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German II Tutorial: Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and Grammar

     

Note:  Other words that are formed like mein (my) are:  ein - a/an, dein-your (du form), sein-his/its, ihr-her, unser-our, euer-your (ihr form), ihr-their, Ihr-your (Sie form), and kein-no/not any.

22.  Accusative Case

The accusative case corresponds to direct objects.  Here are the accusative forms of the definite and indefinite articles.  Note that only the masculine changes in this case.

Note:  Some masculine nouns add an -(e)n to the accusative form, such as international nouns ending in -t (Dirigent, Komponist, Patient, Polizist, Soldat, Student, Tourist, Journalist); nouns ending in -e denoting male persons or animals (Drache, Junge, Kunde, Löwe, Neffe, Riese, Vorfahre, Zeuge); and the following nouns: Elefant, Herr, Mensch, Nachbar.  And wen (whom) is the accusative of wer (who).

German uses the case system to show the function of a word in a sentence, whereas English relies mainly on word order.  Take, for example, the following sentences:  Ich esse den Apfel translates into I eat the apple.  In German, you can switch the word order around without affecting the meaning.  Den Apfel esse ich is also I eat the apple, but in English, if you were to change word order, you would have to say the apple eats me.  English does not accommodate for the direct object to be placed before the subject and verb like German does. Usually, word order reflects (subjective) focus: the noun having the speakers focus is usually put as much as possible towards the beginning of a sentence.

23.  Dative Case

The dative case corresponds to indirect objects.  Usually in English, we use the words to or for to indicate an indirect object.  But German relies on the endings of the dative case.  Here are the dative forms of the definite and indefinite articles.

Note:  Those same masculine nouns that added an -(e)n in the accusative form also add an -(e)n in the dative form.  And all plural nouns add an -(e)n in the dative plural, unless they already end in an -n or -s.  And wem (to/for whom) is the dative of wer (who).

In sentences with both a direct and indirect object, the noun in the dative case precedes the accusative noun, unless the accusative case is a pronoun.

Ich schenke meinem Bruder eine Krawatte.  I give (to) my brother a tie.
Ich schenke sie meinem Bruder.  I give it to my brother.

24. Genitive Case

The genitive case is used to show possession, more often in writing than in speech. When speaking, most people use von (of) plus the dative case to show possession. For proper nouns, German only adds an -s to the noun, whereas English would add an apostrophe and an -s. Feminine and Plural nouns do not change in the Genitive case. Masculine and Neuter nouns add an -s if the word is more than one syllable, or an -es if the word is one syllable.  Except the weak masculine nouns that added -(e)n in the accusative and dative; they also add -(e)n in the genitive.  There are some irregular nouns that add -s after -en in the genitive case as well, for example der Name becomes des Namens and das Herz becomes des Herzens.

die Farbe des Vogels - the color of the bird
die Grösse des Hauses - the size of the house
die Tasche meiner Mutter - my mother's purse [the purse of my mother]
der Bleistift des Studenten - the student's pencil [the pencil of the student]

25. To Do or Make

26. Work and School

Note:  Besides the plural forms shown above, the rest of the male professions are the same (they do not add anything) in the plural, while all the feminine add -nen in the plural.  Also, German does not use articles before professions.  You would only say Ich bin Kellner if you mean I am a waiter.

Was sind Sie von Beruf? What do you do for a living?
Ich bin Arzt. I'm a doctor (male).

27. Prepositions

For the two-way prepositions:   The accusative form indicates direction and movement and answers the question where to?  The dative form indicates position and location and answers the question where? For example:  In die Schule means to school and uses the accusative form because it is a direction.  In der Schule means in school and uses the dative form because it is a location.  But one exception is zu Hause - at home (dat.) and nach Hause - (to) home (acc.)  Ich bin zu Hause is I am at home, and Ich gehe nach Hause is I am going home.

Note:  Stellen, legen and setzen use the accusative case, while stehen, liegen and sitzen use the dative case.

28. Prepositional Contractions

29. Countries and Nationalities

The adjectives can also refer to the language, but then the word must be capitalized, i.e. deutsch is the adjective that is usually followed by a noun, whereas Deutsch is the German language.

30. Negative Sentences

Nicht and kein are forms of negation, but nicht means not and kein means no, not a, or not any.  Kein is used to negate nouns that either have no articles or are preceded by the indefinite article.  Kein precedes the nouns in sentences.  It is declined as an ein-word.  

Nicht negates nouns preceded by a definite article or a possessive adjective; or it could negate any part (verb, noun, adjective) or all of a sentence.  Nicht always follows the verb, but usually precedes the part of the sentence to be negated.  It you want to negate an entire sentence, nicht comes last.  Nicht also follows expressions of time.

31. To and From Countries and Cities

Note:  In also means to when it is used before a country that has a definite article (feminine and plural countries.)  Ich fliege in die Schweiz - I'm flying to Switzerland.  Ich fliege nach Deutschland - I'm flying to Germany.  And when aus is used with feminine or plural countries, the definite article must also be used.  Ich bin aus der Schweiz - I am from Switzerland.  Ich bin aus Deutschland - I am from Germany.

