was habe ich schon gelernt? german grammar?!?!? ugh!!!!!!

Was habe ich schon gelernt?

GERMAN GRAMMAR?!?!?

UGH!!!!!!

What do you know about the

parts of a sentence?

Last year the rich gentleman bought his wife a beautiful

house at the beach.

What do we need to know about nouns?

They have a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter)

They sometimes change in the plural

Their articles (and sometimes the noun itself) change

depending on the case

CASE?!?!?!? What do we mean by ‘case’?

German Cases Nominativ – the case of the subject

The boy is 14 years old. (Der Junge ist 14 Jahre alt.)

Akkusativ – the case of the direct objectHe has a brother and a sister.(Er hat einen Bruder und eine Schwester.)

Dativ – the case of the indirect objectHe gave his mother flowers for her

birthday.(Er hat seiner Mutter Blumen zu ihrem

Geburtstag gegeben.) Genitiv – the case of possession

His mother’s name is Erika.(Der Name seiner Mutter ist Erika.)

In German, there are other times when a certain case is needed…

Nominativ

Akkusativ

Dativ Genitiv

-case of the subject

-case of the direct object-following “es gibt”-following Accusative prepositions

-case of the indirect object-following Dative verbs (like gefallen, helfen, danken, gehören, and antworten)-following Dative prepositions

-case of possession-following Genitive prepositions

Prepositions little words… big trouble-makers

Akkusativ

durchfür gegenohneum

Dativausaußerbeimitnachseitvonzu

Two-Wayanauf

hinterin

nebenüberuntervor

zwischen

•These prepositions take Accusative whenmotion is indicated and Dative when location (stationary position) is indicated.

How do the articles (definite and indefinite) change in the four cases?

The definite article “der” and all of the “der-words” are declined like this: “der-words”

dies- (this)

jen- (that)

jed- (each)

manch- (some)

solch- (such)

welch- (which)

alle- (all)

Masculine

Feminine Neuter Plural

N der die das die

A den die das die

D dem der dem den (+n)

G des (+s/es

)

der des (+s/es

)

der

The indefinite article and all of the “ein-words” are declined like this:

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter Plural

N ein eine ein (k)eine

A einen eine ein (k)eine

D einem einer einem (k)einen (+n)

G eines (+s/es

)

einer eines (+s/es

)

(k)einer

ein-words:

kein – no,not a

mein - my

dein – your

sein/ihr/sein – his/her/its

unser - our

euer - your

ihr - their

Ihr - your

Pronouns take the place of nouns. So that means they change in the different cases

too!Personal Pronouns:

Nominativ Akkusativ Dativ1st pers. sg.

ich – I mich – me mir - me

2nd pers. sg.

du - you dich - you dir - you

3rd pers. sg.

er/sie/es –he/she/it

ihn/sie/es – him/her/it

ihm/ihr/ihm – him/her/it1st pers. pl. wir – we uns – us uns - us

2nd pers. pl. ihr – y’all euch – y’all euch – y’all

3rd pers. pl. sie - they sie - them ihnen - them

Formal (sg. and pl.)

Sie - you Sie - you Ihnen - you

What about the Interrogative Pronouns …

Other Interrogatives (question words) are:Wie? - how

Wann? - whenWarum? - why

Was für ein? – what kind ofWo? - where

Wohin? – to whereWoher? – from whereWieviel? – how much

Wie viele? – how many

Nominativ

Akkusativ

Dativ Genitiv

People

Wer? (Who?)

Wen? (Whom?)

Wem? (Whom?)

Wessen? (Whose?)

Things

Was? (What?)

Was? (What?)

---- ----

…and the Reflexive Pronouns?

