperfect) is used todescribe past events, more literal than conversational, regularly used when

writing about the past. The endings for the weak verb are:

ich -te, du -test, Sie -ten, er (sie, es, man) -te, wir -ten, ihr -tet, Sie -ten, sie

-ten.

So just take any weak verb stem and add it to the endings above, for example

our previous verb spielen (to play), its stem is spiel, plus the endings above

we will get: ich spielte, du spieltest, er spielte, wir spielten, ihr spieltet, Sie, siespielten

To form the past tense with strong verbs, the trickiest part is knowing thestem, for example in English, you dont say I comed, but you say I cameto refer to the past of the verb to come, strong verbs in German change theirstem vowels and add the following endings:

ich (-nothing added to the stem), du -st, Sie -en, er, sie, es (-nothing addedto the stem), wir -en, ihr -t, Sie -en, sie -en. (look at the example on the side)

For the irregular verbs, theyre tricky too in forming their stem, sometimesthe stem doesnt look like the original verb at all, just like I go and I went,but these German irregular verbs change the vowel in the stem and, in addition,

they take weak verb endings in the past tense.

Strong verb

kommen (to come)

ich kam

du kamst (familiar)

Sie kamen (formal)

er, sie, es kam

wir kamen

ihr kamt (familiar)

Sie kamen (formal)

sie kamen

Irregular verb

wissen (to know)

ich wusste

du wusstest

(familiar)

Sie wussten

(formal)

er, sie, es wusste

wir wussten

ihr wusstet

(familiar)

Sie wussten

(formal)

sie wussten

Now we will learn the future tense, which is considered the easiest, because you only need to learn theconjugated form of werden plus the infinitive of the verbs you want to conjugate:

Future Tense in GermanThere are two ways to express the Germanfuture. The easiest and most common methodis to use the present tense with an appropriate time marker; Wir gehen morgen nachBerlin (were going to Berlin tomorrow). The other method is to use the appropriate

present tense form ofwerden with the infinitive of the main verb, note that the main verbin this method comes at the end of the sentence, relatively far from the future verbwerden. Wirwerden Schach und Kreuzwortrtsel spielen (we will play chess and cross

ich werde spielen

du wirst spielen


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puzzels). Did you see how the verb spielen was kicked to the end of the sentence, its like

youre saying in English: we will chess and cross puzzles play. Remember this structure,because this is how you will be forming verbs in the future if you use the verb werden

with it.

Note that if you choose to use the first method, which is present tense you have tomention the time marker such as morgen/ tomorrow, nchstes Jahr/ next yearnot

using them will make people think that youre talking about the present and not the futuretense.

er, sie, es wird spielen

wirwerden spielen

ihrwerdet spielen

sie werden spielen

Sie werden spielen

Adjectives in German as well as in English describe or modify nouns, but in German they should agree ingender and number with the noun they modify. Adjectives forms vary depending on the case (nominative,accusative, dative and genitive).

Note how adjectives take an extra e when theyre placed before nouns and a definite article is placed before

them in the nominative:

German AdjectivesMasculine: (schnell/ fast): der schnelle Tiger (the fast tiger).

Feminine: (jung/ young): die junge Dame (the young lady).

Neuter: (klug/ smart): das kluge Kind (the smart child).

Plural: (gut/ good): sie sind gute Bcher (theyre good books).

For all the rest of the cases (accusative, dative and genitive) adjectives ending take en in the masculine, ande in the feminine and neuter.

Accusative: Ich habe den schnellen Tiger gesehen (I have seen the fast tiger), Ich habe die junge Dame gesehen.(I have seen the young lady).

The same thing happens with dative and genitive where the adjective take en in the masculine, and e in thefeminine/ neuter/plural.

Remember that this happens only when we add a definite article der, die, das (the) or the pronouns dieser (this),jener (that), solcher (such), jeder (each), welcher (which).

The plural ending for these weak adjectives is en in ALL cases (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive),which is good news.