32. To Come and to Go

33. Modal Verbs

German has six modal verbs that you should memorize. They express an attitude about an action or condition described by the main verb.  The modal auxiliary is conjugated and placed where the verb should be.  The main verb is in the infinitive form and at the end of the clause or sentence.  

Ich kann eine Fahrkarte kaufen. (I can buy a ticket.)  Kann is the conjugated auxiliary verb and kaufen is the main verb in infinitive form.

Note:  Nicht müssen translates to do not have to or do not need to.  Nicht dürfen translates to must not.  Du mußt es nicht machen is you don't have to do it.  Du darfst es nicht machen is you must not (or are not allowed) to do it.

Note:  This subjunctive of mögen expresses would like to and is used more often than the indicative of mögen.  Ich möchte eine Fahrkarte kaufen means I would like to buy a ticket.

Sometimes the infinitive is not required with modal verbs, if the meaning is clear enough without them. For example, you can often omit sprechen and tun after können and you can omit verbs of motion if there is an adverb of place.

Ich kann Spanisch. I can/know how to speak Spanish.
Er will nach Hause. He wants to go home.

34. Conjugating Regular verbs

To conjugate means to give the different forms of a verb depending on the subject.  English only has two regular conjugations in the present tense, no ending and -s ending (I, you, we, they run vs. he/she/it runs).  Refer back to the subject pronouns and the conjugations of to be and to have.  The following table is in the same format.  To form regular verbs in German, take off the -en ending and add these endings:

English has three ways of expressing the present tense, such as I run, I am running, I do run.  All three of these tenses are translated as one tense in German (ich laufe.)  However, you can add gerade after the verb to indicate the progressive form.  Ich mache meine Hausaufgaben can be translated as I do my homework or I'm doing my homework.  Ich mache gerade meine Hausaufgaben is translated as I'm doing my homework.

35. Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs express an action that reciprocates back to the subject. In other words, whoever is speaking is doing an action to himself. Examples in English would be: I wash myself, he hurts himself, we hate ourselves. Usually the -self words are a clue in English, however there are more reflexive verbs in German than in English.

The reflexive pronoun follows the verb and agrees with the subject. When a clause contains another object besides the reflexive pronoun, then the reflexive pronoun is in the dative case since the other object is in the accusative case. This is when you use the dative reflexive pronouns instead of the accusative ones.

Accusative: Ich fühle mich nicht wohl - I don't feel well.

Dative: Ich ziehe mir den Mantel aus - I'm taking off my coat.

Also note that parts of the body and articles of clothing use the definite article, not a possessive.  

36. Exceptions: Irregularities in Regular verbs 

1) Some verbs require an umlaut over the a in the 2nd and 3rd person singular.

Examples: fallen-to fall, schlafen-to sleep, tragen-to carry, waschen-to wash, laufen-to run

2) Some verbs change the e to ie in the 2nd and 3rd person singular.

Examples: lesen- to read, befehlen-to command, empfehlen-to recommend, geschehen-to happen, stehlen-to steal

3) Some verbs change the e to an i in the 2nd and 3rd person singular.

Examples: brechen-to break, essen-to eat, helfen-to help, sprechen-to speak, sterben-to die, treffen-to meet, werfen-to throw
*nehmen has another irregularity:  it doubles the m and drops the h*

4) Verb stems ending -d or -t, add an e before three endings.

5) Verb stems ending in an s or z sound, have -t for du form ending instead of -st.

6) Infinitives ending in -n (not -en) only have -n ending for wir and sie forms.  Infinitive stems ending in -el or -er can drop the e in the ich form.

37. Verbs with Prepositions

Fahren mit cannot be used with all forms of transportation, such as on foot or by plane.

38. Separable Prefixes

These prefixes are added to the infinitive and change the meaning of the verb.  Kommen is to come, but ankommen is to arrive.  When conjugated, the prefix goes to the end of the sentence.   Er kommt um fünf Uhr an means "he is arriving at 5."  But Er kommt um drei Uhr means "he is coming at 3."  With modals, the infinitive goes to the end of the sentence as usual, but the prefix remains attached.  Ich will jetzt ausgehen means "I want to go out now."

Verbs with Separable Prefixes

Ausgehen can also mean to be on good/bad terms with someone.

39. Inseparable Prefixes

These prefixes always remain attached to their infinitives.  The inseparable prefixes are unstressed syllables, as compared to the separable prefixes which can stand alone as different words.  Some examples of verbs with inseparable prefixes are besuchen - to visit, erzählen - to tell, gewinnen - to win, and versprechen - to promise.

Unter and über can function as separable prefixes, but they are much more commonly used as inseparable prefixes.  When prefixes are stressed, they are separable; when they are not stressed, they are inseparable.  The stress on the following verbs in not on the prefix, so they are all inseparable: unterhalten - to entertain, unternehmen - to undertake, überholen - to overtake, and übersetzen - to translate.