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[edit]

German

This is the print version of German You won't see this message or any elements not part of the book's content when you print or preview this page.

[edit] Main Contents

• Introduction
• Lessons
  • Level one lessons (Introductory lessons / einführende Lektionen)
  • Level two lessons (Grundlegende Lektionen)
  • Level three lessons (Zwischen-Lektionen)
  • Level four lessons (Erweiterte Lektionen)
  • Level five lessons (Review lessons / Überprüfungs-Lektionen)
• Grammar
• Appendices (Anhänge)
• Contributors
• GFDL

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[edit] Introduction

A Textbook on Five Levels

The question arose early in the development of this textbook as to precisely who would be the target audience. Although intended to be a "beginning" textbook on German, many felt that the early lessons were too difficult for younger students with very limited or no experience with German and, perhaps more importantly, limited skills in English grammar. For this reason a textbook on three levels was conceived. Beginning German (Level I) puts more emphasis on building vocabulary around subject matter interesting and useful to young students. Basic German (Level II) emphasises grammar, and assumes a greater knowledge of English grammar more typical of an older high school or a college student. If you are just beginning to learn German or attempting to teach yourself, you may wish to try both approaches and see which works better for you, since some people require a strong structural approach to learning a new language while others find this "structure" only impedes progress by adding another layer of complexity. Intermediate German (Level III), which requires even more knowledge of English, is for college students, preferably for sophomores or juniors. With even more complex lessons, grammar and vocabulary comes Advanced German (Level IV), which with the most complex and difficult parts of the German language, is for late college students (Seniors) and college graduates. The last level, which is a review level, but also has cultural facts and the history of the German language, is Reviewed German. (Level V). An existing, separate text, German/Grammar, may eventually be merged into the lesson modules or developed into useful appendices as a grammar reference. At present, however, German Grammar is an expanding, significant contribution to the textbook; it provides an important reference on German language grammar rules useful to the student working through any of the three levels.

[edit] The German Language

German (Deutsch) is a member of the western group of the Germanic languages. It is spoken primarily in Germany, Austria, the majority of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Südtirol (South Tyrol) region of Italy, the Opole Voivodship of Poland, the eastern part of Belgium, parts of Romania, the Alsace (Elsass) region of France and parts of Denmark. Additionally, several former colonial possessions of these countries, such as Namibia in Africa, have sizable German-speaking populations. There are German-speaking minorities in several eastern European countries including Russia, and in the United States as well as countries in South America like Brazil and Argentina. Over 120 million people speak German as their native language. German is the third most popular foreign language taught worldwide, and the second most popular in Europe. Continue reading about the German language.

[edit] German and English

If you are an English speaker unfamiliar with German, you may be surprised to learn that English and German are closely related languages and share many words that are very similar. Such words are called cognates. This is particularly true for everyday words in English that are Anglo-Saxon (that is, Germanic) in origin. Consider the following list of English words followed by their German counterparts:

arm ~ der Arm

book ~ das Buch

cat ~ die Katze

father ~ der Vater

finger ~ der Finger

wagon ~ der Wagen

house ~ das Haus

hand ~ die Hand

June ~ der Juni

man ~ der Mann

mother ~ die Mutter

mouse ~ die Maus

name ~ der Name

son ~ der Sohn

garden ~ der Garten

lamp ~ die Lampe

bush ~ der Busch

baker ~ der Bäcker

net ~ das Netz

storm ~ der Sturm

hat ~ der Hut

fire ~ das Feuer

grass ~ das Gras

fish ~ der Fisch

kindergarten ~ der Kindergarten

Some German words have the same origin as their English counterparts but the meaning has changed:

worry ~ würgen (strangle)

kind ~ das Kind (Child)

• Audio: OGG (308KB) ~ Hear these words

Of course, even words whose spelling is no different in English and German may be pronounced quite differently. But in reading German, you will see the connections between these languages, even in many of the "small" words (the above examples are all nouns). For example:

This week, my father is with my brother in the city.

Diese Woche ist mein Vater mit meinem Bruder in der Stadt.

• Audio: OGG (87KB) ~ Hear these sentences

Note also the general similarity of sentence structure with English. The only real difference in the German is that the verb is moved forward in the sentence. However, there are many German sentences in which a verb form is the last word in the sentence.

Unfortunately, while German is perhaps the easiest "foreign" language for an English speaker to learn, meanings of words that are spelled similarly are not always identical. These "false friends" can be confusing for the beginner. Further, German is a more structured language than English, with a more complex grammar, and it will become apparent as you learn German that you will also learn more about English language structure than you might ever recall from your high school English classes. For a quick listing of similarities and differences between English and German, read the Introduction to Level I.

[edit] Vocabulary and Grammar

In learning to read or speak any language with which you have minimal acquaintance (that is, are not a native speaker of), the two aspects to be mastered are vocabulary and grammar. Acquiring vocabulary is a "simple" matter of memorization. For the language(s) we learn as children, this process is so transparent that we have trouble conceiving of the importance of having a large vocabulary. By the age of conscious recognition of our communicating with others through speech, we have already learned the meaning of thousands of words. Even words we have trouble defining, we readily understand their use in conversation. This process can be "reactivated," as it were, by immersion in a second language: a method of learning a new language by moving to a place where that language is spoken and having to get around and live without use of one's native tongue.

The student of German language, if not residing in a German-speaking environment, must put forth substantial effort to learning words, including their meaning, their pronunciation and their usage in common sentences. Be sure to "learn"—commit to memory—all of the vocabulary words in each lesson as they are presented. Early lessons have simple sentences because it is assumed that the student's vocabulary is limited. But throughout the text, more complex discourses (often as photo captions) are included to introduce the student to regular German in use. It may be helpful to translate these using a German-English dictionary (access to one is a must; see Appendix 5 for on-line options). Other sources of German, such as newspapers, magazines, web sites, etc., can also be useful in building vocabulary and developing a sense of how German words are put together. The German Wikipedia provides an ever expanding source of German language articles that can be used for this purpose. Further, a German version of the Wikibooks project—a library of textbooks in German—is available at German Wikibooks.

German grammar is more complex than, but sufficiently similar to, English that "reading" German is possible with minimal vocabulary in the sense that the student should generally recognize the parts of a sentence. With a good dictionary or an online translator, an English speaker can usually translate a German sentence close to correctly. However, to accurately speak and understand German, you must learn how each word functions in a sentence. There are eight basic grammatical functions: case, gender, number, tense, person, mood, voice, and comparison. How words "signal" these functions is an important aspect of learning a new language. English speakers should know all of these functions and the signals used in English, but it is often the situation that you know perfectly well how to speak English, without understanding much about word-functions and signals. For this reason, this textbook incorporates considerable detail on grammar, including both English and German grammar. The reference book English at Wikibooks may be consulted for additional help. When we say German is more complex than English, what we really mean is that the signals used in German are different from and more numerous than those used by English.

[edit] Pronunciation

A guide to pronunciation of German is provided as Appendix 1. You should become familiar with this page early on, and refer to it often. Nothing can replace learning a language from a native speaker, but the text is liberally sprinkled with audio files providing the student with valuable input from hearing spoken German. Analyze the spoken words carefully. The pronunciation guide in Appendix 1 can only closely, not exactly, convey how German words should be pronounced. And of course, German (like English) has a number of dialects distinguished by differences in pronunciation.

Help in the pronunciation of individual words can be found by accessing the sound files of either of the online dictionaries, links to which are given in the German websites appendix.

[edit] Layout of Lessons

This textbook is intended as a beginning course in the German language for English speakers. Early lessons emphasize conversational subjects and gradually introduce German grammatical concepts and rules. In addition, sound files accompany appropriate parts of each lesson. Although the basic lessons (Grundlegende Lektionen) are presented at about the (US) high school level, beginners (including those attempting to learn German outside of a course structure) are expected to work through several basic lessons up to an indicated point, when review is suggested along with additional study. The basic way lessons go to other lessons is very simple and direct:

• Lesson 1 > 2 > 3 > 4 > and on to the end of the text.

[edit] Layout within Lessons

The following subheadings or categories are offered within the lessons (Level II and above):

1. One or more conversation (Gespräch) or story (Geschichte) pieces in German alone to illustrate the language in use.
2. Study material (Lernen) in English and German to present lists of conceptually related words.
3. One or more grammar (Grammatik) lessons covering elements of German grammar, with illustrations drawn from the conversation, story, or study materials.
4. A list of words (Vokabeln) and phrases introduced in the lesson, above that point, usually in the conversation, story, or study presentations. Words and phrases are arranged alphabetically within groups, and the groups are presented in the following order: 1) nouns, 2) phrases, 3) verbs, and 4) all other words. A guide to pronunciation of the words presented is consolidated within Appendix 1. However, in each Vokabeln, nouns stressed on other than the first syllable (the general rule in German) are indicated by bolding of the stressed syllable (e.g., Biologie). Note that the English translation of all German words in a Vokabeln is the best equivalent for the lesson example. The lesson Vokabeln is not a dictionary, but a quick reference for translation purposes. For this reason, verbs are not translated into a typical English infinitive form with a preceeding particle, "to".
5. A list of additional, related words or phrases (Andere Wörter; advanced lessons only) that relate to, but are not included in, the vocabulary presented in the basic and advanced lessons.
6. English sentences and other material to be translated by the student into German (Übersetzung). These are numbered and a matching answer sheet is linked to this category. The student should write out the German using material from the lesson (and previous lessons) before checking their work against the answer list.

[edit] The Student and the Lesson

Each level of the text is designed to constitute a course of study in the German language. For any level selected, each lesson should be read thoroughly and mastered before moving on. Substantial text in German is included and the student should read all of it, not once, but multiple times. At Levels II and III, complete translations into English are included only in selected places. Most of this text must be translated by the student using his or her acquired vocabulary and the vocabulary presented at the bottom of each lesson. As the German text is read (preferably out loud), the student must succeed in gaining an understanding of the meaning of each sentence, and of the role each word plays in establishing that meaning. To the beginner, there will seem to be many words in a German sentence that are out of place or even redundant or unnecessary. These add subtleties to the language that will make sense eventually. But it is important to experience these subtleties from the very beginning.

Continue to the level one introduction.

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[edit] LEVEL ONE LESSONS

[edit] Contents

• #Lesson 1.00 - Introduction
  • #Section 1.01 ~ Starting Point
• #Lesson 1.01 - Wie heißt du?
• #Lesson 1.02 - Freizeit
• #Lesson 1.03 - Essen
  • #Review 1.01
• #Section 1.02 ~ Berlin, Germany
• #Lesson 1.04 - Kleidung
• #Lesson 1.05 - Volk und Familie
• #Lesson 1.06 - Schule
  • #Review 1.02
• #Section 1.03 ~ Vienna, Austria
• #Lesson 1.07 - Das Fest
• #Lesson 1.08 - Privileg und Verantwortung
• #Lesson 1.09 - Wetter
  • #Review 1.03
• #Section 1.04 ~ Berne, Switzerland
• #Lesson 1.10 - Zu Hause Essen
• #Lesson 1.11 - Filme
• #Lesson 1.12 - Das Haus
  • #Review 1.04

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[edit] Lesson 1.00 - Introduction

[edit] Welcome to Level I German!

Level I is aimed at junior high and high school students. However, it can be used by others just beginning to learn to speak or read German.

The goal of Level I German is not to overwhelm or confuse the student, but rather to teach the student in an orderly fashion. Learning German is meant to be fun, not subjective. Thus, the vocabulary is formatted for translating from English (which the students know) into German.

[edit] German and English

German and English are very close to each other. Here are some major similarities:

• Both languages use the Latin alphabet.
• Normally, sentences follow Subject-Verb order.
• Questions have Verb-Subject order or Adverb-Verb-Subject order.
• Both languages have prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs, nouns, verbs, interjections, pronouns, and adjectives.
• The indirect object usually comes before the direct object.
• There are contractions in both German and English.
• Many words share the same roots, such as word and Wort, or house and Haus.
• Many words, such as Baseball and Sandwich are the same in English and German.

As you can see, German is very much like English. There are, however, differences:

• German has genders; every noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter.
• German has three different words for "you", while English has only one.
• German has more verb forms than English.
• German has more letters than and different pronunciations from English (see Lesson 1).
• German is the only known written language where every noun is capitalized, whether or not it is a proper noun.
• Sometimes in German the verb will be the last word of a sentence.
• Adjectives will have different endings based on the noun they are modifying in German.
• German is more 'guttural'. In German, you talk in the back of your mouth.
• "I" (ich) is only capitalized if it is the first word of the sentence.
• In German, there are four cases; in English, there are three.

However, German is one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. The differences will be tackled over the course of the lessons.

[edit] How to use this level of the German textbook

The lessons are meant to be taken in order. At the reviews, after every third lesson, you go back to look at the previous lessons.

You will need a notebook and a pencil to take notes and solve problems for this course.

[edit] Layout of Each Lesson

When completed,

1. Every lesson will have a title at the top, centered.
2. The lesson will introduce several topics, more and more as the lessons progress.
3. After each section, there will be a link to the problems page (at German:Beginner Lesson #P), where you will write down the problems and the answers on your own sheet of paper.*
4. When done with the problems for that section, you will go to the answers page (at German:Beginner Lesson #A), where you check your answers. Keep track of your scores (put them on the back page of your notebook, with the Lesson # and section title) for later use.
5. The answers page will take you back to the lesson. Continue in the same fashion.
6. At the end of the page there will be a link to the test (at German:Beginner Lesson #T). Before you go to it, review any sections that you are unclear on, or any that you missed problems on. When you are ready, take the test. There will be a link to the test answers page (at German:Beginner Lesson #TA) for when you are done.

Note: * The link is the only indication of the end of the section. The title is the indication that these are in place. If it is there, and there is no link to the problems, continue on until you get to a link.

[edit] Levels of Completion

On the contents page, you will see a certain number of filled-in boxes next to each lesson. The number of boxes corresponds to the completeness of the lesson as follows:

1 (File:25%.pngFile:00%.png) - The lesson is started, with a lesson overview at least.
2 (File:50%.pngFile:00%.png) - The first 2-4 sections are complete.
3 (File:75%.pngFile:00%.png) - Most of the lesson is complete.
4 (File:100%.pngFile:00%.png) - The entire lesson itself is complete.
5 (File:100%.pngFile:25%.png) - The problems and answers for approximately half of the lesson are done.
6 (File:100%.pngFile:50%.png) - All of the problems and answers are done.
7 (File:100%.pngFile:75%.png) - The flashcards are done and the test is started.
8 (File:100%.pngFile:100%.png) - The test and its answers are complete, and therefore the entire lesson is done.

Note the differences between this system of completeness labeling and that for Wikibooks in general.

Level I uses a "more than enough" system for the lesson problems and answers. You don't have to do all of the problems if you think you know the material. However, the test may require knowing certain vocabulary, so you need to make sure you know it.

Level I is not intended to precede Level II; rather, it is a completely different course as explained in the first paragraph of the Foreword.

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[edit] Section 1.01 ~ Starting Point

[edit] Lesson 1.01 - Wie heißt du?

Lesson 1 ~Wie heißt du?

Template:Border

This lesson will deal with simple conversation topics such as greeting people, saying goodbye, and ask people how they are feeling, the alphabet, and nominative case pronouns and articles. This lesson also has soundbites so that you can learn how to pronounce everything, including the alphabet and some introductory verbs.

[edit] Dialogue

German Dialogue • Print version • audio: One • Two (131 + 142 kb • help) What's your name? Wie heißt du?
Franz	Hallo, ich bin Franz. Wie heißt du?
Greta	Hallo, Franz. Ich heiße Greta. Wie geht's?
Franz	Es geht mir gut. Kennst du den Lehrer?
Greta	Ja, er heißt Herr Weiß.
Franz	Oh, danke, Greta. Bis dann!
Greta	Auf Wiedersehen!
	Next Dialogue
Franz	Guten Morgen. Sind Sie Herr Weiß?
Herr Schwarz	Nein, ich bin Herr Schwarz. Wie heißt du?
Franz	Ich heiße Franz. Danke Herr Schwarz. Ich bin spät dran.
Herr Schwarz	Bitte, Franz. Ich bin auch spät dran. Bis später!
Franz	Auf Wiedersehen!

[edit] Hellos and Goodbyes in German

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •144 kb • help) Greetings Grüße
Hello!	Hallo!*
	Moin Moin! (used in northern Germany)
	Moin! (used in northern Germany, shorter)
	Grüß Gott! (used in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol)
	Glück auf! (used from miners)
	Hi! (pronounced as in English, although colloquial and only used by the younger generation)
Good morning!	Guten Morgen!*
Good day!	Guten Tag!*
	Tag! (used in Germany, shorter)
	Tagchen! (used in Germany, shorter)
Good evening!	Guten Abend!*
Goodbye!	Auf Wiedersehen!*
Bye!	Tschüss!*
	Ciao! (pronounced as in Italian)
	Tschöö! (used around Cologne)
	Ade! (used in Swabia)
	Auf Wiedersehen!
	Leb wohl! (normally used if meeting again is not expected!)
See you later!	Bis später!*, Bis dann!*
Good night!	Gute Nacht!*

You will need to know each expression with an asterisk (*) after it. The others, of course, would be useful to know if you are traveling to regions where they are used. (As you can see, the different German-speaking regions often have their own ways of saying hello and goodbye. However, you will not be required to know any of these less common phrases for any problems or tests.)