Ich habe die schnellen Katzen gesehen (I have seen the fast cats).

Ich habe die jungen Damen gesehen (I have seen the young ladies).

Adjectives proceeded by the indefinitearticles (ein/ eine/ ein) or the pronouns such as mein (my, mine), sein(his) kein (no) have an irregular declension:

Adjetives in Germansingular masculine feminine neuternominative ein guter Mann eine schne Rose ein altes Buch


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accusative einen guten Mann eine schne Rose ein altes Buchdative einem guten Mann einer schnen Rose einem alten Buchgenitive eines guten Mannes einer schnen Rose eines alten Buches

The plural endings for strong adjectives are the same for all three genders:

Plural adjectivesnominative keine guten Mnneraccusative keine guten Mnnerdative keinen guten Mnnerngenitive keiner guten Mnner

Below is a list of some common adjectives in German, theyre in their original form, so theyre not yet

influenced by any other cases like (accusative, dative, and genitive), so take that into consideration when you putthese adjectives in a non nominative case.

For example: Er ist schnell (he is fast). (but) Er ist ein schneller Mann.(note how in the first setences theadjective schnell wasnt influenced by anything and therefore stayed in its original form, but in the secondexample ein made it take er at the end). The same thing may occur to the adjectives below:

List of German Adjectivesambitious ehrgeizigAmerican Amerikanerannoying rgerlichbad schlechtbeautiful schn

big, large groblonde blondineboring langweiligbrave tapfercareless unbesonnencautious vorsichtigcertain bestimmtcharming charmantcheerful frhlichChinese Chinesischconceited eingebildetconventional herkmmlich

coward feiglingcrazy, nuts verrckt, Nssecruel grausamdifficult schwierigdisagreeable unangenehmdull, boring dumm, langweiligeasy leichtEnglish Englischfake unechtfat Fettfew, a little wenige, ein wenig

French Franzsischfrequent hufigfriendly freundlich


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fun, amusing lustig, amsantfunny komisch, komischgeneral Generalgenerous grozgigGerman Deutschgood guthandsome hbschhard-working fleiighigh, tall hoch, hochhonest ehrlichintelligent intelligentinteresting interessantkind Artlaid-back entspannendlazy faullittle, small wenig, kleinlow, short niedrig, kurz

mean niedrigmodest bescheidenmoody launischnaive naivnarrow-minded engstirnignew neunice (person) nettold altperfect vollkommenpersonal Persnlicherpious frommpolite hflich

poor schlechtpossible mglichpretty ziemlichproud stolzrapid, fast schnell, schnellrealistic realistischrecent neureliable zuverlssigrich reichsad jmmerlichselfish egoistischsensitive empfindlichshy schchternsilly, dumb dumm, stummskinny dnnslender, slim schlankslow langsamsmall kleinSpanish Spanischstrict strengstrong starkstubborn strrischtalkative gesprchig

trustworthy vertrauenswrdigugly hsslich


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various verschiedenweak schwachweird unheimlichwhite weiyoung jung

Vocabulary

These German expressions are commonly used in the everyday life of Germans, so theymight help you a lot if you understand them and memorize them, we will add more

expressions soon, so please check for updates later. German is a deep sea, but if you focus

mainly on the things you might need most in your daily life, then you will be able to take part

in daily life conversations with little effort, and below is an example of the smart learning

strategy, which exists throughout our website. Enjoy!

Wie heien Sie? (What's your name?),

Ich heie Speak7 , Mein Name ist Speak7 (my name is Speak7 ),

Wie bitte? (I'm sorry, literally: how please?),

Wie gehts? (How is it going? how are things going with you?),

Es geht, und Ihnen? (things are going okay, how about you? It's the answer to "Wie geht's")

Danke, gut! Good, thanks (literally: Thanks, good)

Tsch (bye)

Woher kommen Sie? (Where are you from?)

