German grammar lessons
How to form questions in German
Being able to form questions is an important part of learning a new language, and this is certainly true for German, too. This lesson will
October 9, 2022
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Being able to form questions is an important part of learning a new language, and this is certainly true for German, too. This lesson will
The German language uses question words to ask questions. This lesson introduces you to five German question words starting with a “w”: “wer” (who), “wie”
You’ve already learned how to conjugate regular and irregular German verbs. However, even among the German verbs with regular conjugation, there are some verbs for
In German, personal pronouns, called “Personalpronomen“, exist in four different grammatical cases. For now, you’ll learn about German personal pronouns in the nominative case, which
To have (“haben“) and to be (“sein“) are two of the most commonly used verbs in German. Today you’ll learn how to form the past
Knowing the German verb for “to be” (“sein“) is essential for everyday conversations. However, the verb’s conjugation is incredibly irregular – so much so that
You’ve already learned how to conjugate regular German verbs. In this lesson, you’ll find out more about irregular (“strong”) verb conjugation. Irregular German verbs In
Today you’ll learn how to conjugate regular German verbs in the present tense – a must for successful conversations and simple reading of German texts.
When you find yourself in Germany or another German-speaking country, some sentences are incredibly important to know to get through everyday life. Not everyone speaks English
For everyday conversations in German-speaking countries it’s important to know how to say “with” (“mit“). For example, if you’d like to order coffee with milk,
One small but important word for everyday life in every language is the word “or” (“oder“). This lesson shows you how and when to use
Knowing the time (“Uhrzeit“) is a crucial part of our everyday life. Especially in Germany, where punctuality is highly valued. Asking and telling the time
You have probably noticed that the endings of some German words change depending on the context they’re used in. This is because German has four
In any language, it’s important to know how to say ‘sorry‘ or ‘excuse me‘. Knowing these words in German means that you can apologize when
In Germany, part of getting to know a person is enquiring about their age (‘Alter‘). In many other cultures, one’s age is considered personal, and
Are you eager to travel to Germany and meet people from different cultures or of different descents (‘Herkunft‘)? Then get ready to learn how to
The plural exists to express that there is more than one of a specific noun. Forming the plural of German nouns is not as easy as
In German, some nouns that describe humans and animals have both masculine and feminine versions. For most of those nouns, the masculine version is considered
In German, the indefinite articles are called ‘unbestimmte Artikel‘. They complement the other kind of articles, definite articles (‘bestimmte Artikel‘). Knowing how to distinguish those
Definite articles are an important part of the German language – it is recommended you familiarise yourself with them right at the start of your
An important aspect of politeness in German is saying ‘please‘ and ‘thank you‘. Those words are among the first you should learn, so that you
Saying ‘how are you?’ in German In Germany, it is polite to ask someone about their state of well-being (Befinden). The question ‘how are you?’
How to use German greetings German greetings (Begrüßungen) can be formal or informal. In Germany, informal greetings are used with close friends or family, while
Fluency doesn’t need you to be stuck 3 to 4 hours reading a book you don’t even understand completely. If you want to learn German,
The German language has different articles according to the gender of nouns described in the sentence. As English speakers, you may be familiar with the
If you’ve started learning German recently, or are about to start, you might ask yourself how you can learn the “Artikel”. Don’t worry, almost everyone
Articles are a crucial part of most languages. That goes for the German language as well! But what is the easiest way to learn the
Many people think that German is a challenging language to learn because of its intricate grammar, including native German speakers themselves. But having precise grammar rules for a language is not that bad. In other words, the majority of German grammar rules are very logical and frequently overlap with those of other European languages.
You can speak German fairly well if you learn how to apply these rules correctly. From the viewpoint of an English (native) speaker, the most significant details of German grammar are briefly summarized below.
The two indefinite articles “ein” and “eine” stand in for the English words “a” and “an,” while the three definite articles “der,” “die,” and “das” stand in for the English word “the.”
Because all German nouns have grammatical gender, these articles indicate whether a noun they are attached to is masculine, feminine, or neuter (but this is not the same as biological gender).
For instance, a woman is referred to as “eine Frau” or “die Frau” in German, which denotes the noun is feminine, as opposed to a man who is referred to as “ein Mann” or “der Mann” in German, which denotes the noun is masculine. You will need to memorize each noun’s gender because it’s typical for there to be no cues indicating which gender it belongs to.
German has four different case types. The case of the nouns they modify is revealed by the declension of the aforementioned articles and some adjectival pronouns (however, the German noun itself does not change much to signal its case).
Although there are specific grammatical rules for this, you must be aware of the grammatical gender of a noun to use the rules correctly. For example, the words “ein” and “eine” can also be pronounced as “einer,” “eines,” or “einem,” and the words “der,” “die,” and “das” can also be changed into “dem,” “den,” and “des.”
The plural forms of many nouns can be quite different from their singular forms, and there are typically no clear rules to follow in this regard. It’s necessary to memorize the plural forms of the majority of German nouns.
English’s “you” has two translations in German: “du” and “Sie” for the singular form, and “ihr” and “Sie” for the plural. When conjugating verbs that come after these pronouns, there are specific grammatical rules that must be followed.
The word order in German and English is different, despite many similarities. The verb is always positioned at the end of the subordinate clause, which is the primary difference between English and German.
Additionally, the preposition “auf” in the German verb “aufstehen,” which is translated as “stand up,” appears at the end of the clause.
German has grammatical inconsistencies or exceptions just like English does. One such example is unusual verbs, which are frequently the same in both German and English.
Thankfully, these exceptions frequently follow patterns that are easy to remember, but some memorization is still required.