German grammar
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Numbers
eins
1, only used when nothing follows, otherwiseein
,zwei
2,drei
3,vier
4,fu=nf
5,sechs
6,sieben
7,acht
8,neun
9,zehn
10,elf
11,zwo=lf
12.um eins schwimme ich
at one I swim.um ein Uhr schwimme ich
at one o'clock I swim.ich habe eine Tochter
I have one daughter.
- Germans use a 24-hour clock.
Cases
- most words other than verbs have cases: nouns, pronouns, determiners, adjectives
- nominative - subject of a sentence
- accusative - the thing or person directly receiving the action
der mann sieht den Ball
the man sees the ball.- only the
der
masculine forms different from nominative - there's a group of masculine nouns ends with
-e
likeder Junge, der Name
adds an-n
when in the accusative
Dative
- a group of verbs will change the receiver of the action into dative,
danken, folgen, geho=ren, helfen
.ich danke der Frau
ihr helft ihm
gehen, sein
sometimes make things dative when talking about how people feelmeinem Kind ist schlecht
my child is not feeling well.den Kindern geht es gut
the children are well.
- use dative after
aus, mit, zu
. - say something
in, hinter, zwischen
.
m | |
---|---|
n | ein |
a | einen |
d |
the | m | f | n | pl |
---|---|---|---|---|
n | der |
die |
das |
die |
a | den |
die |
das |
die |
d | dem |
der |
dem |
den |
Nouns
- all capitalized
Genders
- nouns of 3 genders with indefinite and definite articles
- m nouns for people with
-e
-Mann
. - n
-chen
meaning little "-let" in English -Ma=dchen
girl. - f words for concrete things,
-er
-Frau
, usually words ending with-e, -ung
.
- m nouns for people with
- verb turned nouns -> stem
-ung
f .die Wohnung
the apartment,die Reservierung
the reservation,die Rechnung
the bill, invoice.
- quantity can be added before the noun
eine Tasse Tee
one cup of tea.ein Glas Milch
one glass of milk.
- for people, the grammatical gender generally corresponds to the person's gender.
Freund
male friend.Freundin
female friend.
Plurals
- Plural forms are irregular, with patterns like nouns ending in
-e
always have a plural ending in-en
.- not depend on what gender the singular form is, and all take the definite article
die
in nominative case - feminine nouns add
-n
usually
- not depend on what gender the singular form is, and all take the definite article
gemu=se
is used as a mass nouns, grammatically singular.
Compound words
- consist of 2 or more words, written as one words with no spaces in between, gender determined by the last element.
die Autobahn
the highway
- sometimes, a connecting sound between 2 elements
der Orangensaft
the orange juice.das Hundefutter
the dog food.die Liebeslied
love song.der Tagesgericht
dish of the day.
Articles
- definite articles matters
ich mag Brot
I like bread, in general.ich mag das Brot
I like the bread, specific.
m | f, p | n | |
---|---|---|---|
the | der |
die |
das |
this | dieser |
diese |
dieses |
which | welcher |
welche |
welches |
mine | meiner |
meine |
meines |
yours | deiner |
deine |
deines |
his/its | seiner |
seine |
seines |
hers/theirs | ihrer |
ihre |
ihres |
- generally, feminine and plural end in
-e
, masculine in-er
, neuter in-es
. diese Tasche is deine
this bag is yours.die Lampen sind meine
these lamps are mine.Hier ist einer
here is one!Welcher Computer ist meiner
which computer is mine?das Handy ist deines
that cellphone is yours.der Computer is ihrer
the computer is hers/theirs.das Handy ist seines, iheres
the cellphone is his its, hers theirs.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
ich
;du
;er
[iir],sie, es
;wir
;ihr
[air];sie
.
Possessive pronoun
nm, nn; an | nf, np; af, ap | am | |
---|---|---|---|
a/an | ein |
eine |
einen |
no | kein |
keine |
keinen |
my | mein |
meine |
meinen |
your singular | dein |
deine |
deinen |
his/its | sein |
seine |
seinen |
her/their | ihr |
ihre |
ihren |
our | unser |
unsere |
unseren |
your plural | euer |
eure |
euren |
- different endings depend on the word they are paired with
meine Mutter ist hier
.mein Mann ist hier
.
Politeness
Sie
upper case, polite you, for people you don't know well.Herr
Mr. orFrau
Mrs. can be used to show politenessguten Tag
.
Man
one, you as in mankind, and the grammar follows er
he.
man kann hier tanzen
one can dance here.man braucht ein Ticket
one needs a ticket.
Verbs
Present Tense
ich; du; er, sie, es; wir; sie; ihr
.wie, sie
forms usually have the same endingihr
form is "the stem same with the infinitive"-t
, different from theer, sie, es
form where stems change
- regular verb conjugation in present tense - identify the stem of the verb and add the ending corresponding to the grammatical personas
trinken{trinke, trinkst, trinkt, trinken}
to drink.lernen{lerne, lernst, lernt, lernen, lernt}
to learn.