[edit] Formal and Informal Greetings in German

Germans respect higher authority with their choice of certain phrases. The more formal phrases above are Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, and Auf Wiedersehen (as well as Grüß Gott). The least formal one is Tschüss. The others are neutral on the formal - informal scale.

Note: In Germany nowadays, "Tschüss" is also used with people who are not on first name terms.

Here are some examples:

• Claudia: Guten Morgen, Herr Wagner!
  
• Herr Wagner: Hallo, Claudia!

• Birgit: Tschüss, Susi!
  
• Susi: Bis später, Birgit!

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Mr. & Ms. Herr und Frau
Mr.	Herr
Ms.	Frau

[edit] The German Alphabet

German Grammar • Print version • audio (info •690 kb • help) The Alphabet Das Alphabet
Characters	Aa	Ää	Bb	Cc	Dd	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii
Pronunciation	ah	äh	beh	tseh	deh	eh	ef	geh	hah	ee
Characters	Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Öö	Pp	Qq	Rr
Pronunciation	yot	kah	el	em	en	oh	öh	peh	coo	är
Characters	Ss	ß	Tt	Uu	Üü	Vv	Ww	Xx	Yy	Zz
Pronunciation	ess	eszett	tay	oo	üh	fow	veh	iks	ypsilon	tset

The 26 letters in both German and English are shown above. One the ligature ß (eszett, ess-tset) is used for (voiceless) 's'. It is used in case two s's (ss) or when a single s can't be used: between vowels or in the end of words when the preceding vowel is long. Example: "der Fluss" (short u, English river), but "der Fuß" (long u, English foot). Note that the eszett is not used in Switzerland. You always write double s instead, even after long vowels. Therefore you write "Fluss" and "Fuss".

Another difference between German and English is the Umlaut. The vowels a, o, and u can take an Umlaut (double dots above), becoming ä, ö, and ü. The Umlaut changes the sound of the vowel. For pronunciations of all the letters, go to the Pronunciation Guide.

Notes:

• Umlaute are even used when spelling. Common words used to clarify a given letter are Ärger (anger), Ökonom (economist) and Übermut (high spirits). To say "Umlaut" after the letter is an English custom used when spelling German words in English.
• In writing, the Umlaute are sometimes substituted with the vowel plus e, i.e ae, oe and ue. You find this in names as Goethe or in crosswords, but you don't use it in normal texts (Goethe is an exception to the rules governing Umlaute, always written with "oe"). However, if you have no way to type Umlaute you must use vowel-plus-e.
• In most search engines and online dictionaries, a vowel with Umlaut can be entered as either the simple vowel or in vowel-plus-e form. For example, if you wish to find "Ärger" you may enter any of the following three search strings: "Ärger", "Aerger", "Arger" (the last is actually incorrect, because "Arger" means "grimmer"). Unless you have a German keyboard, to get the special German letters you will have to do one of two things. On a Macintosh, hold down the "option" key and type "u" (this will create an Umlaut), then let go of "option" and type the vowel you want to put the Umlaut on. In Windows, you will need to use the Alt key and numbers from the right side of your keyboard.

German Ect. • Print version • audio (info •112 kb • help) Alt keys for German characters
ß	alt + 225
ü	alt + 129
Ü	alt + 0220
ö	alt + 0246
Ö	alt + 0214
ä	alt + 132
Ä	alt + 0196

If you use Mac OS X these will work only if you choose "Unicode" keyboard layout, but you can add umlauts with option-u and the ß with option-S.

[edit] Bitte buchstabieren Sie

Look at this short phone conversation. Try to read it aloud. The translation of words and phrases is given below the text.

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •405 kb • help) Directory Assistance Fernsprechauskunft
Man A	Auskunft, Guten Tag.
Man B	Guten Tag. Ich hätte gern die Telefonnummer von Frau Claudia Bolliger aus Bern.
Man A	Wie schreibt man das? Bitte buchstabieren Sie.
Man B	Natürlich. Claudia: C wie Cäsar, L wie Ludwig, A wie Anton, U wie Ursula, D wie Dora, I wie Ida, A
	wie Anton. Bolliger: B wie Berta, O wie Otto, zweimal L wie Ludwig, I wie Ida, G wie Gustav, E wie
	Emil und R wie Richard.
Man A	Danke. Die Nummer lautet ...

Vocabulary and Phrases (from above)

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •441 kb • help) Vocabulary Wortschatz
English	German
Information Desk	die Auskunft (no plural)
I would like to have	Ich hätte gern(e)
Phone Number	die Telefonnummer
from Berne	aus Bern
How do you spell this?	Wie buchstabiert man das?
Please	bitte
Spell	buchstabieren
Of course	natürlich
"A" as in Anton	A wie Anton
Twice	zweimal
The number is	die Nummer lautet

[edit] Nominative Case

Cases describe what a noun or pronoun does in a sentence. When a noun or pronoun is the subject of a sentence, it is considered to be in the nominative case. For example, in the sentence "I ate an apple", I is the subject and the apple is the direct object. You will learn more about cases as the course continues.

German Grammar • Print version • audio (info •87 kb • help) Subject Pronouns Subjekt-Pronomina
1st person	singular	ich	I
	plural	wir	we
2nd person	singular	du, *Sie	you
	plural	ihr, *Sie	you
3rd person	singular	er, sie, es	he, she, it
	plural	sie	they

* - Sie is the formal (polite) version of du and ihr. In all conjugations, it acts exactly like sie (plural)

[edit] Names

German Grammar • Print version • audio (how to upload) Names Namen
English	German
My name is...	Ich heiße...
His/Her/Its name is...	Er/Sie/Es heißt...
Their names are...	Sie heißen...
Our names are...	Wir heißen...
Your name is...	Du heißt...
Your names are...	Ihr heißt...
What is your name?	Wie heißt du?
What are your names?	Wie heißt ihr?

• Remember, the formal way to ask someone's name is to ask "Wie heißen Sie?"

• For more than one person, "Wie heißen..."

Note: There are possessive pronouns in German, they just don't apply here. For instance, "Mein Name ist..." would not be considered correct.

[edit] Verbs

You have already learned one verb: heißen, to be called.

German Verb • Print version • audio (info •229 kb • help) heißen to be called
	Singular		Plural
first person	ich heiße	my name is	wir heißen	our names are
second person	du heißt	your name is	ihr heißt	your names are
third person	er heißt	his name is	sie heißen	their names are
	sie heißt	her name is
	es heißt	its name is

Two more extremely common verbs are the German translations for 'to be' and 'to have': sein and haben. They are conjugated like this:

German Verb • Print version • audio (how to upload) sein to be
	Singular		Plural
first person	ich bin	I am	wir sind	we are
second person	du bist	you are	ihr seid	you are
third person	er ist	he is	sie sind	they are
	sie ist	she is
	es ist	it is

German Verb • Print version • audio (how to upload) haben to have
	Singular		Plural
first person	ich habe	I have	wir haben	we have
second person	du hast	you have	ihr habt	you have
third person	er hat	he has	sie haben	they have
	sie hat	she has
	es hat	it has

[edit] Wie geht's?

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •245 kb • help) How are you? Wie geht's?
English	German
How are you?	Wie geht's?
How are you?(formal)	Wie geht es Ihnen?
Responses for	Good
Great	Prima
Good	Gut
Very good	Sehr gut
Responses for	Bad
Miserable	Miserabel
Bad	Schlecht
Not good	Nicht gut
Responses for	Okay
Okay	Ganz gut
	Okay (comes from English "Okay")
All right	Es geht (so)
So-so	So lala

In Ordnung is also sometimes used for OK or Fine

Section Problems>>

[edit] Articles

German, like many other languages, gives each noun a gender: Masculine, Feminine or Neuter. Plural is easy; the definite nominative Article is always die. And as in English there is no indefinite article in plural. Nouns in plural form require different verb forms than nouns in singular.

In English, there are two different types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a and an). German is the same, except that there are five different articles of each type. The nominitive case articles are as follows:

[edit] Definite Articles

German Grammar • Print version • audio (how to upload) The Definite Article in the Nominative Case Der definitive Artikel des Nominativ
singular	masculine	der	der Junge	the boy
	feminine	die	die Frau	the woman
	neuter	das	das Mädchen	the girl
plural		die	die Jungen	the boys
			die Frauen	the women
			die Mädchen	the girls

• Note that girl is neuter.

[edit] Indefinite Articles

German Grammar • Print version • audio (how to upload) The Indefinite Article in the Nominative Case Der unbestimmte Artikel des Nominativ
singular	masculine	ein	ein Mann	a man
	feminine	eine	eine Frau	a woman
	neuter	ein	ein Mädchen	a girl

Section Problems>>

[edit] Forming Questions

The basic word order in a German sentence is the same as in English: Subject verb Objects. (SvO)

• Der Junge spielt Fußball.

The boy plays football.

This sentence is in the indicative mood, the mood that states a fact. The interrogative mood asks a question. To change the English sentence "The boy throws the ball" to the interrogative mood, we insert the helper verb "does" before "boy," ending with,"?". "Does the boy throw the ball?"

The process is very similar in German. However, since German verbs express both the simple and progressive aspects, we switch the whole verb with the subject, ending up with,

• "Spielt der Junge Fußball?"

Does the boy play football?

You have learned two questions so far: "Wie heißt...?" and "Wie geht's?". In German, there are two basic ways of forming a question. The first is the method described above. In addition to this, you can use an interrogative adverb...

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Questions Fragen
English	German
Who?	Wer?
What?	Was?
Where?	Wo?
When?	Wann?
Why?	Warum?
How?	Wie?
Which	Welches?

The question "Wie heißt...?", literally translated, means "How is ... called?", though the latter is a sentence no native-English speaker would ever say (the correct English equivalent of the German being "What is ... called?"). That is why it does not contain Was ("Was heißt...?" means something like "What do you mean...?!") . These words come first in the sentence; the word order is: Interr. Adverb Verb Subject Object. For example:

• Warum spielt der Junge Fußball?

Why does the boy play football?

You should note at this point that in German, the verb always comes second in the sentence, except in the case of a question as described above. The subject is always next to the verb, if not in front of it then following it. For example:

• Der Junge spielte am Montag Fußball.

The boy played football on Monday.

• Am Montag spielte der Junge Fußball.

On Monday, the boy played football.

At this point, you should know the words for "yes", ja and "no", nein respectively. There is also an emphatic "Yes!" called Jawohl!, although Jawohl! has military connotations and is often used as an answer to an order.

Section Problems>>

[edit] What's On the Test?

To go straight to the lesson test, go here.

The test consists of four parts: Grammar (18 points), Translation (34 points), Reading Comprehension (20 points) and Vocabulary (28 points). The Grammar section will test your ability to conjugate verbs according to the given infinitive and subject. You will also need to know the articles of certain nouns.

The Translation section is worth the most points, and it too has two sections. You must translate the sentences and phrases from English to German and vice versa.

The third section, Reading Comprehension, will be all "Fill in the Blanks". You will get two dialogues and be asked to fill in the blanks with respect to them. Some of the hardest parts deal with the greetings, so make sure you remember these.

The last section is the Vocabulary section. You will get 28 English words on the left and 28 German words on the right, and be asked to match them accordingly. To study for that, check out the 71 flashcards related to this lesson at FlashcardExchange.com. That is the whole test. Take it!

[edit] Lesson 1.02 - Freizeit

Lesson 2 ~Freizeit

[edit] Dialogue

"Freizeit" means "Free time". This dialog is of Franz and Greta familiarizing each other with their sports activities.

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •456 kb • help) Sports and time Sport und Zeit
Franz	Hallo, Greta! Wie spät ist es?
Greta	Es ist Viertel vor drei.
Franz	Wirklich? Ich spiele um drei Fußball. Machst du Sport, Greta?
Greta	Nein, ich bin faul. Ich gehe jetzt nach Hause.
Franz	Fußball macht aber Spaß!
Greta	Bis dann.
Franz	Wiedersehen!

[edit] Sports and Activities

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •356 kb • help) Sports and activities Sport und Aktivitäten
English	German
sport(s)	Sport
interests, hobbies, activities	Hobbys
football/soccer	Fußball
American football	Football (spoken as in English)
volleyball	Volleyball
basketball	Basketball
tennis	Tennis
baseball	Baseball (spoken as in English)
9-pin bowling	Kegeln
chess	Schach
board game	das Brettspiel
game	das Spiel
homework	Hausaufgaben (pl.)
television	das Fernsehen/der Fernseher
movie	der Film

Section Problems>>

[edit] Spielen, Machen and Other Verbs

All three verbs that you were introduced to in Lesson 1 are irregular in some way, however most verbs are regular verbs. The following is a table of the endings you add to the stems of regular verbs to conjugate them:

German Verb • Print version • audio (info •168 kb • help) conjugation Konjugation
	Singular			Plural
first person	ich	-e	wir	-en
second person	du	-st	ihr	-t
third person	er	-t	sie	-en
	sie	-t
	es	-t

For example, the verbs spielen and machen,

German Verb • Print version • audio (info •187 kb • help) to play spielen
	Singular			Plural
first person	ich	spiele	wir	spielen
second person	du	spielst	ihr	spielt
third person	er	spielt	sie	spielen
	sie	spielt
	es	spielt

German Verb • Print version • audio (info •152 kb • help) to do_make machen
	Singular			Plural
first person	ich	mache	wir	machen
second person	du	machst	ihr	macht
third person	er	macht	sie	machen
	sie	macht
	es	macht

[edit] Applications

• Was machst du?

What are you doing?

• Ich spiele Basketball.

I play basketball.

• Spielst du Fußball?

Do you play soccer?

• Ich mache Hausaufgaben.

I do homework.

• Er macht Hausaufgaben.

He does homework.

• Machst du Sport?

Do you play sports?

Note the last sentence. In English one plays sport, while in German one does sport. You can also use the w-words from Lesson 1 to make some more combinations:

• Warum spielst du Baseball?

Why do you play baseball?

• Wer hat Hausaufgaben?

Who has homework?

To say "not", use "nicht". "Nicht" goes after the verb but before the sport.

• Wer spielt nicht Fußball?

Who doesn't play soccer?

• Wir spielen nicht Tennis.

We don't play tennis.

[edit] Compound Sentences

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •72 kb • help) Conjunctions Verbindungen
English	German
and	und
but	aber
or	oder

Both German and English have compound sentences; the applications of these are enormous. They can be used in lists, but also in compound sentences. For example,

• Ich spiele Basketball und er spielt auch Basketball.

I play basketball, and he also plays basketball.

The new word, "auch", is very important and it means "also". The one grammar rule about "auch" is that it always comes after the verb.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Other Verbs and Their Conjugations

German Grammar • Print version • audio (info •135 kb • help) Verbs Verben
German	English
lesen	to read
schauen	to watch
sehen	to see
arbeiten	to work
schreiben	to write
schwimmen	to swim

Schauen, schreiben and schwimmen are all regular verbs, they follow normal conjugations. To conjugate , you first remove the ' en ', then add the correct ending, here is an example,

Verb	First Step	Finished
schauen	schau	ich schaue

• Arbeiten is an irregular verb, however it has a simple change. Whenever the ending starts with a consonant, an 'e' is added before it. So it would be du arbeitest, not du arbeitst. As well as er, sie, es, and ihr arbeitet, not er, sie, es, nor ihr arbeitt.

• Lesen is also an irregular verb. First, when forming with "du, er, sie, and es", it is du liest, not du liesst or du lesst.

• Sehen is the last irregular verb. When forming "du" it is siehst and with "er, sie, and es" it is sieht.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Two More Verb Forms

There are two more verb forms in English that you will learn this lesson: the present progressive ("I am playing, he is making"), and the affirmative "I do play, he does not play", which includes a form of 'to do'.

It might be tempting to make the present progressive sentence, "I am playing." into "Ich bin spielen.". After all, 'spielen' sounds a lot like 'play-ing', but that is not the definition. 'Spielen' means 'to play', which makes "Ich bin spielen." into "I am to play.", not at all what you are trying to say. So it is not "Ich bin spielen."

The second phrase, "I do play", is another tricky one. This one may seem like, "Ich mache spielen." But don't forget, there are no helping verbs in German. "Ich mache spielen." just doesn't work.

Both of the phrases above are simplified in German. Instead of "I am playing." and "I do play.", German makes them both simply: "Ich spiele." When using 'not', instead of "does not play", you get "Ich spiele nicht". This may sound like old English, and there you see where English came from, and why it is called a "Germanic" language.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Expressing likes and dislikes

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Expressing likes and dislikes Verbindungen
English	German
I like...	Ich habe ... gern
I like to play...	Ich spiele gern...
What do you like?	Was hast du gern?

* I like ... also translates to: Ich mag. Mögen being the root verb, to like. What do you like? translates to: Was magst du? Ich mag, du magst, er/sie/es mag, wir mögen, ihr mögt, sie mögen.

In German, there are several ways to express likes and dislikes. This way is a casual way. You can also add other verbs, for other things, like asking or saying if they like to play, or make things.

