Was habe ich schon gelernt?
GERMAN GRAMMAR?!?!?
UGH!!!!!!
What do you know about the
parts of a sentence?
Last year the rich gentleman bought his wife a beautiful
house at the beach.
What do we need to know about nouns?
They have a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter)
They sometimes change in the plural
Their articles (and sometimes the noun itself) change
depending on the case
CASE?!?!?!? What do we mean by ‘case’?
German Cases Nominativ – the case of the subject
The boy is 14 years old. (Der Junge ist 14 Jahre alt.)
Akkusativ – the case of the direct objectHe has a brother and a sister.(Er hat einen Bruder und eine Schwester.)
Dativ – the case of the indirect objectHe gave his mother flowers for her
birthday.(Er hat seiner Mutter Blumen zu ihrem
Geburtstag gegeben.) Genitiv – the case of possession
His mother’s name is Erika.(Der Name seiner Mutter ist Erika.)
In German, there are other times when a certain case is needed…
Nominativ
Akkusativ
Dativ Genitiv
-case of the subject
-case of the direct object-following “es gibt”-following Accusative prepositions
-case of the indirect object-following Dative verbs (like gefallen, helfen, danken, gehören, and antworten)-following Dative prepositions
-case of possession-following Genitive prepositions
Prepositions little words… big trouble-makers
Akkusativ
durchfür gegenohneum
Dativausaußerbeimitnachseitvonzu
Two-Wayanauf
hinterin
nebenüberuntervor
zwischen
•These prepositions take Accusative whenmotion is indicated and Dative when location (stationary position) is indicated.
How do the articles (definite and indefinite) change in the four cases?
The definite article “der” and all of the “der-words” are declined like this: “der-words”
dies- (this)
jen- (that)
jed- (each)
manch- (some)
solch- (such)
welch- (which)
alle- (all)
Masculine
Feminine Neuter Plural
N der die das die
A den die das die
D dem der dem den (+n)
G des (+s/es
)
der des (+s/es
)
der
The indefinite article and all of the “ein-words” are declined like this:
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter Plural
N ein eine ein (k)eine
A einen eine ein (k)eine
D einem einer einem (k)einen (+n)
G eines (+s/es
)
einer eines (+s/es
)
(k)einer
ein-words:
kein – no,not a
mein - my
dein – your
sein/ihr/sein – his/her/its
unser - our
euer - your
ihr - their
Ihr - your
Pronouns take the place of nouns. So that means they change in the different cases
too!Personal Pronouns:
Nominativ Akkusativ Dativ1st pers. sg.
ich – I mich – me mir - me
2nd pers. sg.
du - you dich - you dir - you
3rd pers. sg.
er/sie/es –he/she/it
ihn/sie/es – him/her/it
ihm/ihr/ihm – him/her/it1st pers. pl. wir – we uns – us uns - us
2nd pers. pl. ihr – y’all euch – y’all euch – y’all
3rd pers. pl. sie - they sie - them ihnen - them
Formal (sg. and pl.)
Sie - you Sie - you Ihnen - you
What about the Interrogative Pronouns …
Other Interrogatives (question words) are:Wie? - how
Wann? - whenWarum? - why
Was für ein? – what kind ofWo? - where
Wohin? – to whereWoher? – from whereWieviel? – how much
Wie viele? – how many
Nominativ
Akkusativ
Dativ Genitiv
People
Wer? (Who?)
Wen? (Whom?)
Wem? (Whom?)
Wessen? (Whose?)
Things
Was? (What?)
Was? (What?)
---- ----
…and the Reflexive Pronouns?
