Verben und Pronomen

Einheit 1 (Kapitel 1: Hallo! und Kapitel 2: Wie geht’s?)

What are Pronouns?

• Read the dialogue below:

Anna: Do you know my brother, Axel?Hans: Yes, I know Axel! I lent Axel my book.Anna: Axel told me. I read that book last week.Hans: That’s great! I like that book.

• Which nouns (people, places, or things) appear more than once in this dialogue?

What are Pronouns?

Anna: Do you know my brother, Axel?Hans: Yes, I know Axel! I lent Axel my book.Anna: Axel told me. I read that book last week.Hans: That’s great! I like that book.

• Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns that have already been mentioned in a conversation. Think about how this conversation could be made less repetitive...

What are Pronouns?

Anna: Do you know my brother, Axel?Hans: Yes, I know him! I lent him my book.Anna: He told me. I read it last week.Hans: That’s great! I like it.

What are Pronouns?• In English, there are six categories of pronouns (see

English Grammar for Students of German page 23):– There are singular pronouns (that refer to only one person

or thing) and plural pronouns (that refer to multiple people or things).

– Pronouns are also divided by person:• First person refers to the person who is talking (either

just the one person, I, or the person who is talking and a group that he or she is included in, we).• Second person refers to the person or people who are

being talked to, you or you all/ you guys.• Third person refers to the person or people or thing or

things that are being talked about (he, she, it, or they).

What are Pronouns?Singular Plural

1st Person I we

2nd Person you you (you guys, you all)

3rd Person he / she / it they

Singular Plural

1st Person ich wir

2nd Person du (Sie)* ihr (Sie)*

3rd Person er / sie / es sie

*The words du and ihr are the informal forms of address, and the word Sie is used in formal situations for both singular and plural.

German Pronouns:some things to know

• There are three ways to express the word you in German:– Du refers to one person. It is informal (i.e., you can use it

to address classmates, friends, or family members).– Ihr refers to more than one person. It is also informal.– Sie can be plural or singular, but it is formal (i.e., you use it

to address people in formal situations, like a boss or a professor).

• The third-person plural pronoun in English is they. Its German equivalent is sie. The formal word for you, however is also Sie, written with a capital S.– For more information about du, ihr, and Sie, see pages 10-

11 in Berliner Platz Neu, and pages 24-25 in English Grammar for Students of German.

German Pronouns: some things to know

• In English, we use the gendered pronouns he and she to refer only to people. When we talk about inanimate objects, we use the neuter pronoun it.

• In German, since all nouns have gender (i.e., der Computer is masculine, das Haus is neuter, and die Sprache is feminine), we use gendered pronouns to refer to them:– Der Computer ist neu. Er ist fantastisch.– Das ist mein Haus. Es ist schön.– Ich lerne eine neue Sprache. Sie ist interessant.

Pronomen: jetzt sind Sie dran!

• Fill in the blanks with the correct third-person pronoun.

1. -Wie ist deine Adresse?-_____ ist Schmidtstraße 22.

2. Hans hat ein neues Handy. _____ ist sehr klein.

3. -Wie heißt der Ort?-_____ heißt Hamburg.

SieEs

Er

Why is Person important?

• The subject is the person or thing who is doing the action (the verb) in the sentence.

• The verb is conjugated (its ending is changed) to agree with the person of the subject.

• To read more about conjugating verbs, see pages 29 and 46 in English Grammar for Students of German.

That’s the difference between

I go (first person singular) and he goes (third person singular)

Conjugating Verbs

• When you look up verbs, you’ll find the infinitive form. They end with –en. In English, infinitive forms look like this:

English Germanto come kommen

to ask fragento hear hörento drink trinkento write schreiben

Conjugating Verbs• To conjugate a German verb, remove the infinitive

suffix (-en). What’s left is called the stem.• Look at the subject (who or what is VERB-ing?) and

figure out its number (singular or plural?) and its person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd?).

• Then choose the correct suffix that agrees with the subject, and add it to the stem.

kommenichone person = singularthe person who’s talking = 1st person

Conjugating Verbs

• Once again, to conjugate the verb:– Figure out the verb stem.– Figure out number and person of the subject.– Choose the correct suffix and add it to the stem.

Singular Plural

1st Person ich komm - e wir komm - en

2nd Person du komm - st ihr komm - t

3rd Person er / sie / es komm - t sie komm - en

kommenichone person = singularthe person who’s talking = 1st person

eKOMME

Conjugating Verbs

• Even though the pronoun Sie (you formal) is a second-person pronoun, verbs are conjugated like the third-person plural (sie, which means they).