• To express preference, use lieber instead of gern. For example, "Wir spielen lieber Fußball."

• To express favorites, you use am liebsten, meaning "most of all", in the same context as lieber. For example, "Ich spiele am liebsten Schach.".

• To express dislikes, use nicht gern instead of gern.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Numbers

The first big unit in this level is time, which we are just about to get to. German time is very much like English time. However, we must begin with German numbers.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •536 kb • help) Numbers Zahlen
English	German
zero	null
one	eins
two	zwei
three	drei
four	vier
five	fünf
six	sechs
seven	sieben
eight	acht
nine	neun
ten	zehn
eleven	elf
twelve	zwölf
thirteen	dreizehn
fourteen	vierzehn
fifteen	fünfzehn
sixteen	sechzehn
seventeen	siebzehn
eighteen	achtzehn
nineteen	neunzehn
twenty	zwanzig
thirty	dreißig
forty	vierzig
fifty	fünfzig
sixty	sechzig
seventy	siebzig
eighty	achtzig
ninety	neunzig
hundred	hundert
hundred and one	hunderteins
thousand	tausend
1001	tausendeins
1101	tausendeinhunderteins
3000	dreitausend
200 000	zweihunderttausend

• Above are some basic numbers in German. If you haven't noticed the pattern, "-zehn" creates "-teen" and "-zig" creates "-ty."

• The numerals, when written as figures, appear the same in German and English, but when spoken or written in full, the units normally come before the tens. They are connected by und.

for example, "einundfünfzig", which is 51, from "eins" and "fünfzig", notice "eins" turned into "ein".

• In spoken words, "zwo" can be used for "zwei", distinguishing it from "drei".

Section Problems>>

[edit] Time

[edit] Asking the Time

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •243 kb • help) Time Zeit
	English	German
	What time is it? (How late is it?)	Wie spät ist es?
	What time is it? (How much clock is it?)	Wie viel Uhr ist es?
Ef	It is 10:15	Es ist zehn Uhr fünfzehn.
BoA	It is 10:15	Viertel nach Zehn
BoA	It is 10:45	Viertel vor Elf

In table above you might have seen the Ef and BoA, those stand for exact form and before or after. Specific times can be expressed in two ways: Exact form (e.g. "Four thirty-seven") or before or after form (e.g. "Twenty-three to five").

[edit] Exact form

This form is the same as English. For example,

• Es ist zehn Uhr fünfzehn.

It is 10:15 a.m.

• The new word Uhr means "o'clock", and is used in all exact times, it comes between the hour and the minute.

• Also, German-speakers generally use the 24-hour clock when expressing time this way, therefore, 3:29 p.m. (15:29) is "fünfzehn Uhr neunundzwanzig."

Section Problems>>

[edit] Before or After the Hour

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •111 kb • help) BoA BoA
English	German
After, Past	nach
Till, to	vor
quarter	Viertel
half before	Halb

• Use the same form as in English. For example, 10:57 can be said as, "drei vor Elf(three minutes to eleven". Likewise, 4:10 would be "zehn nach Vier(ten minutes past four)."

• Typically, use the smaller time interval with 'nach' or 'vor'. Don't say, "siebenundfünfzig nach Zehn."

• You don't need a vor when using halb. For example, 11:30 can be said as, "Halb zwölf" and 5:15 can be said as "Viertel nach Fünf", 5:45 would be "Viertel vor Sechs".

Note: This is only used with informal time telling. You don't use 'Uhr'.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Saying When You Do Something

Wann spielst du Football? (Football means American Football. The much more popular soccer would be "Fußball", which lit. means Football)

To say you play a sport at a certain time in English, you would answer, "I play football at 3:30." This is all the same in German, with the translation of 'at' being um. That makes the above response "Ich spiele Football um halb Vier." or "Ich spiele Football um fünfzehn Uhr dreißig.".

Section Problems>>

[edit] Other Time

[edit] Times of Day

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •364 kb • help) Times of Day Tageszeiten
English	German
the day	der Tag
today	heute
tomorrow	morgen
the day after tomorrow	übermorgen
yesterday	gestern
the day before yesterday	vorgestern
(early) morning	Morgen*
morning	Vormittag
afternoon	Nachmittag
evening	Abend
night	Nacht

*In German, except the capitalization, the words for "morning" and "tomorrow" are the same: morgen. If you want to say tomorrow morning use morgen früh (meaning: early on the next day) instead of Morgen morgen.

• The words above can be combined into phrases like "gestern Abend".

Section Problems>>

[edit] Days and Months

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •224 kb • help) Days Tage
English	German
Monday	Montag
Tuesday	Dienstag
Wednesday	Mittwoch
Thursday	Donnerstag
Friday	Freitag
Saturday	Samstag
Sunday	Sonntag

• Instead of "Samstag" you can say "Sonnabend".

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •328 kb • help) Months Monate
English	German
January	Januar
February	Februar
March	März
April	April
May	Mai
June	Juni
July	Juli
August	August
September	September
October	Oktober
November	November
December	Dezember

• To say "on Monday", say "am Montag" or whatever applies. To say "in January", say "im Januar" or whatever applies. This is the same for all of the days and months.

• You can also combine the times of day from earlier with the days of the week. But they're both nouns. To do this, therefore, we must combine the two words into one, as in "Dienstagnacht" (Tuesday night).

Culture Note: The German week begins on Monday.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Dates

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •305 kb • help) Dates Daten
English	German
first of (month)	erster
second of (month)	zweiter
third of (month)	dritter
fourth of (month)	vierter
seventh of (month)	siebter
eighth of (month)	achter
-th of [below 20]	-ter
tenth of	zehnter
twentieth of	zwanzigster
thirty-first of	einunddreißigster
-th of [20 to 31]	-ster
on (the)	am

• The ordinal numbers from 2 to 19 take the endings t and from 20 upwards take the ending st

• For example "on the 25th of December",

Simply say "am fünfundzwanzigsten Dezember."

In other cases you say "fünfundzwanzigster Dezember" or "der fünfundzwanzigste Dezember".

• In Germany, dates are written out in the logical order Day . Month . Year, instead of the American Month/Day/Year.

German uses a dot instead of a slash. Do not use the slash in dates, as it is unusual and confusing because you cannot tell if "4/6" means 4th of June (4.6.) or 6th of April (6.4.)

Section Problems>>

[edit] Birthdays

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •237 kb • help) Birthdays Geburtstage
English	German
Birthday	Geburtstag
Happy Birthday	Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Best wishes on your birthday!	Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!
Here is your present!	Hier ist dein Geschenk!
Thank you!	Dankeschön!
That's a nice party!	Das ist eine tolle Party!

• To say, "My birthday is on November 13th", say, "Ich habe am dreizehnten November Geburtstag."

Here am dreizehnten November, 13. November and 13. 11. represent the same date.

Note the order; it translates back literally as "I have on the 13th of November birthday."

Section Problems>>

[edit] Seasons

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Seasons Jahreszeiten
English	German
Spring	Frühling
Summer	Sommer
Autumn	Herbst
Winter	Winter
in (the)	im

To say "in Summer", say "im Sommer". For example,

• Im Sommer spiele ich Baseball.

I play baseball in summer.

The time always goes before the verb and the subject. (time, verb, and subject)

Section Problems>>

[edit] Periods of Time

If you want to express a certain period of time, but it doesn't have a specific name, like Nachmittag, you can do it like this:,

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Seasons Jahreszeiten
German	Time
von	Starting Time
bis	Ending Time

• This is the same as from ... till ... in English.

• This can also apply with dates. For example, "Wir haben Schule (school) von Montag bis Freitag".

• Exceptions

Wir haben frei vom fünfundzwanzigsten Dezember bis zum zweiten Januar.

Section Problems>>

[edit] How often?

Wie oft?, there are many ways to answer this question. Two are "once, twice, or three times in a ..." or "always, often, or never."

[edit] A Number or Times

To say, "once a month", or "four times a week", add "mal" to the end of the number and use the examples below.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Daily Täglich
English	German
Day	am Tag
Week	in der Woche
Month	im Monat
Year	im Jahr
Weekend	am Wochenende
Morning	morgens
Evening	abends
Afternoon	nachmittags
Night	nachts oder in der Nacht

For example

• Wir kegeln zweimal in der Woche.

We bowl twice a week.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Common Adverbs

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Sometimes Manchmal
English	German
always	immer
most of the time	meistens
often	oft
sometimes	manchmal
seldom	selten
never	nie
only	nur

• To apply these words, put them in the sentence, after the verb and subject, but before the sport/activity.

• You can also use 'nur' to say things like, Sie spielt nur manchmal Tennis.

• Note that if this is translated word-for-word, it becomes, She plays only sometimes tennis. That's just the way German is.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Time-Related Words

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Sometimes Manchmal
English	German
Time	die Zeit
Free time	die Freizeit

• To say you have time, ignore the 'die'.
• To say when, insert other phrases you have learned this lesson. For example, Ich habe am Samstagabend Zeit.

Note that the word order is the same as that of birthdays. You can use Freizeit in the same way.

Section Problems>>

[edit] What's On the Test

To go straight to the lesson test, go here.

The test will have four parts to it: Grammar (79 points), Translating (95 points), Reading Comprehension (20 points), Vocabulary (20 points), and Previous Topics (10 points) in that order. The Grammar section will test your ability to know the verbs from this lesson and it's various visions, to know articles - the genders of them and the correct usage of them, and correct word order.

The Translating section is worth the most points, and it too has three sections. You must know the translations for sentences and phrases going from English to German, and be able to take a German dialogue and translate it back into English. Also you must know the translation from Numbers to German.

The third section, Reading Comprehension, is Comprehension Questions you must know how to read the conversion and after reading you will be asked question on the previous conversion.

The fourth section is a vocabulary section. You get 20 English words on the left and 20 German words on the right, and be asked to match them. To study for that, check out the 401 flashcards related to this lesson at FlashcardExchange.com Part I and FlashcardExchange.com Part II.

The last section, Previous Topics, is a quick review on Lesson 1 to get ready for this section, just look at some past notes or go to Lesson 1 and study. That is the whole test. Take it!

[edit] Lesson 1.03 - Essen

Lesson 3 ~Essen

[edit] Dialogue

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) I'm hungry! Ich habe Hunger!
Franz	Hallo, Greta! Wie geht's?
Greta	Sehr gut. Ich bin hungrig.
Franz	Ich auch. Möchtest du etwas essen?
Greta	Ja!
	In der Gaststätte
Greta	Ich möchte Salat, Brot und Wasser.
Franz	Hast du jetzt keinen Hunger?
Greta	Doch, ich habe großen Hunger. Was bekommst du?
Franz	Ich bekomme ein Stück Apfelstrudel und einen Eisbecher.
Greta	Warum das? Du sollst eine Bratwurst nehmen.
Franz	Nein, ich bin zufrieden. Ich habe keinen großen Hunger.
Greta	Ach so, dann ist das genug.
	Nach zwanzig Minuten
Greta	Diese Gaststätte ist schrecklich! Ich möchte etwas zu essen!
Franz	Wir gehen!

[edit] Food!

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Food das Lebensmittel
die Früchte (das Obst) - fruits		das Gemüse - vegetables
die Banane	banana	die Möhre	carrot
die Kirsche	cherry	der Spinat	spinach
die Zitrone	lemon	die Zwiebel	onion
die Erdbeere	strawberry	die Erbsen	peas
die Orange	orange	die Kartoffel	potato
der Apfel	apple	die Tomate	tomato
die Weinbeere; or trauben	grape	der Spargel	asparagus
die Grapefruit	grapefruit	die Bohnen	beans
das Fleisch - meat		die Meeresfrüchte - shellfish, seafood
das Lammfleisch	lamb	die Kammmuschel	scallop
der Truthahn	turkey	die Krabbe	crab
der Schinken	ham	die Garnele	shrimp
das Schweinefleisch	pork	der Fisch - fish
das Hähnchen	chicken	die Sardellen	anchovies
das Rindfleisch	beef	der Lachs	salmon
die Wurst	sausage	der Aal	eel
die Molkereiprodukte - dairy products		Other Foods
die Butter	butter	die Suppe	soup
der Käse	cheese	die Fritten	French fries
die Milch	milk	die Pizza	pizza
der Joghurt	yogurt	der Hamburger	hamburger
die Nachspeise - dessert		der Senf	mustard
das Bonbon	candy	das Brot	bread
die Schokolade	chocolate	die Butter	butter
die Torte	cake	der Salat	salad
der Kuchen	cake	der Pfeffer	pepper
der Apfelstrudel	apple strudel	der Reis	rice
der (Apfel)Kuchen	(apple) pie	das Salz	salt
das Eis	ice cream	der Zucker	sugar
der Eisbecher	bowl of ice cream	die Konfitüre	jam

[edit] Accusative Case

As you know from the Intro, in German, there are four cases. Three are used often. The first, Nominative Case, you learned in Lesson 1. It covers the subject, and the predicate noun (in "He is (noun).", (noun) is the predicate noun). The second, the Accusative Case, you will learn now. It covers the direct object and the object of several prepositions. The third, the Dative Case will be taught later on. It covers the indirect object and the object of many other prepositions.

The object of a sentence will be in accusative case. In, "You hurt me.", 'me' would be accusative.

Note: The Accusative Case and Dative Case are identical in English; that's why German has one case extra.

[edit] Articles

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Definite Article	den	die	das	die
Indefinite Article	einen	eine	ein	-eine*

* The indefinite article for plurals is non-existant. However related words, such as possessives and the kein- words that you will learn later this lesson, will end in eine for plurals.

In the articles, the memory hook for accusative case is "Der goes to den (pronounced "dane") and the rest stay the same.". The masculine indefinite article goes to einen, and everything else stays the same there. Therefore above, der Hamburger goes to den Hamburger and ein Hamburger goes to einen Hamburger when the hamburger is the direct object, such as in "Er hat einen Hamburger." ("He has a hamburger.")

If you are getting confused, it's fine. This topic is one of the hardest for English speakers to grasp. Here are some solutions:

To find out the case of something, first find the verb. The verb rules the sentence. Everything revolves around it. Next you find the subject of the sentence. The subject is the thing/person that is doing the verb. The subject is always in the Nominative Case, so it takes on the der, die, das, die, or ein, eine, ein.

Now you look back at the verb. If it is a being verb (am, are, is, etc.), the next noun after the verb is the predicate noun. An easy way to figure this out is to write an equation. If the verb can be replaced with an equals sign (=), then the following noun is a predicate noun. If it can't be replaced by an equals sign, refer to the next paragraph. The predicate noun is also always in the Nominative Case, so the same rules apply to it.

Ich bin ein Junge.
Sie ist eine Frau.

If the verb of the sentence is an action verb (playing, throwing, making, eating), find what the subject is doing the verb to. For example, if the verb is "makes" (macht), you look for what is being made. That is the direct object. The direct object is always in the Accusative Case, so it takes on the den, die, das, die, or einen, eine, ein.

Sie haben den Cheeseburger.
Habt ihr einen Salat?

The indefinite articles, when you just look at their endings, select e, -, e for nominative case, and en, e, -, e for accusative.

Remember, between nominative and accusative, the only third-person change is in the masculine form.

[edit] Pronouns

The pronouns experience a much bigger change than the articles. This is also true in English, as the articles (a, an, the) do not change ever, but I goes to me, we goes to us, etc.

Not everything is the same, though. While me is mich and us is uns, the second and third persons undergo different changes. In third person, as in the articles, the only change is in masculine singular. Following the "der goes to den" rule, er goes to ihn when in the accusative case.

The second person in English never changes. In German, du goes to dich and ihr goes to euch. Sie, the formal version of either, stays the same. Remember, Sie (2nd person formal) and sie (3rd person plural) only differ in their meanings and the fact that the former is capitalized and the latter is not. This stays true throughout German grammar.

Here is a tabular representation of the above.

Person	Singular			Plural
	English	German		English	German
1st	me	mich		us	uns
2nd	you	dich		you (all)	euch
3rd	him, her, it	ihn, sie, es		them	sie

[edit] Antecedents

Note: This is just a quick lesson in English grammar applied into German. If you already know all about antecedents in English, skip the first paragraph.

When using a pronoun, you have to know what it is for it to work. There are some rare exceptions, such as in mysteries or drama, but otherwise this is always true. Sometimes in dialogue this is taken care of by pointing or making some other gesture, but most of the time, the pronoun modifies something already mentioned. The object/person mentioned earlier that turns into a pronoun later is called the antecedent.

In German this is very useful. You can't simply say 'it' anymore. Many food words are masculine and feminine, and when you turn them into pronouns, they turn into 'he', 'she', 'him', and 'her', not always 'it'. For example, the sentence "The cheeseburger tastes good. It's very crunchy." turns into "The cheeseburger tastes good. He's very crunchy." Note: You will learn how to say this in German later in this lesson.

Why is it "he"? This is where the antecedent comes in. Because there are foods that are masculine and feminine in German, you can't assume the 'es'. You have to look back at the previous sentence, at the antecedent, der Cheeseburger. "Der Cheeseburger" is replaced by er (since it is the subject, and therefore in Nominative Case). Therefore, all you need to know are these connections: der/den-er/ihn, die-sie, das-es, die-sie.