Akkusativ Dativ
1st pers. sg. mich mir
2nd pers. sg. dich dir
3rd pers. sg. sich sich
1st pers. pl uns uns
2nd pers. pl. euch euch
3rd pers. pl. sich sich
Formal (sg./pl.) sich sich
The Dreaded Adjective EndingIn German, attributive adjectives
(that means adjectives that stand before nouns) take endings that will change
depending upon:
gender,number,case, andwhether they are preceded by a “der-word”, an “ein-word” or
neither
If the adjective is not preceded by a “der-word”
or “ein-word”, it will take the following endings:
Unpreceded Adjective Endings
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
N -er -e -es -e
A -en -e -es -e
D -em -er -em -en
G -en -er -en -er
If the adjective is preceded by a “der-word” it will take the following endings:
Adjective Endings Preceded by “der-words”
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
N -e -e -e -en
A -en -e -e -en
D -en -en -en -en
G -en -en -en -en
If the adjective is preceded by an “ein-word” it will take the following endings:
Adjective Endings Preceded by “ein-words”
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter Plural
N -er -e -es -en
A -en -e -es -en
D -en -en -en -en
G -en -en -en -en
VERBS!!!!! the unconjugated form of the verb is called
the verb infinitive. in a sentence, verbs must be conjugated to
agree with their subjects. The two most important verbs in German are:
haben – to have
ich habe
du hast
er/sie/es hat
wir haben
ihr habt
sie haben
Sie haben
sein – to be
ich bin
du bist
er/sie/es ist
wir sind
ihr seid
sie sind
Sie sind
Another useful group of verbs are the Modal Verbs
Modal verbs are very easy to use, though their conjugations are irregular in the singular. They are conjugated to agree with the subject and are used in conjunction with a verb infinitive like this:
Ich will heute abend ins Kino gehen.
The Modal Verbs you already know are…dürfen – to be allowed to
können – to be able to
müssen – to have to
sollen – to be supposed to
wollen – to want to
mögen – to like
möchten – would like (the subjunctive form of mögen)
dürfen
können
müssen
sollen wollen
mögen
möchten
darf kann muss soll will mag möchte
darfst kannst musst sollst willst magst möchtest
darf kann muss soll will mag möchte
dürfen können
müssen
sollen wollen
mögen
möchten
dürft könnt müsst sollt wollt mögt möchtet
dürfen können
müssen
sollen wollen
mögen
möchten
dürfen können
müssen
sollen wollen
mögen
möchten
Special groups of verbs include:
1. Stem-vowel changing verbs (z.B. essen, lesen)
2. Separable prefix verbs(z.B. aufmachen, mitkommen)
3. Inseparable prefix verbsthe inseparable prefixes are:be- emp- ent- er- ge- ver- zer-
When we talk about verbs, we speak of:
Tense:Present, Simple (or narrative) Past, Conversational Past, Past Perfect, Future, and Future Perfect
Voice:Active or Passive
Mood:Indicative or Subjunctive
The tenses you have learned so far are:
Present: verb stem or -e -enchanged verb stem + -(e)st -(e)t
-(e)t -en -en
Conversational Past:
conjugated form + past participle
of haben or sein (these must be memorized)
Future: conjugated form
of the verb werden + another verb infinitive
Simple (or Narrative) Past
Regular Verbs: -(e)te -(e)tenVerb stem + -(e)test -(e)tet
-(e)te -(e)ten
Irregular Verbs:Changed stem + - -en
-(e)st -(e)t- -en
Mixed Verbs:Changed stem + -te -ten
-test -tet-te -ten
That crazy German Word Order“Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that
is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”
- Mark Twain, American writer and journalist, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
In statements, the verb must always be in the 2nd position!
As long as the verb remains the second sentence element, other
elements in the sentence can be moved around.
Wir spielen heute Fußball.
Heute spielen wir Fußball
Fußball spielen wir heute.
Types of German Word Order
• Normal: Subject - VerbDer Junge hat eine Schwester.
• Inverted: Verb – SubjectHat der Junge eine Schwester?
• Transposed: Verb at the end of the clauseIch weiß nicht, ob der Junge eine Schwester
hat.
TMP: When there are several descriptive expressions in a sentence, they will be arranged in the order: Time, Manner, Place
Conjunctions determine word order in a clause!
Coordinating Conjunctions - do NOT affect word order. They include: aber, denn, oder, und, sondern
z.B. Ich kann am Wochenende nicht ins Kino gehen, denn ich habe kein Geld.
Subordinating Conjunctions – bump the conjugated verb to the end of the clause.They include: als, als ob, bis, damit, daß, bevor, indem, ob, obwohl, seitdem, während, weil, wenn
z.B. Ich kann am Wochenende nicht ins Kino gehen, weil ich kein Geld habe.
What do we still need to learn?
•Subjunctive Mood
•Passive Voice•Relative Clauses
