BASIC
GRAMMAR
GUIDE TO
GERMAN
INDEX
German Alphabet……………………………………………………………………………………Page 3
Sentence Structure…………………………………………..…………………………………Pages 4-8
Verb Tenses………………………………………………………………………………………Pages 8-11
Conjunctions…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 12
Prepositions……………………………………………………..……………………………………Page 13
Cases………………………………………………………………………………………………Pages 14-17
German Alphabet:
The German Alphabet has the 26 standard letters found in the English alphabet plus four letters that are specific to German.
Alphabet
LETTER GERMAN NAME LETTER GERMAN NAME a ah p peh
b beh q kuh
c tseh r err d deh s ess
e eh t teh f eff u uh
g geh v fau h hah w veh
i ih x iks
j yot y üppsilon k kah z tsett
l ell ä äh m emm ö öh
n enn ü üh
o oh ß ess-tsett
Sentence Structure:
There are three basic sentence types in German:
1. Declarative Sentences (Statements) 2. Interrogative Sentences (Questions) 3. Imperative Sentences (Commands)
Statements:
Simple Tenses – In statements in the simple present or simple past tense, the verb is in the second position, preceded by the subject and followed by the object or other sentence parts. The subject is usually a noun or pronoun.
Example:
SUBJECT CONJUGATED VERB OTHER SENTENCE PARTS
Der Mann ist unser Lehrer. Das Mädchen hat einen Pullover.
Der Mann ist unser Lehrer. ‘The man is our teacher.’ Das Mädchen hat einen Pullover. ‘The Girl has a sweater.’
The subject of sentences are known by this:
Ich I
Du You
Er/sie/es He/She/It
Wir We
Ihr You (plural)
Sie/Sie You (Formal)/They
Compound Tenses – In statements containing compound tenses, the conjugated verb is in the second position. The dependent infinitive (I will help him), or the past participle (His sister has bought the book for him)
Example:
SUBJECT CONJUGATED VERB
OTHER SENTENCE PARTS
INFINITIVE OR PAST PARTICIPLE
Ich werde ihm helfen.
Seine Schwester
hat ihm das Buch gekauft.
Ich werde ihm helfen. ‘I will help him.’ Seine Schwester hat ihm das Buch gekauft. ‘His sister bought him the book.’
Separable Prefixes – In Simple Tenses, the prefix is separated from the verb and it then occurs in the final position.
SUBJECT CONJUGATED VERB
OTHER SENTENCE PARTS
PREFIX
Wir gehen jeden Sonntag spazieren.
Die Studenten
kamen mit dem Zug an.
Wir gehen jeden Sonntag spazieren. ‘We go walking every Sunday.’ Die Studenten kamen mit dem Zug an. ‘The students came on the bus.’
spazierengehen = to walk ankommen = to come on
Questions:
Specific Questions – They are questions that ask for particular information. This type of questions is introduced using an interrogative word:
Wann? When? Warum? Why?
Wo? Where? Wie? How?
Was? What?
Wer? Who? Wieso? How so?
Example:
INTERROGATIVE QUESTION
CONJUGATED VERB
SUBJECT OTHER SENTENCE PARTS
Wann hat das Konzert begonnen?
Wo ist ihre Mutter gegangen?
Wann hat das Konzert begonnen? ‘When did the concert begin?’ Wo ist ihre Mutter gegangen? ‘Where has your Mom gone?’
General Questions – They are questions that ask whether something is true or false. They can be answered by ja yes or nein no. You use the conjugated verb as the start of the question.
Examples:
Kennst du meine Freundin? ‘Do you know my girlfriend?’ Wirst du ihn dort treffen? ‘Will you meet with him there?’
Commands:
The imperative verb is the first element of commands in German. There are 3 types of imperative commands:
1. Commands in the second-person singular (du) 2. Commands in the second-person plural (ihr) 3. Formal Commands (Sie)
Command = Verb (+ Subject)(+ Other sentence parts)! Note: Imperative commands must always end with an exclamation mark.
‘Du’ Command Examples:
Mach auf! Open up! Geh ins Kino! Go in the cinema!
With the first example ‘aufmachen’ it is a separable verb with auf + machen, therefore when you use an imperative for a singular person you use the du stem of ‘mach’ and send the separable part of the verb to the end of the command.