[edit] Food-Related Verbs

• essen (I) - to eat, to be eating, to do eat
• trinken - to drink, to be drinking, to do drink
• bekommen - to get/receive, to be getting/receiving, to do get/receive
• möchten (M) - would like
• wollen (M) - to want, to be wanting, to do want

Of these five verbs, only trinken and bekommen are regular. Essen is irregular (that's what the "I" means). Do you remember from the last lesson 'lesen' and 'sehen'? In both of them, the first 'e' changed to 'ie' in the du- and er/sie/es-forms. Well essen experiences the same change, except that it changes to 'i', not 'ie'. Also, it acts the same as 'lesen' in the du-form: You don't have three s's in a row.

Person	Singular			Plural
1st	ich	esse		wir	essen
2nd	du	isst		ihr	esst
3rd	er/sie/es	isst		sie	essen

Isst sounds and looks a lot like ist. The minute difference happens to be in the way you pronounce the s. When you mean eats it is sometimes an overstressed hissing (i.e. extremely sharp) sound. In normal life Germans, too, can only tell which verb is meant from knowing the context.

Just like in last lesson, where you could say, "Ich spiele gerne Fußball.", you can also extend it to food. "I like to eat cheeseburgers." is translated as "Ich esse gerne Cheeseburger."

The last two verbs (marked (M)) are modals. They will be discussed in the next section.

[edit] Modals

In the introduction, you learned that German has no helping verbs. Instead, they have modals, words that basically do the same thing.

Modals are conjugated very differently from normal verbs. The ich- and er/sie/es-forms are always the same, while the du-form adds an 'st'. Most modals experience a vowel change from singular to plural, and the rest is the same.

[edit] Möchten

Möchten isn't technically a modal, but it acts exactly the same. There is no vowel change, and the ich- and er/sie/es forms are "möchte". Here is the complete conjugation:

Person	Singular			Plural
1st	ich	möchte		wir	möchten
2nd	du	möchtest		ihr	möchtet
3rd	er/sie/es	möchte		sie	möchten

Möchten means "would like" and can be applied to food (i.e. Ich möchte einen Cheeseburger.). Möchten can be translated even more literally as "would like to", and is traditionally used with an infinitive verb at the end of the sentence (i.e. "Ich möchte jetzt gehen"/"I would like to go now"). However, this infinitive is not neccesary if it's completely obvious what you're talking about (If you say "Ich möchte einen Cheeseburger", everyone will assume that you would like a cheeseburger to eat.)

(Note: Technically, "möchten" is not a word. The above cited conjugation is actually the "Konjunktiv" of "mögen", which has become so popular as a phrase, that even many Germans today aren't aware of it anymore, so you don't need to worry about it. "Etwas mögen" means "to like to", and "I would like" is the closest translation of "ich möchte")

[edit] Wollen

Wollen is a true modal; it even changes vowels. Ich/er/sie/es will and du willst. Here is the complete conjugation:

Person	Singular			Plural
1st	ich	will		wir	wollen
2nd	du	willst		ihr	wollt
3rd	er/sie/es	will		sie	wollen

Wollen can also be applied to food, but may be considered impolite and demanding ("Ich will einen Cheeseburger!" roughly means "I demand a cheeseburger!" Möchten should be used instead: "Ich möchte einen Cheeseburger!" = "I want a cheeseburger!").

Wollen should not be confused with the future tense, despite the presence of the English word 'will' in the conjugations. However, will can also mean an intent or a document showing what one wants to happen. So it is not so different from 'to want' as possibly originally presumed.

[edit] Modals with other verbs

When you need to use another verb with a modal (such as expressing you would like or want to preform an action), the sentence's word order is somewhat different than it would be in English. In English you would state the subject pronoun (such as "I"), an English equivalent to the modal verb (such as "want"), the action you want to perform (such as "to eat") and then what the action will be performed on (such as "hamburger"), making the sentence "I want to eat a hamburger." In German you must put the action at the end of the sentence, making the sentence "I want a hamburger to eat." ("Ich will einen Hamburger essen.")

[edit] Hunger and Thirst

In German, instead of saying, "I'm hungry.", you say "I have hunger." The same applies to thirst. Here are the German translations:

Hunger - der Hunger

Thirst - der Durst

Like in English, these two words do not have a plural form. When using them, you don't need to worry about the 'der'; you can just say, "Ich habe Hunger." to say "I am hungry".

[edit] Formal Conversations

In Lesson 1, you learned how to talk formally, using phrases like "Guten Morgen!" and "Wie heißen Sie?". There are, however, a few words that are 'survival words' in Germany, specifically

Danke - Thank you, Thanks

Bitte - Please and You're welcome.

To make this even more formal, you can tack on the word 'schön' to the end of "Thank you" and "You're welcome" to make 'dankeschön' and 'bitteschön' (both one word) in response. Schön literally means 'pretty' (you'll relearn this next lesson).

Some other ways to say "thank you":

• Dankeschön - Thank you very much
• Danke sehr - Thanks a lot
• Herzlichen Dank ("herzlichen" means sincere or from the heart; you may remember it from "Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!" last lesson)
• Vielen Dank - Thanks a lot
• Tausend Dank* - Thanks a million (literally means a thousand, but English is more generous.)
• Aufrichtigen Dank* - would be "thank you sincerely" (very formal)

* - You will not be tested on these phrases.

Some other ways to say "You are welcome":

• Bitteschön!
• Bitte sehr!
• Gern geschehen! (Don't mention it)
• Gerne!
• Kein Problem! (No problem)
• Dafür nicht!* - (Do) not (thank me) for this (only used in Northern Germany)

* - You will not be tested on this phrase.

[edit] Kein-words

Twice you have been taught that the ending of the indefinite article for plurals would be eine (for Nominative and Accusative cases), if there was an indefinite article for plurals. Now that lesson applies. The kein-words have the same endings as the ein-words, and they mean the opposite: no, not any, none. For example, "kein Cheeseburger" means "no cheeseburger". "Keine Cheeseburger" (in this case Cheeseburger is plural) means "No cheeseburgers". Notice the 'e' at the end of 'keine'. That's the ending for plurals and feminine nouns and can be likened to the "der, die, das -> die" relationship, where the feminine article serves for the plural as well.

[edit] Ordering at a Restaurant in Germany

das Restaur'ant' (French pronunciation) - Restaurant

beim - at (the)

There are many restaurants you might find in Germany. Much like in English-speaking countries, you would more likely use the name of the restaurant than name what kind of restaurant. If you want to address the wish to eat a certain food, there are two ways:

example: "wanting to eat chinese food"

1. "Ich möchte gerne zum Chinesen." - literally: "I want to go to the Chinese (restaurant)." 2. "Ich möchte gerne chinesisch essen (gehen)." - literally: "I want to (go) eat Chinese (style)."

Here are some more restaurants you can find in Germany:

• Chinese food: "zum Chinesen" / "chinesisch essen"
• Japanese food: "zum Japaner" / "japanisch essen"
• American food: "zum Amerikaner" / "amerikanisch essen"
• Mexican food: "zum Mexikaner" / "mexikanisch essen"
• Arabic food: "zum Araber" / "arabisch essen"
• Italian food: "zum Italiener" / "italienisch essen"
• Indian food: "zum Inder" / "indisch essen"
• French food: "zum Franzosen" / "französisch essen"
• Greek food: "zum Griechen" / "griechisch essen"
• Turkish food: "zum Türken" / "türkisch essen"

[edit] Accusative case prepositions

You read at the beginning of this lesson that the Accusative Case covers the direct object and the objects of some prepositions. Here are those prepositions that always fall under Accusative Case

Durch - through

Für - for

Gegen - against

Ohne - without

Um - at, around

You learned um last lesson, and ohne earlier this lesson. Durch and gegen will be taught in depth later, and für will be taught now.

Up until this point, you have only worried about the Accusative Case in third person. Für, meaning 'for', can and should be used in the first and second persons, too. Here's an example:

"The cheeseburger is for me." - "Der Cheeseburger ist für mich."

As you can see, 'me' is put into accusative case because the preposition is für.

[edit] Saying How Food Tastes

In German (as in English) there are several ways of telling how food tastes. You can do this with 'gut' and 'schlecht' from Lesson 1 to say:

Der Cheeseburger schmeckt gut - The cheeseburger tastes good

Der Cheeseburger schmeckt schlecht - The cheeseburger tastes bad

But this is bland. Hopefully the food has more flavor than the description of it. You can use the following words to more colorfully describe how the cheeseburger tastes:

• delicious - lecker

• delicious - delikat* (a lot more formal than lecker)

• tasty - schmackhaft

• juicy - saftig*

• crunchy - knackig

• crispy - knusprig*

• spicy - würzig, pikant

• stale, tasteless - fade* (Austria: fad)

• salty - salzig

• oversalted - versalzen*

• sweet - süß

• bitter - bitter

• sour - sauer

• creamy - cremig*

• hot (in the sense of "very spicy") - scharf

• hot (in the sense of "very warm") - heiß

• burnt - angebrannt*

• cold - kalt

• disgusting - schrecklich

* - You will not be tested on these descriptors.

Schmecken is a regular verb. Here is it's conjugation:

Person	Singular			Plural
1st	ich	schmecke		wir	schmecken
2nd	du	schmeckst		ihr	schmeckt
3rd	er/sie/es	schmeckt		sie	schmecken

The first and second persons really shouldn't be used. No one is going to say, "You guys taste salty" or "I taste creamy" (at least hopefully). So the only forms you need to know are er/sie/es schmeckt and sie (plural) schmecken.

You can use 'schmeckt' and 'schmecken' or 'ist' and 'sind' to state how the food tastes. Just use whichever one you would use in English and it'll be correct.

Although the English meaning of schmecken is simply to taste, "Schmeckt der Cheeseburger?" can be taken in a positive way to mean "Do you like the cheeseburger?". In other words, schmecken alone can mean to taste good.

[edit] Dieser-forms

"The cheeseburger tastes good." does not sound that specific as to which cheeseburger you are talking about. You could be talking about some other cheeseburger than the one in front of you. It just isn't clear. Now, if you said, "This cheeseburger tastes good.", it would be obvious that you're talking about the cheeseburger you're eating. 'Dieser' is the German translation for 'this': "Dieser Cheeseburger schmeckt gut."

[edit] Dieser

Dieser is a special adjective. It changes forms in different situations: different genders and different cases. It can also mean 'these' when modifying a plural. Here are its forms:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative Case	dieser	diese	dieses	diese
Accusative Case	diesen	diese	dieses	diese

As you can see, dieser is only appropriate for modifying masculine nouns in nominative case. But 'Cheeseburger', which is masculine, is the subject of the sentence, "Dieser Cheeseburger schmeckt gut." So it is correct in that circumstance.

[edit] Jeder

Jeder means 'every'. It acts exactly like 'dieser' in its endings, so it should be easy to remember. Here are the different forms:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative Case	jeder	jede	jedes
Accusative Case	jeden	jede	jedes

Notice the absence of the plural form. When you think about this, it's the same in English: no one says 'every books'.

[edit] Welcher

'Welcher' is the third of this threesome of adjectives. 'Welcher' means 'which' and is used like the other interrogatives (wer, was, wann, wo, warum, wie, and welcher). However, because the general subject has to be specified welcher must be inflected before use: "Welcher Hamburger ist seine?" Its forms have the same endings as 'dieser'.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative Case	welcher	welche	welches	welche
Accusative Case	welchen	welche	welches	welche

[edit] Connection with Time

You might want to say 'every day', 'this week', 'every morning', or 'which Tuesday night?'. But to do this, not only do you need to know the jeder-forms, but also the genders of the times and the cases. The second one is easy: Whenever you do something at a certain time, that time is put into Accusative Case. Last lesson, you learned the gender of one time: der Tag. So now you know everything to say 'diesen Tag', 'jeden Tag', and 'welchen Tag?' (this day, every day, and which day?). Here are the cases of all the times in Lesson 2:

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Tag Monat Morgen Abend Nachmittag	Woche Nacht	Jahr Wochenende

When extending to 'which Tuesday night?', remember that the night stays feminine on Tuesday, so it stays "Welche Dienstagnacht?". Likewise, you can say 'every June' the same as 'every month': 'jeden Juni'.

[edit] This and That

Ich möchte einen Cheeseburger. Der schmeckt sehr gut.

Ich esse jeden Tag Cheeseburger. Die habe ich gern.

Look at the second sentence of each of these German dialogues. What's missing? That's right, instead of "Der Cheeseburger schmeckt sehr gut." and "Die Cheeseburger habe ich gern.", both of the 'Cheeseburger's, so to speak, are dropped. We're left with just the articles, only in this case, they aren't articles. They're demonstrative pronouns.

Demonstrative pronouns aren't scary. They're just the same as the normal pronouns, only they give more oomph to the sentence. They can be translated as either 'this' or 'that' ("I'd like a cheeseburger. That tastes very good."), or 'these' or 'those' for plurals ("I eat cheeseburgers every day. These I like.").

Demonstrative pronouns are exactly the same as the definite articles (well, there is one change in dative, but that will be covered in Lesson 7). If you are not sure of the gender (meaning in context, the speaker doesn't know, not that you've forgotten that it's 'der Cheeseburger'), use 'das', like in "Was ist das?" (What is that?).

[edit] Money and Paying

Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Belgium and Südtirol – in other words: all German speaking regions except Switzerland and Liechtenstein– have given up their former currencies and adopted the Euro as of 1999. One Euro is worth 100 Cents. Because they are not members of the European Union, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have kept the Swiss Francs (Franken = 100 Rappen).

'Euro' normally does not change in the plural in German, so you would still say "Ich habe 500 Euro." Nevertheless, there is an exception: Euro coins. If you say "Ich habe vier Euros.", you actually are saying that you have four 1-Euro coins. Because the backsides of euro coins look different in each country, many people in Europe have started collecting foreign euro coins. In this case you can say "Ich habe irische Euros." (I have Irish euro coins.) for example.

There is not yet a rule whether or not the word "Cent" has a different plural form. The majority of Germans are using the word "Cent" as a plural form, but when they don't it is simply "Cents".

In German "euro" is pronounced [‘oi-ro], not [you-ro]. For "Cent" there are two pronunciations: you can either pronounce it as in English or you say "tzent". The latter version seems to be preferred by older people.

When at a restaurant, you will want to pay at the end. You can use this vocabulary to help you.

to pay - zahlen

the bill - die Rechnung

the waiter - der Ober

"How much is that?" - "Was macht das?" ("What does that make?")

To ask for the bill you can say, "Bitte zahlen!", or make it a complete sentence: "Ich möchte zahlen!", or "Wir möchten/wollen zahlen!". You can also say, "(Herr Ober), die Rechnung bitte!"

[edit] Test

The test for this lesson is not yet completed. When it is finished, the link will be added here.

[edit] Review 1.01

Section 1 ~ Starting Point Review

[edit] Vocabulary

I             ich
We            wir
You           du
              Sie (formal) 
You All       ihr
              Sie (formal)
He            er
She           sie
It            es
They          sie

Have          habe (1st Person, Singular, ich)
              hast (2nd Person, Singular, informal, du)
              haben (1st & 3rd Person, Plural, wir, sie; 2nd Person, singular & plural, formal, Sie)
              habt (2nd Person, Plural, informal, ihr)
Has           hat (3rd Person, singular, er, sie, es

Am            bin (1st person, Singular)
Are           bist (2nd Person, Singular, informal)
              sind (1st & 3rd Person, Plural; 2nd Person, sing. & plur., formal)
              seid (2nd Person, Plural, informal)
Is            ist

Hello!        Hallo!
              Servus! (used in Bavaria and Austria)
              Moin! or Moin Moin! (used in northern Germany)                    
              Grüezi! (used in Switzerland)
Good morning! Guten Morgen! or Morgen!
Good day!     Guten Tag! or Tag!
Good evening! Guten Abend! or N'Abend!
              Grüß Gott! (used in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol)
Goodbye!      Auf Wiedersehen! or Wiedersehen 
Bye!          Tschüss! or Tschau! (Ciao from Italy)
              Servus! (used in Bavaria, Austria)
Later!        Bis später! or Bis dann!
Good night!   Gute Nacht!