• Formal form of address:– Woher kommen Sie? Wie heißen Sie?

Singular Plural

1st Person ich komm - e wir komm - en

2nd Person du komm - st ihr komm - t

3rd Person er / sie / es komm - t sie komm - en

Conjugating Verbs• Conjugate the verbs in parentheses to fill in

the blank in each sentence:1. Ich ___________ (heißen) Susanna, und

meine zwei Brüder ___________ (heißen) Mark und Hans.

2. Hans ___________ (kommen) aus Wien, Österreich.

3. Ich und mein Freund ___________ (trinken) zusammen Kaffee.

heißeheißen

kommt

trinken

Careful! Ich + mein Freund = wir (just like in English, I + another person = we)

Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions

• Some verbs are conjugated differently because they contain sounds that ‘clash’ with the conjugation suffixes.

• For example, the verb heißen (to be called) has a stem that ends with an ‘s’ sound, so it ‘clashes’ with the du suffix (-st). Because of that, heißen and other verbs whose stems end in ‘s’ are conjugated like this:

Singular Plural

1st Person ich heiß - e wir heiß - en

2nd Person du heiß - t ihr heiß - t

3rd Person er / sie / es heiß - t sie heiß - en

Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions• Some verbs are conjugated differently because they

contain sounds that ‘clash’ with the conjugation suffixes.• For example, the verb antworten (to answer) has a stem

that ends with a ‘t’ sound, so it ‘clashes’ with the du suffix (-st), the er/sie/es suffix (-t), and the ihr suffix (-t). Because of that, antworten and other verbs whose stems end in ‘t’ or ‘d’ are conjugated like this:

Singular Plural

1st Person ich antwort - e wir antwort - en

2nd Person du antwort – e - st ihr antwort – e - t

3rd Person er / sie / es antwort – e- t sie antwort - en

Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions

• Some verbs, such as nehmen (to take) and sprechen (to speak) have stems that change vowels. Their suffixes for conjugation are normal, but their stems change in the du and er/sie/es forms:

Singular Plural

1st Person ich nehm - e wir nehm - en

2nd Person du nimm - st ihr nehm - t

3rd Person er / sie / es nimm - t sie nehm - en

Singular Plural

1st Person ich sprech - e wir sprech - en

2nd Person du sprich - st ihr sprech - t

3rd Person er / sie / es sprich - t sie sprech - en

Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions

• The verb form möchten (would like) is part of a special set of verbs that you will learn more about later. Möchten and verbs like it have the same conjugation suffixes for ich and for er/sie/es.

Singular Plural

1st Person ich möcht - e wir möcht - en

2nd Person du möcht - st ihr möcht - t

3rd Person er / sie / es möcht - e sie möcht - en

Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions• Two of the most common verbs in German (haben,

‘to have’, and sein, ‘to be’) just plain don’t conjugate like you expect them to. We use them frequently enough that it is a good idea to memorize their forms.

Singular Plural

1st Person ich habe wir haben

2nd Person du hast ihr habt

3rd Person er / sie / es hat sie haben

Singular Plural

1st Person ich bin wir sind

2nd Person du bist ihr seid

3rd Person er / sie / es ist sie sind

Conjugating Verbs• Read the dialogue between Hans and Anna, and conjugate the verbs in

parentheses. Remember, most verbs follow the same pattern as you learned for ‘kommen’.

Hans: Guten Tag! Mein Name ist Hans. Wie _____________ (heißen) du?Anna: Ich _____________ (heißen) Anna. Woher _____________ (kommen) du, Hans?Hans: Ich _____________ (kommen) aus Wien, in Österreich, aber ich _____________ (wohnen, to live) in Berlin.Anna: Wie schön! Und was _____________ (machen, to do) du in Berlin?Hans: Mein Bruder und* ich _____________ (studieren) beide hier an der Freien Universität.Anna: Wie interessant! Und was _____________ (studieren) ihr?Hans: Ich _____________ (studieren) Psychologie, und mein Bruder Mark _____________ (studieren) Medizin.Anna: Ich _____________ (studieren) auch Psychologie! Welche Kurse _____________ (nehmen) du?

heißtheiße kommst

kommewohne

machststudieren

studiertstudiere

studiertstudiere

nimmst