When forming a ‘du’ command, use the stem from the du verb so e.g.
Du gehst = You therefore drop the ‘st’ and it forms the command, which is Geh!
‘Ihr’ Command Examples:
Macht auf! Open up! Geht ins Kino! Go in the cinema!
When forming an ‘ihr’ command:
Ihr geht = You (plural) go, therefore the verb and command stay the same in the ‘ihr’ command.
‘Sie’ Command Examples:
Machen Sie auf! Open up!
Gehen Sie ins Kino! Go in the cinema!
When forming a ‘Sie’ command:
Sie gehen = They go/You go (formal), therefore when forming a Sie command swap the verb infinitive with Sie to form the command.
Verb Tenses:
There a four basic tenses with German verbs and sentence structure:
1. Present 2. Simple Past 3. Future Tense 4. Auxiliary Verbs
Present:
In German, with the present tense, you use the infinitive stem of the verb and then the present tense personal ending.
Examples of infinitive and stem:
INFINITIVE INFINITIVE STEM
Denken to think denk- Singen to sing sing-
Machen to do mach-
Examples of present tense personal ending:
Ich denke singe mache
Du denkst singst machst Er/sie/es denkt singt macht
Wir denken singen machen
Ihr denkt singt macht Sie/sie denken singen machen
Note: e,st,t,en,t,en like est ten ten to helps you remember the personal ending for the verb endings.
Some present verbs change vowels in the stem of the present tense in the second (du) and third person singular (er/sie/es) forms.
Example:
Ich fahre (to drive) laufe (to run) Du fährst läufst
Er/sie/es fährt läuft Wir fahren laufen
Ihr fahrt lauft
Sie/sie fahren laufen
Simple Past Tense:
In the simple past tense, there are weak verbs and strong verbs. Weak verbs follow a certain pattern, while the strong verbs also do but is slightly different.
Weak Verbs = Infinitive stem + Past tense marker –te + Personal ending
Ich bestellte machte
Du bestelltest machtest Er/sie/es bestellte machte
Wir bestellten machten Ihr bestelltet machtet
Sie/sie bestellten machten
Strong Verbs = Past Tense stem + Personal ending
Ich blieb (bleiben=to stay) ging (gehen=to go)
Du bliebst gingst Er/sie/es blieb ging
Wir blieben gingen
Ihr bliebt gingt Sie/sie blieben gingen
Future Tense:
The future tense is formed with the auxiliary verb werden (to become/will) plus the infinitive verb. The infinitive verb is at the end of the sentence.
Future Tense = Present tense of werden + infinitive
Ich werde Du wirst
Er/sie/es wird Wir werden
Ihr werdet
Sie/sie werden
Examples:
Wir werden einen Hund kaufen. ‘We will buy a dog.’ Ich werde jetzt gehen. ‘I will go now.’ Auxiliary Verbs:
They are helping verbs which are haben (to have), werden (to become/will), sein (to be)
Ich habe
Du hast Er/sie/es hat
Wir haben
Ihr habt Sie/sie haben
Ich bin Du bist
Er/sie/es ist Wir sind
Ihr seid Sie/sie sind
Haben is the only verb which follows the correct verb form, while werden is an irregular verb as the ‘du’ and ‘er/sie/es’ form change. The sein form is all irregular and must be learnt completely off by heart.
Ich werde Du wirst
Er/sie/es wird
Wir werden Ihr werdet
Sie/sie werden
Conjunctions:
A conjunction is a connecting word which connects two clauses together. There are two types of conjunctions:
Coordinating Conjunctions – In German, coordinating conjunctions link words, phrases and clauses that are parallel or equal and have no effect on the word order.
Subordinating Conjunctions – Subordinating conjunctions introduce a dependent clause which become a part of the sentence, therefore the conjunction makes the verb go to the end in the clause that is introduced.
COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
Examples: Look at the video lecture on conjunctions for examples of each conjunction, giving you greater depth and understanding of the conjunctions.
und and
sondern but (in the contrary)
oder or
denn because aber but
als when
bevor before
bis until nachdem after
während during damit so that
dass that
ob whether, if obwohl although
seit since weil because
wenn when, whenever wann when
Prepositions:
Prepositions are words that, in combination with a noun (or pronoun) show positions, direction, time, or manner.