Good          Gut
Super!        Spitze!
Great!        Prima!
Very good!    Sehr gut!
Bad           Schlecht
Miserable     Miserabel

Who           Wer
What          Was
Where         Wo
When          Wann
Why           Warum
How           Wie
  
Boy           Der Junge
Girl          Das Mädchen
Man           Der Herr
Woman         Die Frau
Boys          Die Jungen
Girls         Die Mädchen
Men           Die Männer
Women         Die Frauen

Sport(s)      Sport
Interests     Hobbys
Soccer        Fußball
USA Football  Football
Volleyball    Volleyball
Basketball    Basketball
Tennis        Tennis
Baseball      Baseball
9-pin Bowling Kegeln
Chess         Schach
Board Game    Das Brettspiel
Game          Das Spiel
Homework      Hausaufgaben
Television    Fernsehen
Movie         Der Film, Filme
And           und
But           aber
Or            oder

To Have       haben
To Be         sein
To Be Called  heißen
To Play       spielen
To Do/Make    machen
To Read       lesen
To Watch      schauen
To See        sehen
To Work       arbeiten
To Write      schreiben
To Swim       schwimmen

One           Eins
Two           Zwei
Three         Drei
Four          Vier
Five          Fünf
Six           Sechs
Seven         Sieben
Eight         Acht 
Nine          Neun
Ten           Zehn
Eleven        Elf
Twelve        Zwölf
Thirteen      Dreizehn
Fourteen      Vierzehn
Fifteen       Fünfzehn
Sixteen       Sechzehn
Seventeen     Siebzehn
Eighteen      Achtzehn
Nineteen      Neunzehn
Twenty        Zwanzig
Thirty        Dreißig
Forty         Vierzig
Fifty         Fünfzig
Sixty         Sechzig
Seventy       Siebzig
Eighty        Achtzig
Ninety        Neunzig
Hundred       Hundert
Thousand      Tausend

Noon           Mittag
Midnight       Mitternacht
After          Nach
Till           Vor
Quarter        Viertel
Half Before    Halb
Quarter Before Dreiviertel (used in eastern Germany)

Day           Tag
Today         Heute
Tomorrow      Morgen
Yesterday     Gestern
Early Morning Morgen (use morgen früh for tommorrow morning)
Morning       Vormittag
Afternoon     Nachmittag
Evening       Abend
Night 	      Nacht

Monday        Montag
Tuesday       Dienstag
Wednesday     Mittwoch
Thursday      Donnerstag
Friday        Freitag
Saturday      Samstag or Sonnabend
Sunday        Sonntag
January       Januar 
              Jänner (used in Austria)
February      Februar
March 	      März
April 	      April
May 	      Mai
June 	      Juni 
              Juno (in spoken word only)
July 	      Juli 
              Julei (in spoken word only)
August        August
September     September
October       Oktober
November      November
December      Dezember
Spring        Frühling
Summer        Sommer
Autumn        Herbst
Winter        Winter

Time          Die Zeit
Free Time     Die Freizeit
Always        immer
Often         oft
Sometimes     manchmal
Seldom        selten
Never         nie
Only          nur

Me            mich
Us            uns
You           dich
You (formal)  Sie
You All       euch
Him           ihn
Her           sie
It            es
Them          sie

Appetizers    Vorspeisen
Salad         Der Salat
Bread         Das Brot
Breadstick    Die Scheibe Brot
Main Dishes   Hauptgerichte
Sausage       Die Wurst
Sausages      Die Würste
Bratwurst     Die Bratwurst
Hot Dog       Das Hot Dog
Pizza         Die Pizza
Pizzas        Die Pizzen
Hamburger     Der Hamburger
Hamburgers    Die Hamburger
With          mit (ignore article)
Without       ohne (ignore article)
Tomatoes      Die Tomaten
Lettuce       Der Salat
Cheese        Der Käse
Pickles       Die Gewürzgurken
Onions        Die Zwiebeln
Ketchup       Der Ketchup
Mustard       Der Senf
Chicken       Das Hähnchen
Chickens      Die Hähnchen
Seafood       Die Meeresfrüchte (plural)
Fish          Der Fisch 
Sides         Die Beilage (singular), die Beilagen (plural)
Soup          Die Suppe
Soups         Die Suppen
Noodle Soup   Die Nudelsuppe
French Fries  Die Pommes frites (plural)
Fries         Die Fritten (Informal and plural)
Pasta         Die Pasta or Die Nudeln
Potato        Die Kartoffel
Potatoes      Die Kartoffeln
Corn          Der Mais
Bean          Die Bohne
Beans         Die Bohnen
Desserts      Nachspeisen
Gâteau        Die (Sahne-)Torte
Strudel       Der Strudel
Apple strudel Der Apfelstrudel
Cake          Der Kuchen
Piece of Cake Das Stück Kuchen
Pie           Die Pastete
Piece of Pie  Das Stück Pastete
Apple Pie     Die Apfelpastete
Ice Cream     Das Eis
Pudding       Der Pudding
Cookie        Der Keks
Cookies       Die Kekse
Fruit         Das Obst
The Meal      Das Essen
Lunch         Das Mittagessen
Dinner        Das Abendessen
Hunger        Der Hunger 
Thirst        Der Durst

To Eat        essen
To Drink      trinken
To Receive    bekommen
To Want       wollen
Would Like    möchten

Thank you                Danke        
Please & You're Welcome  Bitte   
Thank you very much      Dankeschön
Thanks a lot             Danke sehr
No problem               Kein Problem!

Chinese Food  chinesisches Essen
Japanese Food japanisches Essen
American Food amerikanisches Essen
Mexican Food  mexikanisches Essen
Arabic Food   arabisches Essen
Italian Food  italienisches Essen
Indian Food   indisches Essen
French Food   französiches Essen
Greek Food    griechisches Essen

Durch         Through
Für           For
Gegen         Against
Ohne          Without
Um            At, Around

Delicious     lecker
Tasty         schmackhaft
Juicy         saftig
Crunchy       knackig
Crispy        knusprig
Spicy         würzig
Stale         fade 
              fad (used in Austria)
Salty         salzig
Sweet         süß
Bitter        bitter
Sour          sauer
Creamy        cremig     
Hot           heiß
Burnt         angebrannt
Cold          kalt
Disgusting    schrecklich

To Pay        Zahlen
The Bill      Die Rechnung
Waiter        Der Ober

[edit] Wie heißt Du?

[edit] Hello and Goodbyes

Wir haben Begrüßungen und Verabschiedungen gelernt. Können Sie sich an diese erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Nominative Case

Wir haben auch den Nominativ gelernt. Können Sie sich an ihn erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Names

Wir haben das Verb heißen gelernt. Erinnern Sie sich?

Bericht!

[edit] Verbs

Wir haben zwei andere Verben konjugiert. Können Sie sich daran erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Articles

Wir haben die Artikel beim Nominativ gelernt. Können Sie sich an sie erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Freizeit

[edit] Regulars Verbs

Wir haben die regelmäßigen Verbende gelernt. Können Sie sich an sie erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Likes & Dislikes

Wir haben gelernt unser Gefallen auszudrücken. Können Sie sich daran erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Numbers

Wir haben die Zahlen gelernen. Können Sie sich an sie erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Time

Wir haben schon Zeit-Wörter gelernt. Können Sie sich an diese erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Essen

[edit] Accusative Case

Wir hatten schon den Akkusativ-Fall gelernt. Können Sie sich an ihn erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Modal Verbs

Wir haben die Modalverben gelernt. Können Sie sich an sie erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] Kein-Words

Wir haben die „Kein“-Wörter gelernt. Können Sie sich daran erinnern?

Bericht!

[edit] This, Everyone, and Which

Wir haben „dieser“, „jeder“ und „welcher“ gelernt.. Können Sie sich erinnern?

Bericht!

---

[edit] Section 1.02 ~ Berlin, Germany

[edit] Lesson 1.04 - Kleidung

Lesson 4 ~ Kleidung

[edit] Hello from Berlin!

In every Lesson from 4 - 12 there is going to be a featured German-Speaking city, which be the theme of the lesson. For 4 - 6 it is Berlin. There will be famous locations in Berlin, like for this lession it's Kurfürstendamm and KaDeWe, the shopping area of Berlin. Also in each lesson there will be facts, so if you ever travel to a German-Speaking country it'll be like you are a native!

[edit] Facts

[edit] It's Time to Change Time

Berlin's time is UTC+1. That means that they are 6 hours ahead of E.S.T. If it's 2:00pm in New York City, it's 8:00pm (or 20:00) locally. Please note that Germany changes to and from daylight-saving time a few weeks before the U.S., so time differences still vary in March and October.

[edit] Tip, Tip, and More Tip

Tipping. A service charge is always included on restaurant checks, but it is usual and polite to round up the amount. For a cup of coffee costing about 2.00 EUR, you would round up to 2.50 EUR. At a restaurant, you should give a tip of at least five percent. Giving no tip at all is considered extremely rude. Tip when paying, don't leave money on the table. Tip the hat check or coat check attendant. Add about 2 Euros to taxi fares. Tipping is very important.

[edit] Shopping Locations

There are two major shopping locations. The Kurfürstendamm in the old west is lined with boutiques and department stores. It continues eastwards for about three hundred yards where you can visit KaDeWe, the biggest department store in Europe. On the newly-developed Friedrichstraße in the old east, the famous French store Galleries Lafayette is to be found together with a maze of underground shopping malls. Shops are generally open 9am-8pm Monday through Saturday. In the outskirts most shops close at 4pm on Saturdays.

[edit] Dialogue

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) Going Shopping Einkaufen gehen
Helga	Guten Morgen, Maria.
Maria	Morgen. Wie geht's dir?
Helga	Mir geht's gut. Ich gehe zum Kurfürstendamm, möchtest du mitkommen?
Maria	Ja, gerne. Ich hole vorher noch Geld.
Helga	Ich sehe dich dann am Kurfürstendamm.
	am Kurfürstendamm
Helga	Hallo Maria!
Maria	Hallo!
Helga	Wohin gehen wir als erstes?
Maria	Lass uns zu dieser Boutique gehen.
Helga	O.K.
	in der Boutique
Angestellter Thomas	Hallo meine Damen!
Maria und Helga	Hallo, guten Tag.
Angestellter Thomas	Benötigen Sie Hilfe?
Maria	Ja, können Sie mir helfen, diesen Rock in meiner Größe zu finden?
Angestellter Thomas	Natürlich.
Angestellter Thomas	Hier ist der Rock in Ihrer Größe.
Maria	Danke. Wo ist die Umkleidekabine?
Angestellter Thomas	Dort.

[edit] Shopping

[edit] Shopping

---

There is a lot to say to shopping, places to shop at, money and items to buy. In this lesson we will cover most of it. There are two big shopping locations in Berlin. They are Kurfürstendamm and KaDeWe.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Shopping Einkaufen
English	German
Babywear	die Babyartikel (plural)
Children's Wear	die Kinderbekleidung
Clearance Sale	der Räumungsverkauf
Closed	Geschlossen
Clothing	die Kleidung
Computer Section	die Computerabteilung
Cosmetics	die Kosmetik
Customer	der Kunde
Customer Service	der Kundendienst
Electrical Appliance	das Elektrogerät
Escalator	die Rolltreppe
Fashion	die Mode
Furniture	das Möbelstück (singular), die Möbel (plural)
Gift	der Geschenkartikel
Good Value (Adj.)	Preiswert
Groceries	die Lebensmittel (plural)
Jewelery	der Schmuck (no plural)
Lady's Shoes	die Damenschuhe (plural)
Leather Goods	die Lederwaren (plural)
Open	Geöffnet
Opening Hours	die Öffnungszeiten (plural)
Present	das Geschenk
Reduced	Reduziert
Sales Receipt	der Kassenbon
Souvenir	das Andenken
Special Offer	das Sonderangebot
Sporting Goods	die Sportartikel (plural)
Stationery	die Schreibwaren (plural)
Summer Sale	der Sommerschlussverkauf (abbr. SSV)
Video Store	die Videothek
Winter Sale	der Winterschlussverkauf (abbr. WSV)

[edit] Kurfürstendamm

---

• Kurfürstendamm

Tauentzienstraße

Fasanenstraße

The Kurfürstendamm has many boutiques, department stores, etc., which are on Tauentzienstraße and Fasanenstraße, two streets in Kurfürstendamm. Tauentzienstraße has a lot of the department stores, including KaDeWe, which we will get into greater detail later. Fasanenstraße has a lot of the boutiques.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Ku'damm Kurfürstendamm
English	German
Department Store	das Warenhaus
Retail Store	das Einzelhandelsgeschäft
The Mall	das Einkaufszentrum
Boutique	die Boutique
Store	das Geschäft

And some of the things you might say or ask while in a Clothing store...

• Können Sie mir helfen, meine Größe zu finden (für dieses ____)?

Can you help me find my size (for this ____)?

• Wo ist die Umkleidekabine?

Where is the dressing room?

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Ku'damm Kurfürstendamm
English	German
Manager	der Manager
Employee	der/die Angestellte
Sales Clerk	der Verkäufer
Cashier	der Kassierer
Dressing Room	die Umkleidekabine
Men's Section	die Männerabteilung
Women's Section	die Frauenabteilung

Section Problems>>

[edit] KaDeWe

---

Another shopping location is das KaDeWe, an upscale department store in Germany. It has six floors, and Is also called "The department store of the west" (Kaufhaus des Westens) because it is the largest and most magnificent department store on continental Europe.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) KaDeWe Kaufhaus des Westens
English	German
First Floor	Erstes Stockwerk
Menswear	Männerkleidung
Second Floor	Zweiter Stock
Womenswear	Frauenkleidung
Third Floor	Dritte Stock
Kids Section	Kinderabteilung
Fourth Floor	Vierter Stock
Electronics	Elektronik
Kitchenware	Küchenbedarf
Fifth Floor	Fünfter Stock
Lighting	Beleuchtung
Bedding	Bettwäsche
Toys	Spielwaren
Sixth Floor	Sechster Stock
Food	Lebensmittel

Since we already have most of the general shopping phrases and vocabulary down, we are going to get into more detail in the next few sections.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Electronics

---

First is electronics: it might seem a little sparse, but electronics and much other stuff will be featured in Lesson 12.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) KaDeWe Kaufhaus des Westens
English	German
Electronics	die Elektronik
Television	das Fernsehen, der Fernseher
Digital Camera	die Digitalkamera
Telephone	das Telefon
Cell phone	das Mobiltelefon, das Handy
Computer	der Computer, der Rechner
Speakers	der Lautsprecher
DVDs	die DVDs (singular: die DVD)
CDs	die CDs (singular: die CD)
DVD Player	der DVD-Player
CD Player	der CD-Player

Spielt der DVD-Player auch CDs?

Does the DVD player also play CDs?

Hat das Mobiltelefon eine Digitalkamera?

Does the cell phone have a digital camera?

If you look at the word order of this sentence, you will see that you've already learned everything you need to make these sentences, and you, yourself can customize these sentences if you want.

Section Problems>>

[edit] Bedding

The bedding section is also quite bare, but that is because it will be discussed further in Lesson 12.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) KaDeWe Kaufhaus des Westens
English	German
Bedding	die Bettwäsche
Blanket	die Decke
Pillow	das Kopfkissen
Pillow Case	der Kopfkissenbezug
Sheet	das Blatt
Bed Skirt	der Bett-Rock

And like always here are some of the things you might say that are related to bedding.

• Passen die Kopfkissenbezüge auf das Kopfkissen?

Does the pillow case fit the pillow?

And with that question there are other variations of it you can ask, like...

• Passt die Decke auf das Bett?

Does the blanket fit the bed?

Section Problems>>

[edit] Money

---

Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Belgium and Südtirol – in other words: all German speaking regions except Switzerland and Liechtenstein– have given up their former currencies and adopted the Euro as of 1999. Because they are not members of the European Union, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have kept the Swiss Francs. Currently 1 EUR is 1.34 USD, so the Euro is stronger.

Now if you were at a shopping center in German like Kurfürstendamm, and you were shopping at a boutique here is some vocabulary you might want to know.

• Was macht das?

Was kostet das?

How much does it cost?

• Das Hemd kostet 120 Euro.

The shirt costs 120 euros.

• Das kostet 690 Euro.

That costs 690 euros (all together).

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Money Geld
English	German
Price	der Preis
Note	der Schein
Coin	die Münze
1 Euro coin	das Eurostück, das Ein-Euro-Stück
2 Euro coin	das Zweieurostück
5 Euro note	der Fünfeuroschein
10 Euro note	der Zehneuroschein
100 Euro note	der Hunderteuroschein

Note: The word coin (Münze) mostly turns to Stück when a word or number is put together with it.

Even though in the vocabulary we list the 1, 2, 5, 10, 100 Euro there are more Euro Notes. The twenty, fifty, and two hundred Euro Notes are the ones we didn't list, also there are cent coins.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Money Geld
English	German
1 Cent Coin	das Centstück
2 Cent Coin	das Zweicentstück
5 Cent Coin	das Fünfcentstück
10 Cent Coin	das Zehncentstück
20 Cent Coin	das Zwanzigcentstück
50 Cent Coin	das Fünfzigcentstück

[edit] German Math

---

In written German, a comma is used (e. g. in prices) where we would put a decimal point in English. Thus € 5,49 (or 5,49 €) means five euros and fourty-nine cents. When a price ends in a round number of euros, it is most commonly written as € 5,- etc. The reverse is also true. Where as English uses a comma to split up large numbers, German uses a dot. So "€ 6.945" means sechs tausend neunhundertfünfundvierzig (six thousand nine hundred and forty-five) euros - not six point nine four five euros.

[edit] Clothing

---

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Clothes Kleidung
English	German
Skirt	der Rock
Pullover	der Pullover
Scarf	das Tuch
Coat	der Mantel
Shirt	das Hemd
Sweater	der Pullover
Necktie	der Schlips
Jacket	die Jacke
Pants	die Hose
Hat	der Hut
Shoe	der Schuh
Sock	die Socke
Glove	der Handschuh
Blouse	die Bluse

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Clothes Kleidung
English	German
Size	die Größe
Color	die Farbe
Cotton	die Baumwolle
Leather	das Leder
Rayon	die Kunstseide

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Sizes Die Größen
English	German
Small	Klein
Medium	Mittel
Large	Groß
Extra-Large	Extragroß

Section Answers>>

[edit] Describing Clothes

Here are some of the words you can use when you are describing clothes:

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Sizes Adjektive für Kleidung
English	German
Cheap	Günstig
Expensive	Teuer
Pretty	Schön
Ugly	Hässlich
Soft	Weich
New	Neu
Broad	Breit
Wide	Weit
Tight	Eng
Comfortable	Bequem

To say I like something or not, for clothing, it's...