- irregular conjugation
sein{bin, bist, ist, sind}
to be.ko=nnen{kann, kannst, kann, ko=nnen}
to be able to, can.mo=gen{mag, magst, mag, mo=gen}
to like, may.
haben{habe, hast, hat, haben, habt}
to have, only meaning possession.ich habe Hunger, Durst, Recht, Angst
I am hungry, thirsty, right, afraid.
- vowel change in forms of
du; er, sie, es
formslesen{lese liest, liest}
to read.sprechen{spreche, sprichst, spricht}
to speak.fahren{fahre, fa=hrst, fa=hrt, fahren, fahrt}
to drive.sehen{sehe, siehst, sieht}
to see.schlafen{schlafe, schla=fst, schla=ft}
sleep.isst
[ist], pronounced the same as "ist".
- no continuous aspect am doing something.
- can talk about future using present tense
ich gehe morgen ins Theater
I go to the theatre tomorrow.
- verbs like pick up or bring long, the two parts stay together as one word.
mein Bruder will Luftballons mitbringen
bring along.wer bringt den Kuchen mit
who is bringing the cake along.
Past Tense
sein{war, warst, war, waren, wart}
to be.ich war gestern im Theater
I were yesterday at the theater -> I went to the theater yesterday.
haben{hatte, hattest, hatte, hatten, hattet}
to have.hattest du Spas=
did you have fun?
Adjectives
su=s=
sweet for food, cute for living beings.
Comparatives
- usually the
-er
ending - one-syllable adjectives get an umlaut
- if the adj ends in
-er, -el, -en
drop the-e
before adding-er
.
The Most
- add
-ste
to the adjectives, or-este
if the letter before is a vowel; further match with the noun's gender and case.das ist der ho=chste Berg der Welt
the world's highest mountain.das sind die neuesten Daten
the newest dates.
Adverbs
gern~e~
like the attribute of oft
.
ich gehe gern ins Theater
I like to go to the theater.
Sentence structure
ich
(subject) trinke
(verb) oft
(everything else) Tee
(complement).
- the complement rest of a verb goes to the very end of the sentence
- including the 2nd verb
nicht
goes before the 2nd verb
- everything else goes between the verb in position 2 and the complement.
- put the words describing when something happens right after the ver.
ich komme auch, nicht aus Japan
I also don't come from Japan.- yes or no questions require the verb to be in front of the subject, and doesn't require the auxiliary verb "do" in German.
- flexible structure due to the case inflection.
das Ma=dchen hat den Apfel
the girl has the apple.den Apfel hat das Ma=dchen
.
- the verb always has to be in position 2, if something other than the subject takes position 1, the subject will move after the verb.
normalerweise trinke ich Wasser
.ich schwimme am Montag oft
I swim often on Mondays.am Montag schwimme ich oft
on Monday, I often swim.
Prepositions
im (in dem)
used with m. and n. words; inside; used for months and seasons.
ich bin im Theater
I am inside the theater.im Juli, im Winter
.
zum
used with m. and n. words
ins (in das)
ich gehe ins Theater
I go into the theater.
am
to say which day something is happening
Conjunction
das ist *kein Mann, sondern eine Frau*
this is not a man, but a woman.ich komme aus China, *aber ich lebe in Japan*
I come from China, but I live in Japan.ich komme nicht aus China, aber spreche Chinesisch
.
Negation
keine, kein
not a, no; works likeein
das ist kein Haus
that is not a house.
nicht
not.das ist nicht mein Haus
that is not my house.
nein
no.
Question
Yes or No Questions
Verstehst du das
do you understand this?
Wer
who, inflect based on 4 cases.
- nominative
wer sitzt da
who is sitting there?
- accusative
wen siehst du
whom do you see?ich sehe den Sohn
I see the son.
- dative
wem hast du den Apfel gegeben
to whom did you give the apple?dem Mann
m,dem Kind
n.
- genitive
wessen Schuhe sind das
whose shoes are these; likedes
"of the"?das sind, die Schuhe, des Jungen
Was
what.
- nominative & accusative
wer oder was
?wem oder was
?
- dative:
wo~r~
+prep that verbs takean etwas denken
:woran denkt er
about what is he thinking?hingehen
:wohin geht sie
to what place is she going?
- genitive:
wessen ist sie schuldig
what is she guilty of?
Wo
where, place, Wohin
where, ask for a direction someone or something moves, can be separated.
wo ist mein Schuh
where is my shoe?wohin kommt dieser Wein
where does this wine go?wo ist mein Schuh hin
where did my shoe go?
Wann
- when, doesn't inflect; can be used in conjunction with seit
since, or bis
till.
seit wann haben Sie fu=r Herrn Mu=ller gearbeitet
since when have you been working for Mr. Mu=ller?bis wann geht der Film
till when does the movie last?
why - warum, wieso, weshalb
.
warum, wieso, weshalb ist das Auto so alt
why, why, why is that car so old?