In German the prepositions can be followed by the accusative case or the dative case, depending on whether they are used with verbs that indicate motion or change of positions, or with verbs that indicate location or position.
Accusative Prepositions:
Dative Prepositions:
Examples: Look at the video lecture on prepositions for examples of each preposition, giving you greater depth and understanding of the prepositions.
bis by, until
durch through
entlang along für for
gegen against ohne without
um around
aus out of, from außer except (for), besides
bei with (at the home of), at, near mit with
nach after
seit since von from, by, of, about
zu to gegenüber across
Cases:
A case signals how a noun is used within a sentence, clause or phrase. In German there are 3 main cases used:
1. Nominative Case 2. Accusative Case 3. Dative Case
Note: There is also another case, known as the Genitive Case but it isn’t used in spoken German as much.
In German, as in English there is a definite article and an indefinite article:
The definite article (der, die, das) is used to refer to a particular or specific person, place or thing.
E.g Der Arzt hat viele Patienten. ‘The Doctor has many patients.’
The indefinite article (ein, eine, ein) is used to refer to an unspecified person, place or thing.
E.g Ein Arzt hat viele Patienten. ‘A Doctor has many patients.’
The (der, die, das) words are known as genders and each word in German has a gender. ‘Der’ is a masculine word, ‘die’ is a feminine word and ‘das’ is a neuter word.
Nominative Case:
The Nominative Case is simply the noun or subject of the start of the sentence.
SINGULAR PLURAL
MASCULINE NEUTER FEMININE ALL GENDERS Definite Article
der das die die
Indefinite Article
ein ein eine (no plural)
Examples:
Der Mann spielt Golf. ‘The man plays Golf.’ Die Freundin kommt. ‘The girlfriend is coming.’ Das Auto ist neu. ‘The car is new.’ Die Autos sind neu. ‘The cars are new.’ Die Kinder weinen. ‘The children are crying.’
Accusative Case:
The accusative case is simply the direct object of the sentence.
SINGULAR PLURAL
MASCULINE NEUTER FEMININE ALL GENDERS Definite Article
den das die die
Indefinite Article
einen ein eine (no plural)
In the Accusative Case, the ‘der’ word is the only word which changes to ‘den’ while the rest stay the same.
Examples:
Wir kaufen die Zeitung. ‘We are buying the newspaper.’ Wir kaufen den Wagen. ‘We are buying the car.’ Kennst du das Drama? ‘Do you know the drama?’ Ich habe die Bücher. ‘I have the books.’
The accusative case is also used with prepositions as discussed previously, however here are some more examples of the accusative case with prepositions:
Ich gehe gern ohne meine Mutter. ‘I go well without my mom.’ Ich gehe durch den Sturm. ‘I go through the storm.’
Dative Case: The Dative Case is used as the indirect object of the verb. The person or animal to whom something is given, shown, or told is in the dative case.
SINGULAR PLURAL MASCULINE NEUTER FEMININE ALL GENDERS
Definite Article
dem dem der den
Indefinite Article
einem einem einer (no plural)
Examples:
Ich hole dem Hund das Futter. ‘I am getting the dog the food.’
In this example, ‘dem Hund’ is in the dative case and ‘das Futter’ is in the accusative case.
Er kauft der Frau die Karte. ‘He is buying the ticket for the woman.’
In this example, ‘der Frau’ is in the dative case and ‘die Karte’ is in the accusative case.
The Dative case can also be used with dative verbs. There are only a certain amount of verbs which only take dative objects. These verbs are used with the dative case:
DATIVE VERB EXAMPLE TRANSLATION
antworten to answer
Ich antworte dem Herrn. I answer the gentleman.
danken to thank
Wir danken dem Lehrer. We thank the teacher.
helfen to help
Ich helfe dem Kind. I help the child.
gefallen to like
Der Hut gefällt seiner Frau. His wife likes the hat.
The Dative Case is also used with prepositions as previously discussed, however here are some examples of the dative case with prepositions:
Ich treffe mit meiner Schwester. ‘Ich meet up with my sister.’ Ich gehe zu dem Park. ‘I am going to the Park.’