I like it!

Er/Sie/Es gefällt mir!

I don't like it!

Er/Sie/Es gefällt mir nicht!

Now if you try something on or your're looking for a soft shirt with a tight fit, you find it, feel it, try it on, but it's fairly expensive you might say this...

In English: The shirt looks great! The shirt feels soft, fits tight. The shirt is very comfortable. How much does it cost? Oh no! The shirt is expensive! 55 euros is a little too much for me.

In German: Das Hemd sieht prima aus! Das Hemd fühlt sich weich an, es sitzt eng. Das Hemd ist sehr bequem. Wieviel kostet es? Oh nein! Das Hemd ist teuer! 55 Euro sind mir ein bisschen zuviel.

The phrases to describe the shirt were...

The shirt looks great.

Das Hemd sieht prima aus.

The shirt feels soft.

Das Hemd fühlt sich weich an.

The shirt fits tight.

Der Hemd sitzt eng.

Now, the bold words are verbs that are one part in describing how the shirt is. The other half of describing it is the adjectives like soft, tight, great, etc. And as you can see the verb "looks" is separable, but we will get into that later.

[edit] Clothing-Related Verbs

And now getting into verbs - here are some of the verbs, and also some of these are Separable-Prefix Verbs, like aussehen, anprobieren, and anhaben. But we will study those in more detail later. Also we will be learning about "tragen".

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (how to upload) Sizes Prefix-Verben
English	German
to look	aussehen
He looks	Er sieht aus
to try on	anprobieren
He tries on	Er probiert an
to put on	anziehen
He puts on	Er zieht an
To take	nehmen
To buy	kaufen
To have on/wear	anhaben, tragen
He has on/wears	Er hat an

[edit] Separable Prefix Verbs

Many German verbs change their meaning by adding prefixs, which are often preposition such as ab-, an-, auf-, aus-, bei-, ein-, mit-, vor-, or zu-.The verbs anhaben (to wear) and aussehen (to look) are both verbs with separable (trennbar) prefixes. That is, when used next to the subject pronoun, the prefix is separated from the verb and put at the end of the sentence or clause. Or, better put, In the present tense and imperative, the prefix is separated from the infinitive stem.

Examples:

"Ich habe einen Mantel an." ("I'm wearing a coat." Or, more literally translated, "I have a coat on.")

"Was hast du an?" ("What are you wearing?" or "What do you have on?")

However, when the separable-prefix verb is put at the end of the sentence, such as when used with a modal verb, the verb in question and its prefix are not separated.

Examples:

"Du willst einen Mantel anhaben." ("You want to wear a coat.")

"Willst du eine Bluse anhaben?" ("Do you want to wear a blouse?")

Section Problems>>

[edit] Tragen

Instead of "anhaben" the verb "tragen" is often used. The sentences from above would then be:

"Ich trage einen Mantel." ("I'm wearing a coat." )
"Was trägst du?" ("What are you wearing?")
"Du willst einen Mantel tragen." ("You want to wear a coat.")
"Willst du eine Bluse tragen?" ("Do you want to wear a blouse?")

The verb "tragen" has two meanings: "to wear" and "to carry". So if someone says "Ich trage Schuhe" only the context will tell you whether the person is carrying the shoes in his hands or actually wearing them. Tragen is a different kind of irregular verb -- one that not only changes at the end of the word, but also changes internally. Notice that the vowel in tragen's second and third-person forms changes from an a into an ä. Other verbs with similar conjugation patterns include fahren, graben, schaffen, and waschen.

Person	Singular			Plural
1st	ich	trage		wir	tragen
2nd	du	trägst		ihr	tragt
3rd	er/sie/es	trägt		sie	tragen

[edit] Colors

Color are also another great way to describe clothes like Das rote Hemd passt gut.which means The red shirt fits well.

Read the following paragraph, try to find the words described to have a color.

Wir fahren in den Schwarzwald. Ich habe ein grünes Hemd getragen. Die Reise war lang. Es begann kälter zu werden und abzukühlen. Ich hörte Musik auf meinem braunen iPod. Ich bin schließlich eingeschlafen. Als ich aufwachte, sah ich den blauen Himmel und den weißen Schnee.

If you found 5 words you are right.

Schwarz which means black (the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) is a wooded mountain range)

Grünes Hemd which is a green shirt.

Brauner iPod which is a brown iPod.

Blauer Himmel which is blue sky.

And weißer Schnee which is white snow.

And now for the actual colors...

Red                "Rot"     
Blue               "Blau"
Green              "Grün"  
Orange             "Orange"
Violet             "Violett"
Yellow             "Gelb"
Brown              "Braun"
Indigo             "Indigo"
Gray               "Grau"
Black              "Schwarz"
White              "Weiß"

Section Problems>>

[edit] Lesson 1.05 - Volk und Familie

Lesson 5 ~ Volk und Familie

[edit] Hello from Berlin!

[edit] Facts

---

[edit] Banks and Money

Germany's main banks are Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank. There are many banks of all kinds throughout the country. Banks are open Mon-Fri 9am-12pm or 2:30-4pm. On Thursdays, they are open until 5:30 or 6pm. Changing money is best done at a bank because their rates will be better than exchange services located at Bureau de Change. Major post office branches and travel agents also offer currency exchange. Germany is one of 15 European countries that have replaced their national currencies with the Euro, which is much stronger to the U.S. Dollar, but weaker than the British Pound.

[edit] Dialog

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (info •788 kb • help) Visiting Family Besuchende Familie
	Vater, Mutter und die Geschwister bekommen Besuch von Oma und Opa
Vater Karl	Hallo Mama, Hallo Papa! Wie geht es euch?
Opa Rudolf	Na mein Enkel, du bist ja richtig groß geworden!
Oma Lisa	Mir geht's gut. Ich gehe zum Kurfürstendamm. Möchtet ihr mit mir kommen?
Sohn Thomas	Ja, Opa, ich weiß.
Tochter Marie	Oma! Hast du uns etwas mitgebracht?
Mutter Bettina	Nun sei nicht so aufgeregt Marie, lass Oma und Opa erst einmal hereinkommen.
	kurze Zeit später, die Geschenke wurden schon ausgepackt...
Tochter Marie	Mutti! Thomas nimmt mir immer meine Puppe weg.
Mutter Bettina	Thomas! Du sollst deiner Schwester nicht ihre Puppe wegnehmen.
Sohn Thomas	Nein, das ist meine Puppe.
Mutter Bettina	Nein. Die Puppe gehört deiner Schwester.
Sohn Thomas	Gut, hier hast du die Puppe...
Mutter Bettina	Und bedanke dich bei deinen Großeltern, Marie.

[edit] People

[edit] The Family

---

Home is where the heart is, they say. And what is in the home? Family! of course, so this is a very important section of the lesson. It'll give all vocabulary for the family, and later in a different section, you'll learn how to describe your brothers and sisters or any person! And now to get started lets do some vocabulary...

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •585 kb • help) The Family Die Familie
English	German
Son	Sohn
Daughter	Tochter
Father	Vater
Mother	Mutter
Dad	Papa (informal), Vati (informal)
Mum	Mama (informal), Mutti (informal)
Grandfather	Großvater
Grandmother	Großmutter
Grandpa	Opa
Grandma	Oma
Sister	Schwester
Brother	Bruder
Siblings	Geschwister
Grandson	Enkel
Granddaughter	Enkelin
Wife	Ehefrau, Frau (informal), Gattin (formal)
Husband	Ehemann, Mann (informal), Gatte (formal)
Father-in-law	Schwiegervater
Mother-in-law	Schwiegermutter
Brother-in-law	Schwager
Sister-in-law	Schwägerin
Son-in-law	Schwiegersohn
Daughter-in-law	Schwiegertochter
Uncle	Onkel
Aunt	Tante

Now even though many of these are common phrases you and I would say in everyday life, some of these are rather used when you are on a visit to grandmother's, or things your mother would say. Maybe you notice some of these in the dialogue. Now you might be asking "How am I going to speak fluent German, if I just learn phrases?" Like I said, these are basically from the dialogue, and you can study these to look at the word order. Also certain things are just different in German, like "Wie heißt du?" which translates literally to "How are you called?" when we use "What is your name?". Okay let's get started on these common phrases...

Du bist ja richtig groß geworden.

You have grown up so much (usual sentence used by Opa und Oma)

Hast du uns etwas mitgebracht?

Have you brought something for us?

Nun sei nicht so aufgeregt.

Now don't be so excited.

Komm rein.

Come in.

(Sie) Wurden schon ausgepackt.

(They) Have already been opened.

(Sich) Bedanken für etwas.

To thank for something.

[edit] Using Formal and Informal Pronouns in the Family

Some very conservative families might still use Sie with grandparents or even parents! This is sometimes practiced in families of nobility or exterritorial cultural islands in which older German customs have survived. However, using "Sie" feels very outdated to the vast majority of people. In practically every family all members use du with each other.

[edit] Describing People

---

I can't describe in words how important this section of the lesson is. Even though you have already learned to describe to some degree, here we will introduce a new aspect of describing, and we will review. But how could we describe if we didn't have vocabulary? Here it is...

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •923 kb • help) Describing People Beschreibend Leute
English	German
Nice	Nett, Sympathisch
Mean	Unfreundlich, Gemein
Nasty	Fies, Gemein
Pretty	Schön
Ugly	Hässlich
Intelligent	Intelligent
Unintelligent	Unintelligent
Clever	Schlau, Klug, Clever
Stupid	Dumm
Interesting	Interessant
Boring	Langweilig
Active	Rührig, aktiv
Lazy	Faul
Funny	Komisch, witzig
Serious	Ernst(haft)
Strong	Stark
Weak	Schwach
Odd	Eigenartig
Talented	Begabt, Talentiert
Untalented	Unbegabt, Untalentiert
Bossy	Rechthaberisch
Passive	Untätig
Old	Alt
Young	Jung
Fat	Fett, Dick
Skinny	Dünn
Tall	Groß
Short	Klein
Evil	Böse

The verb used most often for describing is "to be" which we learned in the first lesson. Some examples are: He is wet, She is stupid, I am lazy. But you do use other verbs like feel, looks, ect. This lesson we will be sticking mostly with the verbs we've learned in the past. We will, however, learn one new verb. All sentences we will create will be in the nomitive case. Okay, let's get started!

In term of beauty, you can say four basic things. These aren't all, but these are the easiest and simplest ones.

She is beautiful.

Sie ist schön.

He is ugly.

Er ist häßlich.

These two use the verb to be, and the next one will use the verb to look which would need something else in order to make sense.

She looks beautiful, but that shirt is ugly.

Sie sieht schön aus, aber dieses Hemd ist häßlich.

He looks ugly, but he looked handsome yesterday.

Er sieht häßlich aus, aber gestern hat er schön ausgesehen.

And in the last sentence it says "ausgesehen." Don't worry about that--it wouldn't be taught until Level 3. So since you get the idea of describing, let's learn a new verb! And the new verb is klingen which is to sound. As in "He sounds weird.", "She sounds boring." Since we know how to describe, we really don't have to cover it. It's works just like other verbs.

He sounds nice.

Er klingt nett.

They sound funny.

Sie klingen komisch.

Remember that when describing it's S+V+A, or subject, verb, then adjective. Exactly like in English. For right now, that's all for describing things. We are going to have some small describing lessons with some parts of this lesson.

[edit] Related Verbs

Okay we just went over the verb in the previous section. This will basically be a list that will help you memorize them better, and there is not a lot. Other then "klingen" and "fühlen" you should know all of these. The the "Er sieht aus" is to show you it is a separable-prefix verb.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •102 kb • help) Verbs Verben
English	German
To be	Sein
To look	Aussehen
He looks	Er sieht aus
To feel	Fühlen
To sound	Klingen

[edit] Nationality

---

This also a large section of this lesson, nationality, it is very important. You can use it as a stereotype, or for your heritage. There are many nationalities, too many to go over in this lesson, you will more nationality as this level, and book goes on. Right now we are just going to have a vague little list, and as this section goes there will be more, like Swede and Swedish or Frenchman, Frenchwoman, and French. And so for the list...

[edit] Major Nationalities

This is the small list, make sure you memorize this list and the next one.

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •127 kb • help) Nationalities Nationalitäten
English	German
German	Deutscher
American	Amerikaner
Englishman	Engländer
Spaniard	Spanier
Italian	Italiener
Frenchman	Franzose

[edit] Describing People with Nationality

It is no surprise you can describe people with nationality, most times, it's stereotypical, like norwegians are blonde, tall, etc. or germans wear lederhosen, drink beer, and play polka all day long, but that is just not true. However you can just use it for what it is, a nationality. If you do describe people by nationality this will help. Okay, you should already know how to describe, right?

This part we will get more in to detail later, but right it is an important part of describing people with nationality, even though in English we most times don't do this, in German they do. The difference between nationality and language, like in English, French and french. But in german it is französisch and Franzose, Französin. This also is how it works for nationality describion by noun or adjective, which we are going to learn right now.

[edit] Noun or Adjective Nationality

There are two ways to describe someone. With a noun-based nationality word or an adjective-based nationality word. But note that in German the noun-based form is used more often.

Example: Ich bin Schwede (I am Swedish) and Ich bin schwedisch (I am Swedish)

Example: Ich bin Franzose (I am French) and Ich bin französisch (I am French)

[edit] More Nationalities

A longer list of nationalities found in and around Germany:

German Vocabulary • Print version • audio (info •438 kb • help) More Nationalities Mehr Nationalitäten
African	Afrikaner
Albanian	Albaner
Austrian	Österreicher
Czech	Tscheche
Chinese	Chinese
Dane	Däne
Dutchman	Holländer
Estonian	Este
Finnish	Finne
Greek	Grieche
Hungarian	Ungar
Irish	Ire
Japanese	Japaner
Korean	Koreaner
Latvian	Lette
Lithuanian	Litauer
Norwegian	Norweger
Polish	Pole
Romanian	Rumäne
Russian	Russe
Serbian	Serbe
Slovakian	Slovake
Swede	Schwede
Swiss	Schweizer
Turkish	Türke
Ukrainian	Ukrainer

[edit] Age

---

Now we are all familiar with the word "alt'", which means old. And in English, to find out somebody's age we ask "How old are you?". In German it is exactly the same. The "alt" kind of belongs to the interrogative adverb, so in both German and English it may be in front of the Verb:

Wie alt bist du?

How old are you?

Now to ask the question with 1st person it is...

Wie alt bin ich?

How old am I?

And as response you might get...

Ich bin __ Jahre alt.

I am __ years old.

Du bist __ Jahre alt.

You are __ years old.

And now the plural version of the 1st person...

Wie alt sind wir?

How old are we?

The responses you will get is...

Wir sind __ Jahre alt.

We are __ years old.

Ihr seid __ Jahre alt.

You all are __ years old.

To ask this important question in the 2nd person. First, we will learn the biggest question here, "How old are you?" which is...

Wie alt bist du?

How old are you?

And there is only one response to this it is...

Ich bin __ Jahre alt.

I am __ years old.

For the equally important plural 2nd person...

Wie alt seid ihr?

How old are you all?

Which the response is...

Wir sind __ Jahre alt.

We are __ years old.

And formal question, for both singular and plural is...

Wie alt sind Sie?

How old are you?

How old are you all?

You should all ready get the pattern for this, but we are going to keep on doing this list, if you aren't sure of something or you are confused. So for the 3rd person...

Wie alt ist er/sie?

How old is he/she?

The responses to this are...

Er ist __ Jahre alt.

He is __ years old.

Sie ist __ Jahre alt.

She is __ years old.

And now the plural 3rd person of question and response...

Wie alt sind sie?

How old are they?

And of course the response...

Sie sind __ Jahre alt.

They __ years old.

Now with some people you might be able to guess their age, and you could ask them directly about it. This is usually pretty of rude, but it illustrates nicely how the phrase has to be changed if you ask a yes-no-question, so let's get started, anyway!

Bist du __ Jahre alt?

Are you __ years old?

Ist er/sie __ Jahre alt?

Is he/she __ years old?

Sind sie __ Jahre alt?

Are they __ years old?

Note the inversed order between "Wie alt bist du?" und "Bist du __ Jahre alt?" This is exactly the same as in English!

[edit] Possessives

Person	Singular			Plural
	English	German		English	German
1st	my	mein		our	unser
2nd	your	dein, Ihr		your	euer, Ihr
3rd	his, her, its	sein, ihr, sein		their	ihr

Note: 'Euer' is irregular. When 'euer' has to have a different ending the e before r is dropped, so it turns into 'eur-'.

[edit] Gender, Case, and Endings

[edit] Expressing Favorites

[edit] Lesson 1.06 - Schule

Lesson 6 ~ Schule

[edit] Hello from Berlin!