Ich komme aus Marokko. (I'm from Morocco)

Wo wohnen Sie? (Where do you live?)

Wo ist das? (Where is that?)

Ich verstehe nicht (I don't understand)

Oh, Entschuldigung! (Oh sorry)

Macht nichts (don't worry about it, .or., it's okay)

Danke schn (Thanks a lot)


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Es tut mir leid (I'm sorry)

Was machen Sie? (What do you do?)

Was sind Sie von Beruf? (What do you do for a living?)

Ich bin ... (I'm a "your job")

Ich meine. (I mean.)

Wirklich? (Really?)

Ich bin in Frankfurt geboren (I was born in Frankfurt)

Ich bin verheiratet (I.m married)

Ich bin solo (I'm single)

Ja, richtig (yes that's true, or that's correct)

Das stimmt! (exactly!)

Das stimmt nicht (that's not true)

Ich spreche mit einem Akzent (I speak with an accent)

Was ist das? (What is that?)

Sie sprechen zu schnell fr mich (you.re speaking too fast for me)

Was ist los? (What is going on?)

Gar nichts (nothing at all)

Warum nicht? (Why not?)

Wie spt ist es? (What time is it?)

Zehn vor sieben (6:50), zwanzig nach fnf(5:20), viertel vor zehn (9:45)

Kommst du mit? (Are you coming along?)

Kann ich Sie duzen? (Can I use the informal form used in German with you?)

Hier kann man viel Geld ausgeben (you can spend a lot of money here; note that "man" here

means "people, you, one...")


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Ich schlage vor, wir gehen ins Kino (I suggest, we go to the movies/ cinema)

Wie lange leben Sie schon hier? (How long have you been living here?)

Wie finden Sie Amerika? (How do you like the U.S?)

Ich habe in Amerika Deutsch gelernt (I learned German in the U.S)

Er hat Sie verstanden (he understood you).

Wie gro ist es? (How big is it?)

Wie viel kostet das? (How much is it?)

Das ist sehr wichtig (it's very important)

Haben Sie Geschwister/ Kinder? (Do you have sisters/ kids?)

Knnen Sie mir helfen? (Can you help me?)

Haben Sie eine Nachricht? (Do you have a message for me?)

Legen Sie nicht auf(don't hang up! "On the phone")

Was kann ich fr Sie tun? (What can I do for you?)

Sag mal! (Tell me!)

Jeden Tag studiere ich Deutsch (every day I study German)

Um wie viel Uhr...? (At what time ...?)

Bis wann? (Till what time?)

Morgen, Nachmittag, Abend (morning, afternoon, evening)

Wann kommen Sie heute? (When are you coming today?)

Von neun bis sechs (from nine to six)

Das wei ich nicht (I don't know about that)

Noch nicht (not yet)

Also, bis dann! (So, see you!)

Toll! (Wow, "or" Awesome!)


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Mach schnell! (Hurry up!)

Was haben Sie heute Abend vor? (Do you have any plans for this evening?)

Ich kann Deutsch nur lesen und schreiben, aber nicht sprechen (I can only read and writeGerman, but cannot speak it)

Darf ich hereinkommen? (Can I come in?)

Ja, natrlich, kommen Sie bitte! (Of course, come in please!)

Nehmen Sie doch bitte Platz! Mgen Sie etwas trinken? (Have a seat, would you like todrink something?)

Nein, danke, ich will nicht lange bleiben (no, thanks, I will not stay for long)

Darf ich etwas fragen? (Can I ask you something?)

Morgen habe ich wieder Freizeit (tomorrow I have free time again)

Was fehlt Ihnen? (What's wrong? are you okay?)

Auf keinen Fall (by no means)

Auf jeden Fall (by all means)

Viel Erfolg (good luck!)

Please note that the translation provided next to each ofGerman expressions is not a literaltranslation but the whole meaning of the expression, for example Was fehlt Ihnen literally

means whats missing you but usually used to express whats wrong or are you okay.

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