Akkusativ Dativ

1st pers. sg. mich mir

2nd pers. sg. dich dir

3rd pers. sg. sich sich

1st pers. pl uns uns

2nd pers. pl. euch euch

3rd pers. pl. sich sich

Formal (sg./pl.) sich sich

The Dreaded Adjective EndingIn German, attributive adjectives

(that means adjectives that stand before nouns) take endings that will change

depending upon:

gender,number,case, andwhether they are preceded by a “der-word”, an “ein-word” or

neither

If the adjective is not preceded by a “der-word”

or “ein-word”, it will take the following endings:

Unpreceded Adjective Endings

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

N -er -e -es -e

A -en -e -es -e

D -em -er -em -en

G -en -er -en -er

If the adjective is preceded by a “der-word” it will take the following endings:

Adjective Endings Preceded by “der-words”

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

N -e -e -e -en

A -en -e -e -en

D -en -en -en -en

G -en -en -en -en

If the adjective is preceded by an “ein-word” it will take the following endings:

Adjective Endings Preceded by “ein-words”

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter Plural

N -er -e -es -en

A -en -e -es -en

D -en -en -en -en

G -en -en -en -en

VERBS!!!!! the unconjugated form of the verb is called

the verb infinitive. in a sentence, verbs must be conjugated to

agree with their subjects. The two most important verbs in German are:

haben – to have

ich habe

du hast

er/sie/es hat

wir haben

ihr habt

sie haben

Sie haben

sein – to be

ich bin

du bist

er/sie/es ist

wir sind

ihr seid

sie sind

Sie sind

Another useful group of verbs are the Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are very easy to use, though their conjugations are irregular in the singular. They are conjugated to agree with the subject and are used in conjunction with a verb infinitive like this:

Ich will heute abend ins Kino gehen.

The Modal Verbs you already know are…dürfen – to be allowed to

können – to be able to

müssen – to have to

sollen – to be supposed to

wollen – to want to

mögen – to like

möchten – would like (the subjunctive form of mögen)

dürfen

können

müssen

sollen wollen

mögen

möchten

darf kann muss soll will mag möchte

darfst kannst musst sollst willst magst möchtest

darf kann muss soll will mag möchte

dürfen können

müssen

sollen wollen

mögen

möchten

dürft könnt müsst sollt wollt mögt möchtet

dürfen können

müssen

sollen wollen

mögen

möchten

dürfen können

müssen

sollen wollen

mögen

möchten

Special groups of verbs include:

1. Stem-vowel changing verbs (z.B. essen, lesen)

2. Separable prefix verbs(z.B. aufmachen, mitkommen)

3. Inseparable prefix verbsthe inseparable prefixes are:be- emp- ent- er- ge- ver- zer-

When we talk about verbs, we speak of:

Tense:Present, Simple (or narrative) Past, Conversational Past, Past Perfect, Future, and Future Perfect

Voice:Active or Passive

Mood:Indicative or Subjunctive

The tenses you have learned so far are:

Present: verb stem or -e -enchanged verb stem + -(e)st -(e)t

-(e)t -en -en

Conversational Past:

conjugated form + past participle

of haben or sein (these must be memorized)

Future: conjugated form

of the verb werden + another verb infinitive

Simple (or Narrative) Past

Regular Verbs: -(e)te -(e)tenVerb stem + -(e)test -(e)tet

-(e)te -(e)ten

Irregular Verbs:Changed stem + - -en

-(e)st -(e)t- -en

Mixed Verbs:Changed stem + -te -ten

-test -tet-te -ten

That crazy German Word Order“Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that

is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.”

- Mark Twain, American writer and journalist, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

In statements, the verb must always be in the 2nd position!

As long as the verb remains the second sentence element, other

elements in the sentence can be moved around.

Wir spielen heute Fußball.

Heute spielen wir Fußball

Fußball spielen wir heute.

Types of German Word Order

• Normal: Subject - VerbDer Junge hat eine Schwester.

• Inverted: Verb – SubjectHat der Junge eine Schwester?

• Transposed: Verb at the end of the clauseIch weiß nicht, ob der Junge eine Schwester

hat.

TMP: When there are several descriptive expressions in a sentence, they will be arranged in the order: Time, Manner, Place

Conjunctions determine word order in a clause!

Coordinating Conjunctions - do NOT affect word order. They include: aber, denn, oder, und, sondern

z.B. Ich kann am Wochenende nicht ins Kino gehen, denn ich habe kein Geld.

Subordinating Conjunctions – bump the conjugated verb to the end of the clause.They include: als, als ob, bis, damit, daß, bevor, indem, ob, obwohl, seitdem, während, weil, wenn

z.B. Ich kann am Wochenende nicht ins Kino gehen, weil ich kein Geld habe.

What do we still need to learn?

•Subjunctive Mood

•Passive Voice•Relative Clauses