[edit] School in Germany

• School is not regulated nationwide, but by each Land
• German "Kindergarten" is optional - it translates rather to "play school", "Vorschule" being roughly the equivalent to "Kindergarten"
• From the age of six on, all Germans attend a "Grundschule" (elementary school) for four or six years, depending on the Land.
• After that, they go to either
  • the "Hauptschule" which is industrially oriented,
  • the "Realschule", which is ... oriented,
  • the "Gymnasium", which is academically oriented,
  • or the "Gesamtschule", or comprehensive school.
• Schooling is obligatory until the age of 16, but the Gymnasium diploma "Abitur" can only be obtained after 12 or 13 years, i.e. at age 18 or 19.
• Latin and sometimes even ancient Greek are regularly taught at the Gymnasium. For the "Abitur", at least two foreign languages as well as some calculus and analysis classes have to be taken.
• School days often are from 8-13h. In most 'Länder', only the older students have additional classes between about 14-15.30h (thats 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. ;-)
• In most schools, Extracurricular Activities are offered, such as Drama Club or School Choir, but they are less common than in the U.S. Though many students feel some sort of identification with their school, most are just happy when they can go home ;-)
• Generally speaking, many schools still are more formal than US or Canadian schools.
• The marking system uses
  • 1 (very good, 87,5% or 96%),
  • 2 (good 75% or 85%), **
  • 3 (satisfactory, 62,5% or 65%),
  • 4 (sufficient 50% or 45%).
  • 5 (faulty) is failed or 25%.
  • 6 (not sufficient) is only used when the student literally hands in a blank sheet or failed.
• These marks can be modified with a "+" or a "-" to indicate a tendency, so e.g. 2+ is a fairly good mark that corresponds to about 80%.

[edit] Dialoge

Silke: Jetzt haben wir Mathe.
Torsten: Oh nein, ich habe überhaupt keine Lust dazu.
Silke: Hast du die Aufgaben gemacht?
Torsten: Ja, im Bus.
Silke: Super! Kann ich sie abschreiben?

Lehrer (Betritt den Raum): Guten Morgen!
Klasse: Guten Morgen!

Lehrer: Wer möchte die Aufgaben an der Tafel rechnen? Florian?
Florian geht zur Tafel, schreibt an und liest vor: 
   "5 plus 8 ist gleich 13"
   "8 minus 5 ist gleich 3"
   "3 mal 8 ist gleich 24"
   "24 geteilt durch 12 ist gleich 2"
Lehrer: Sehr gut, Florian!

Die Glocke läutet. Es ist Fünfminutenpause.
Silke: Schnell, wir müssen zu Musik!
Torsten: Au ja, darauf freue ich mich schon.
Silke: Was machen wir heute?
Torsten: Wir wollen ein Lied von Grönemeyer singen!
Silke: Welches denn?
Torsten: "Alkohol", glaube ich.

Nach dem Musikunterricht:
Silke: Jetzt haben wir nur noch Geschichte...
Torsten: Komm, wir schwänzen und gehen ins Bistro.
Silke: Schon wieder!

[edit] Und Satz für Satz ...

Oh nein, ich habe überhaupt keine Lust dazu.

"Lust (zu etwas) haben" means "feeling like (it)". "Ich habe keine Lust (dazu)" is "I don't feel like (it)". "Ich habe überhaupt keine Lust" emphasizes it, meaning "I don't feel like it at all."

Hast du die Aufgaben gemacht?
Have you the tasks done?

"Did you do your homework?"

Ja, im Bus.
Yes, in the bus.

This is a common practice of students everywhere in the world, I guess...

Notice the contraction of "im", which is derived from "in dem", "in the".

Super! Kann ich sie noch schnell abschreiben?
Super! Can I just quickly copy them?

"Super", "Cool", "Toll", are common exclamations ... "Noch schnell" is here meant as "while there is still time"

Lehrer (Betritt den Raum): Guten Morgen!
Teacher (enters the room): Good Morning!

Klasse: Guten Morgen!
Class: Good Morning!

Wer möchte die Aufgaben an der Tafel rechnen? Florian?
Who would like the tasks on the blackboard calculate? 

"Who would like to do these questions on the blackboard?" Note that "Tafel" is related to "table", meaning a flat surface, and indeed German "Tafel" can also designate a table prepared for a feast.

Don't let the weird order of the words disturb you, even if the phrase seems totally incomprehensible at first. I'll try to construct this bit by bit:

This is the basic question and answer pair:

"Wer rechnet?" - "Ich rechne."
"Who calculates?" - "I calculate."

To ask, if you want to do something, you use a construction similar to English:

"Wer will rechnen" - "Ich will rechnen."
"Who wants to calculate" - "I want to calculate."

Note that the "to" is already included in the German word "rechnen". "Rechnen" is clearly already an infinitive, and doesn't need a "zu" to prove it. This is one of the main reasons why complicated conjugations can survive, they contain information that doesn't have to be expressed otherwise then...

To be a little more polite (or at least seem like it, since our teacher probably wouldn't take a no for an answer)

"Wer möchte rechnen?" - "Ich möchte rechnen!"
"Who would like to calculate?" - "I would like to calculate"

This is another example for brevity by conjugation. The word "möchte" contains the "would", as it is a "Konjunktiv"-form of the word "mögen" which translates to "like". Don't be discouraged, many Germans don't realize this, and many don't use the Konjunktiv correctly, if ever. However, "ich möchte"-phrases are extremely popular, so just use them, even if you didn't understand yet a word of the explanation above ;-)

Let's introduce objects in our phrase:

"Wer rechnet die Aufgabe?" - "Ich rechne die Aufgabe"
"Who calculates the task?" - "I calculate the task", meaning "Who answers the question"

This is a direct object, "Aufgabe" is in the accusative case. Because this is a feminine noun, this is not so obvious, but the structure is the same as in:

"Wer sieht den Mann?" - "Ich sehe den Mann."
"Who sees the man?" - "I see the man."

Now, we also have an adverbial expression of the place. This is an expression that defines the verb, thus ad-verbial.

"Wer rechnet an der Tafel?" - "Ich rechne an der Tafel"
"Who calculates on the blackboard?" - "I calculate on the blackboard"

Now let's put all this together:

"Wer rechnet die Aufgabe an der Tafel?" - "Ich rechne die Aufgabe an der Tafel."
"Who calculates the task on the blackboard?" - "I calculate the task on the blackboard"

Note that the order expressions is widely interchangeable. You can emphasize something by putting it closer to the end of the question.

And now for the whole phrase in all its glory:

"Wer | möchte | die Aufgabe | an der Tafel | rechnen?" - "Ich | möchte | die Aufgabe | an der Tafel | rechnen."
"Who | would like | the task | on the blackboard | calculate?" - "I | would like | the task | on the blackboard | calculate."

It wasn't THAT bad, was it?

Florian geht zur Tafel, schreibt an und liest vor: 
Florian goes to the blackboard, writes on and reads out:

"Florian goes to the blackboard, writes down and reads out aloud"

"zur" is another contraction, this time of "zu" and "der". Note that after "zu" follows the dative case, so "der" is not the masculine but the feminine article.

"anschreiben" splits to "schreibt an", and means litterally "writing on". It is often used when writing legibly on a large, visible surface such as blackboard or a flipchart.

"vorlesen" splits to "liest vor" and translates to "read aloud".

   "5 plus 8 ist gleich 13"
   "8 minus 5 ist gleich 3"
   "3 mal 8 ist 24"
   "24 geteilt durch 12 gleich 2"

So, as you might have guessed, plus and minus are the same as in English - they are just pronounced German. The verbs "addieren" and "subtrahieren" are probably not difficult either... "Ist gleich" or short "gleich" or just "ist" corresponds obviously to "is equal to" or "equals".

"mal" means "times". This is also used in every day phrases, such as "100mal habe ich dir gesagt ..." "I told you a 100 times ..." The corresponding verb is "malnehmen" or "multiplizieren"

"geteilt durch" is literally "divided by", and the verb is "teilen" or "dividieren".

Lehrer: Sehr gut, Florian! Very good, Florian!

Now, that was easy!

Die Glocke läutet. Es ist Fünfminutenpause.
The bell rings. It is five-minute-break

Between single classes, there is usually a break of five minutes to allow teachers and students to go from one classroom to another. In most schools, classes such as German, English, History, Philosophy are taught in the classroom. Classes that use special equipment, such as all sciences, music and arts and of course computers and sport are being taught in a specialized lab classes. Roughly every second break is 15 minutes long, and if there are lessons in the afternoon, there's often a break of 45 to 60 minutes for lunch.

Schnell, wir müssen zu Musik!
Quick, we must to music!

This sentence sounds strange. This is, because in everyday German, sometimes the verb gehen can be left out, if it is clear what is meant. In this case, the complete phrase would have to be "Wir müssen zu Musik gehen". But since Torsten will not think Silke is going to fly there, there will be no misunderstanding. Additionnally, the word "class", or "course" is missing, which is the usual way of students to talk about their subjects.

Note: In English, the phrase might be "We have to go to the music room" instead of must. The German translation "Wir haben in den Musikraum zu gehen" would be understood, but is quite formal. Additionally, there is a connotation that the speaker distances himself from the order he is being given.

Au ja, darauf freue ich mich schon!
Oh yes, to this look forward I myself already!

Whew, what was that?

Let's start at the beginning. "Au ja" ist an exclamation meaning "cool", "that's great". It has nothing to do with the German equivalent of "ouch!", which is "au(a)!"

"Sich freuen" means "being happy". It is reflexive such as in "I help myself", because the subject and the object are the same. Some phrases simply are constructed like this, even if there seems to be no real reason to this, and many languages know this phenomenon. The "sich" here is technically the accusative of "he, she, it" and is being changed depending on the person:

ich freue mich                 I am happy
du freust dich                 you are happy
er, sie, es freut sich         he, she, it is happy
wir freuen uns                 we are happy
ihr freut euch                 you are happy
Sie/sie freuen sich            they are happy

Note that "to be happy" actually would be rather translated by "glücklich sein", but it is the closest English equivalent to "sich freuen".

"Sich über etwas freuen" means "to be happy about something". This is kind of self-explanatory. But "sich auf etwas freuen", literally "to be happy on something" means "to look forward to". This is a common phrase that uses the on in the same wide sense as in "on drugs", or "living on something" - there is no spatial relation here...

In "darauf" you recognize the "auf". The "da" is a demonstrative prounoun such as in "that place". "Darauf" actually is another contraction which developped a long time ago from "da-herauf". The "darauf" is referencing the word "Musik" from Silke's sentence.

So "Au ja, darauf freue ich mich schon" or "to-this look-forward I myself already" just means "Great, I'm already looking forward to that"

Maybe it comforts you a little that the English phrase in a word-by-word translation to German would be just as inintelligeable...

Was machen wir heute?
What make we today?

"What we (are going to) do today?" Note again, that "machen" often does not translate to "make", but to "do"!

Wir wollen ein Lied von Grönemeyer singen!
We want a song of Grönemeyer sing!

"We want to sing a song by Grönemeyer!"

Welches denn?
Which then?

"Alkohol", glaube ich...
"Alcohol", believe I...

Note that adding a "glaube ich" is another common phrase, exacly as "I think" or "I believe" can be added to an English phrase. (Never mind the word order, this is because Alcohol is the object, so the verb is at the second position in the text)

Herbert Grönemeyer is a very popular German rock singer from the Ruhr region. His most famous songs include "Männer", "Bochum" (a city in the Ruhr region), "Mensch" and also "Alkohol".

Nach dem Musikunterricht:
After the music class:

"Unterricht" comes from "unterrichten" "to teach", and means simply "class". Better not think about "under" and "right" here, which you might have correctly recognized as the word's components "richten" literally means "to correct".

Jetzt haben wir nur noch Geschichte...
Now have we only still history...

"Now we have only history left"

Komm, wir schwänzen und gehen ins Bistro.
Come, we skip and go in the bistro.

"Come on, let's skip class and go to the bistro instead". As in English, "Komm" can be used to motivate others.

There is yet another contraction here "ins" is derived from "in das", meaning "in the". "das" is the neutral article in accusative case here.

Schon wieder!
Already again!

[edit] Aufgabe

• Make a list of all the contractions used in this chapter. Can you determine the full tables?

[edit] School

[edit] Vocabulary

---

[edit] School-Related Verbs

---

Lesen                                                 To Read
Schreiben                                             To Write
Rechnen                                               To Calculate (doing maths)
Studieren                                             To Study
Lernen                                                To Learn
Zeichnen                                              To Draw
Malen                                                 To Paint

[edit] School Subjects

---

Deutsch                                               German
Englisch                                              English
Russisch                                              Russian
Französisch                                           French
Latein                                                Latin
Mathe                                                 Maths
Mathematik                                            Mathematics
Sport                                                 PE or Gym
Kunst, Zeichnen                                       Arts
Musik                                                 Music
Werken                                                Crafts
Sachkunde, Sachunterricht                             Science Lesson in Elementary School
Geschichte                                            History
Erdkunde                                              Geography
Politik                                               Politics
Biologie                                              Biology
Geografie                                             Geography
Religion                                              RE or Religion
Werte und Normen                                      Ethics
Chemie                                                Chemistry
Physik                                                Physics
Informatik                                            Computer Science
Elektronische Datenverarbeitung                       Computer Science

[edit] School Supplies and Ect.

---

der Radiergummi                                       Eraser/Rubber
der Bleistift                                         Pencil
das stift, der Kugelschreiber                         Pen
der Füller, der Füllfederhalter                       Fountain pen
das Fach                                              Subject
die Klasse                                            Class
der Lehrer                                            Teacher (male)
die Lehrerin                                          Teacher (female)
die Schule                                            School
der Schüler                                           Pupil
der Student                                           Student (College/University)
die Stunde/Schulstunde                                Lesson
die Pause                                             Break
die Schultasche                                       Backpack

[edit] Review 1.02

Section 2 ~ Berlin Review

[edit] Vocabulary

Babywear 	                  Die Babyartikel (plural)    
Children's Wear 	     Die Kinderbekleidung 
Clearance Sale 	             Der Räumungsverkauf 
Closed 	                     Geschlossen
Clothing 	             Die Kleidung
Computer Section 	     Der Computershop 
Cosmetics 	             Die Kosmetik
Customer 	             Der Kunde
Customer Service 	     Der Kundendienst 
Electrical Appliance 	     Das Elektrogerät
Escalator 	             Die Rolltreppe   
Fashion 	             Die Mode 
Furniture 	             Das Möbel (no plural)
Gift 	                     Der Geschenkartikel 
Good Value (Adj.) 	     Preiswert
Groceries 	             Die Lebensmittel (plural)
Jewelery 	             Damenschuhe (plural) 
Leather Goods 	             Die Lederwaren (plural) 
Open 	                     Geöffnet 
Opening Hours 	             Die Öffnungszeiten (plural) 
Present 	             Das Geschenk
Reduced 	             Reduziert
Sales Receipt 	             Der Kassenbon 
Souvenir 	             Das Andenken 
Special Offer 	             Das Sonderangebot 
Sports Goods 	             Sportartikel (plural)
Stationery 	             Schreibwaren (plural)
Summer Sale 	             Der Sommerschlussverkauf (abbr. SSV)  
Video Store 	             Die Videothek 
Winter Sale 	             Der Winterschlussverkauf (abbr. WSV) 

Department Store             Warenhaus
Retail Store                 Einzelhandelsgeschäft
The Mall                     Einkaufszentrum
Boutique                     Boutique
Store                        Geschäft
Manager                      Manager
Employee                     Angestellter
Sales Clerk                  Verkäufer               
Cashier                      Kassierer
Dressing Room                Umkleidekabine
Men's Section                Männerabteilung
Women's Section              Frauenabteilung
First Floor                  Erstes Stockwerk
Menswear                     Männerkleidung
Second Floor                 Zweiter Stock
Womenswear                   Frauenkleidung
Third Floor                  Dritte Stock
Kids Section                 Kinderabteilung
Fourth Floor                 Vierter Stock
Electronics                  Elektronik
Kitchenware                  Küchenbedarf
Fifth Floor                  Fünfter Stock
Lighting                     Beleuchtung           
Bedding                      Bettwäsche
Toys                         Spielwaren
Six Floor                    Sechster Stock
Food                         Lebensmittel

Electronics                  Elektronik           
Television                   Fernsehen
Digital Camera               Digitalkamera
Telephone                    Telefon
Cell phone                   Mobiltelefon, Handy
Computer                     Computer, Rechner
Speakers                     Lautsprecher
DVDs                         DVDs
CDs                          CDs
DVD Player                   DVD-Player
CD Player                    CD-Player
Bedding                      Bettwäsche
Blankets                     Decken
Pillow                       Kopfkissen
Pillow Case                  Kopfkissenbezug
Sheets                       Blätter
Bed Skirt                    Bett-Rock

Price                        Preis
Note                         Der Schein
Coin                         Die Münze
1 Euro Coin                  Das Eurostück
2 Euro Coin                  Das Zweieurostück
5 Euro Note                  Der Fünfeuroschein
10 Euro Note                 Der Zehneuroschein
100 Euro Note                Der Hunderteuroschein
1 Cent Coin                  Das Centstück
2 Cent Coin                  Das Zweicentstück
5 Cent Coin                  Das Fünfcentstück
10 Cent Coin                 Das Zehncentstück
20 Cent Coin                 Das Zwanzigcentstück
50 Cent Coin                 Das Fünfzigcentstück

Skirt                        Der Rock
Pullover                     Der Pullover
Scarf                        Das Tuch
Coat                         Der Mantel
Shirt                        Das Hemd
Sweater                      Der Pullover
Necktie                      Der Schlips
Jacket                       Die Jacke
Pants                        Die Hose
Hat                          Der Hut
Shoe                         Der Schuh
Sock                         Die Socke
Glove                        Der Handschuh
Blouse                       Die Bluse

Size                         Die Größe
Color                        Die Farbe
Cotton                       Die Baumwolle
Leather                      Das Leder
Rayon                        Die Kuntseide
Small                        Klein
Medium                       Mittel
Large                        Groß
Extra-Large                  Extragroß

Cheap                        Billig                               
Expensive                    Teuer
Pretty                       Schön
Ugly                         Hässlich
Soft                         Weich
New                          Neu
Broad                        Breit 
Wide                         Weit 
Tight                        Eng
Comfortable                  Bequem

Red                          Rot     
Blue                         Blau
Green                        Grün  
Orange                       Orange
Violet                       Veilchen
Yellow                       Gelb
Brown                        Braun
Indigo                       Indigo
Gray                         Grau
Black                        Schwarz
White                        Weiß
 
To Look                      Aussehen
To Try On                    Anprobieren
To Put On                    Anziehen
To Take                      Nehmen
To Buy                       Kaufen
To Have On/Wear              Anhaben
                             Tragen

Sohn                         Son
Tochter                      Daughter
Vater                        Father
Mutter                       Mother
Großvater                    Grandfather
Großmutter                   Grandmother
Opa                          Grandpa  
Oma                          Grandma
Schwester                    Sister
Bruder                       Brother
Geschwister                  Brothers & Sisters
Enkel                        Grandson
Enkelin                      Granddaughter  
Frau                         Wife
Mann                         Husband
Schwiegervater               Father-in-Law
Schwiegertochter             Daugther-in-Law
Schwager                     Brother-in-Law
Schwägerin                   Sister-in-Law
Schwiegermutter              Mother-in-Law
Schwiegersohn                Son-in-Law
Onkel                        Uncle
Tante                        Aunt
Geschenk                     Present

Nimmt                        To Take Away
Lesen                        To Read
Schreiben                    To Write
Studieren                    To Study
Lernen                       To Study
Zeichnen                     To Paint

Deutsch                      German
Englisch                     English
Russisch                     Russian
Französisch                  French
Latein                       Latin
Mathematik                   Mathematics
Sport                        PE or Gym
Kunst or Zeichnen            Arts
Musik                        Music
Geschichte                   History
Biologie                     Biology
Geografie                    Geography
Religion                     RE or Religion
Chemie                       Chemistry
Physik                       Physics
Informatik                   Computer Science
 
der Radiergummi              Eraser/Rubber
der Bleistift                Pencil
der Kuli/Kugelschreiber      Pen
das Fach                     Subject
die Klasse                   Class
der Lehrer                   Teacher (male)
die Lehrerin                 Teacher (female)
die Schule                   School
der Schüler                  Student (High/Secondary School and Lower)
der Student                  Student (College/University)
die Stunde/Schulstunde       Lesson
die Pause                    Break
die Schultasche              Backpack

---

[edit] Section 1.03 ~ Vienna, Austria

[edit] Lesson 1.07 - Das Fest

Lesson 7 ~ Das Fest

[edit] Gifts

[edit] Parties

[edit] Vocabulary

der Spaß	Fun
die Feier	Party*
die Party	Party
die Musik	Music
die Torte	Cake
das Fass	Keg
das Bier	Beer
der Schnaps	Hard Liquor
der Wein listen	Wine
der Weißwein	White Wine
der Rotwein	Red Wine
feiern	To party
trinken	To drink
saufen (I)	To drink lots, to drink alcohol
erbrechen (I), sich übergeben	To Throw Up
kotzen	To Puke (slang)
tanzen	To Dance

* = A Formal Dinner Party

Different Celebrations

der Geburtstag              Birthday
Weihnachten                 Christmas
Ostern                      Easter
das Jubiläum                Anniversary

[edit] Snack Foods

[edit] Vocabulary

das Wasser                  Water
das Soda                    Soda
der Apfelsaft               Apple Juice
der Orangensaft             Orange Juice

[edit] Lesson 1.08 - Privileg und Verantwortung

Lesson 8 ~ Privileg und Verantwortung

[edit] Jobs and Tasks

[edit] Vocabulary

---

[edit] Careers

Work                        Arbeit
Doctor                      Arzt
Buniness Man                Geschäftsmann
Buniness Woman              Geschäftsfrau
Teacher                     Lehrer
Police Officer              Polizeibeamte
Fireman                     Feuerwehrmann
Actor  	                    Schauspieler  	 
Artist  	            Künstler  	
Author  	            Schriftsteller  	
Bank Clerk  	            Bankangestellter  	 
Car Mechanic  	            Automechaniker  	 
Chemist  	            Chemiker  	 
Civil Servant  	            Beamter  	
Computer Programmer         Programmierer  	 
Engineer  	            Ingenieur  	
Farmer  	            Landwirt  	 
Hairdresser  	            Friseur  	 
Journalist  	            Journalist  	 
Lawyer  	            Rechtsanwalt  	 
Lecturer  	            Dozent  	 
Nurse  	                    Krankenpfleger  	 
Pensioner  	            Rentner  	 
Photographer  	            Fotograf  	 
Politician  	            Politiker  	 
Postman  	            Briefträger  	 
Professor  	            Professor  	 
Salesperson  	            Verkäufer  	 
Secretary  	            Sekretär  	 
Student  	            Student  	 
Taxi Driver  	            Taxifahrer  	  
Waiter  	            Kellner

[edit] Tasks

Cleaning                   Reinigung
Cooking                    Kochen
Homework                   Hausaufgaben 
Laundry                    Wäscherei
Tasks                      Aufgaben

[edit] Plans

[edit] Common Phases

Ich habe Pläne...

I have plans...

Ich habe Pläne mit...

I have plans with...

[edit] Places To Go

[edit] Vocabulary

Germany                 Deutschland
Hamburg                    Hamburg
Berlin                     Berlin
Frankfurt                  Frankfurt
Cologne                    Köln
Munich                     München

[edit] Common Phases

Ich muss nach ... gehen.

I have to go to...

[edit] Lesson 1.09 - Wetter

Lesson 9 ~ Wetter

[edit] Dialoge

Wolfgang calls his friend Monica after he sees the weather forecast.

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) The weather Das Wetter
Wolfgang	Was für ein Sauwetter die heute in den Nachrichten angekündigt haben!
Monika	Was für ein Wetter soll es denn geben?
Wolfgang	Es soll heute nämlich regnen.
Monika	Hattest du was vor?
Wolfgang	Ja, ich wollte in die Stadt gehen, um ein paar Weihnachtsgeschenke zu kaufen.
Monika	Es kommt noch schlimmer!
Wolfgang	Wieso?
Monika	Es wird nämlich zuerst regnen und dann später bekommen wir einen Schneesturm.
Wolfgang	Oh Nein! Die Straßen werden dann eisglatt sein.
Monika	Ich weiß. Ich muss jetzt in die Schule gehen. Mach's gut Wolfgang.
Wolfgang	Tschau!

[edit] Weather

[edit] Vocabulary

---

Sauwetter             informal for: bad weather 
eisglatt              covered with icy patches (road)
Wetter                weather
Regen                 rain
Schnee                snow
Schneeschauer         snow showers
Schneefall            snow (falling)
Schauer               showers
Donner                thunder
Sturm                 storm
Gewitter              thunderstorm
bewölkt               cloudy
bedeckt               overcast
Hagel                 hail
nieseln               drizzle
tauen                 thaw
Frost                 frost

[edit] Common Phrases

---

Wie wird das Wetter?

How's the weather?

Können Sie mir sagen wie das Wetter heute wird?

Can you tell me how today's weather is going to be?

Wird es regnen, oder bleibt es schön?

Is it going to rain, or would it still be nice?

Es wird heute schlechtes Wetter erwartet. Nimm bitte deinen Regenschirm mit!

Bad weather is today expected. Please take your umbrella with you!

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Vocabulary

---

Car               Auto
Train             Zug
Trainstation      Bahnhof
Airplane          Flugzeug
Boat              Boot
Highway           Landstraße
Road              Straße

[edit] Review 1.03

Section 3 ~ Vienna Review

[edit] Vocabulary

das Spiel                   Game
das Videospiel              Video Game
der Spaß                    Fun
die Feier                   Party*
die Party                   Party
die Musik                   Music
die Torte                   Cake
das Fass                    Keg
das Bier                    Beer
der Schnaps                 Hard Liquor
der Wein                    Wine
der Weißwein                White Wine
der Rotwein                 Red Wine

Feiern                      To Party
Trinken                     Drinking
Saufen                      To Get Drunk
Erbrechen / sich Übergeben  To Throw Up
Kotzen                      To Puke (slang)
Tanzen                      To Dance
der Geburtstag              Birthday
Weihnachten                 Christmas
Ostern                      Easter
das Jubiläum                Anniversary
das Wasser                  Water

Work                        Arbeit
Doctor                      der Arzt
Buniness Man                der Geschäftsmann
Buniness Woman              die Geschäftsfrau
Teacher                     der Lehrer
Police Officer              der Polizeibeamte
Fireman                     der Feuerwehrmann
Actor  	             der Schauspieler  	 
Artist  	             der Künstler  	
Author  	             der Schriftsteller  	
Bank Clerk  	             Bankangestellter  	 
Car Mechanic  	             der Automechaniker  	 
Chemist  	             der Chemiker  	 
Civil Servant  	            Beamter  	  	 
Engineer  	            der Ingenieur  	
Farmer  	            der Landwirt  	 
Hairdresser  	            der Friseur  	 
Journalist  	            der Journalist  	 
Lawyer  	            der Rechtsanwalt  	 
Lecturer  	            der Dozent  	 
Nurse  	            der Krankenpfleger  	 
Pensioner  	            der Rentner  	 
Photographer  	            der Fotograf  	 
Politician  	            der Politiker  	 
Postman  	            der Briefträger  	 
Professor  	            der Professor  	 
Salesperson  	            der Verkäufer  	 
Secretary  	            der Sekretär  	 
Student  	            der Student  	 
Taxi Driver  	            der Taxifahrer  	  
Waiter  	            der Kellner
Germany                     Deutschland
Humburg                     Hamburg
Berlin                      Berlin
Frankfurt                   Frankfurt
Colonge                     Köln
Munich                      München
Weather                     das Wetter
Rain                        der Regen
Snow                        der Schnee
Snow Showers                Schneesch
Showers                     Schauer
Thunder                     Donner
Storm                       der Sturm
Thunderstorm                das Gewitter
Cloudy                      Bewölkt
Overcast                    Bedeckt
Hail                        der Hagel
Drizzle                     Nieseln
Thaw                        Tauen
Frost                       der Frost
Car                         das Auto
Train                       der Zug
Trainstation                der Bahnhof
Airplane                    das Flugzeug
Boat                        das Boot
Highway                     die Landstraße
Road                        die Straße

---

[edit] Section 1.04 ~ Berne, Switzerland

[edit] Lesson 1.10 - Zu Hause Essen

[edit] Lesson 1.11 - Filme

[edit] Lesson 1.12 - Das Haus

[edit] Review 1.04

This page is in severe development. It is and will not be a good read or make much sense until that development is done!

---

[edit] LEVEL TWO LESSONS

[edit] Contents

• #Section 2.01 ~ Salzburg, Austria
  • #Lesson 2.01 - Einfache Gespräche unter Freunden
  • #Lesson 2.02 - Fremde und Freunde
  • #Lesson 2.03 - Die Zahlen
  • #Lesson 2.04 - Eine Geschichte über Zürich
  • #Review 2.01
• #Section 2.02 ~ Zürich, Switzerland
  • #Lesson 2.05 - Die Wohnung
  • #Lesson 2.06 - Mathematik
  • #Lesson 2.07 - Mein, Dein, und Sein
  • #Lesson 2.08 - Einkaufen gehen
  • #Review 2.02
• #Section 2.03 ~ Hannover, Germany
  • #Lesson 2.09 - Verbtempus und Wortstellung
  • #Lesson 2.10 - Undeveloped
  • #Lesson 2.11 - Undeveloped
  • #Lesson 2.12 - Undeveloped
  • #Review 2.03

---

[edit] Section 2.01 ~ Salzburg, Austria

[edit] Lesson 2.01 - Einfache Gespräche unter Freunden

German/Level II/Einfache Gespräche unter Freunden

[edit] Lesson 2.02 - Fremde und Freunde

German/Level II/Fremde und Freunde

[edit] Lesson 2.03 - Die Zahlen

German/Level II/Die Zahlen

[edit] Lesson 2.04 - Eine Geschichte über Zürich

German/Level II/Eine Geschichte über Zürich

[edit] Review 2.01

---

[edit] Section 2.02 ~ Zürich, Switzerland

[edit] Lesson 2.05 - Die Wohnung

German/Level II/Die Wohnung

[edit] Lesson 2.06 - Mathematik

German/Level II/Mathematik

[edit] Lesson 2.07 - Mein, Dein, und Sein

German/Level II/Mein, Dein, und Sein

[edit] Lesson 2.08 - Einkaufen gehen

German/Level II/Einkaufen gehen

[edit] Review 2.02

---

[edit] Section 2.03 ~ Hannover, Germany

[edit] Lesson 2.09 - Verbtempus und Wortstellung

German/Level II/Verbtempus und Wortstellung

[edit] Lesson 2.10 - Undeveloped

German/Level II/Undeveloped

[edit] Lesson 2.11 - Undeveloped

German/Level II/Undeveloped

[edit] Lesson 2.12 - Undeveloped

German/Level II/Undeveloped

[edit] Review 2.03

---

[edit] LEVEL THREE LESSONS

[edit] Contents

• #Section 3.01 ~ Bonn, Germany
  • #Lesson 3.01 - Markus
  • #Lesson 3.02 - Gespräche unter Geschäftsmännern
  • #Lesson 3.03 - Mach dir keine Sorgen!
• #Section 3.02 ~ Innsbruck, Austria
  • #Lesson 3.04 - Die Geschäftsleute
  • #Lesson 3.05 - Der Engländer in Österreich
  • #Lesson 3.06 - Undeveloped
• #Section 3.03 ~ Bavaria, Germany
  • #Lesson 3.07 - Undeveloped
  • #Lesson 3.08 - Undeveloped
  • #Lesson 3.09 - Undeveloped

---

[edit] Section 3.01 ~ Bonn, Germany

[edit] Lesson 3.01 - Markus

German/Level III/Markus studiert

[edit] Lesson 3.02 - Gespräche unter Geschäftsmännern

German/Level III/Gespräche unter Geschäftsmännern

[edit] Lesson 3.03 - Mach dir keine Sorgen!

German/Level III/Mach dir keine Sorgen!

---

[edit] Section 3.02 ~ Innsbruck, Austria

[edit] Lesson 3.04 - Die Geschäftsleute

German/Level III/Die Geschäftsleute

[edit] Lesson 3.05 - Der Engländer in Österreich

German/Level III/Der Engländer in Österreich

[edit] Lesson 3.06 - Undeveloped

German/Level III/Undeveloped

---

[edit] Section 3.03 ~ Bavaria, Germany

[edit] Lesson 3.07 - Undeveloped

German/Level III/Undeveloped

[edit] Lesson 3.08 - Undeveloped

German/Level III/Undeveloped

[edit] Lesson 3.09 - Undeveloped

German/Level III/Undeveloped

---

[edit] LEVEL FOUR LESSONS

[edit] Contents

• #Section 01 ~ Kiel, Germany
• #Section 02 ~ Schaan, Liechtenstein
• #Section 03 ~ Schaffhausen, Switzerland

---

[edit] Section 01 ~ Kiel, Germany

---

[edit] Section 02 ~ Schaan, Liechtenstein

---

[edit] Section 03 ~ Schaffhausen, Switzerland

---

[edit] LEVEL FIVE LESSONS

---

[edit] GRAMMAR

[edit] Contents

• #Adjectives and Adverbs
• #Articles
• #Cases
• #Nouns
• #Pronouns
• #Sentences
• #Verbs

[edit] Adjectives and Adverbs

[edit] Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Most adjectives are stand-alone words; however, present and past participles can also be used as adjectives. Numbers are also adjectives, though they do not decline.

Adjectives may be either predicate or attributive. Predicate adjectives are adjectives connected to a noun through a verb known as a copula. Those verbs in German are sein (to be), werden (to become), and bleiben (to remain). Other verbs, such as machen and lassen impart a predicate adjective onto an accusative object. Predicate adjectives are never inflected.

Ich bin noch ledig.  (I am still single.)
Trotz des Streites bleiben wir verheiratet.  (Despite the argument we remain married.)
Ich werde böse.  (I am getting angry.)
Die alte Milch wird dich krank machen.  (The old milk will make you sick.)

Attributive adjectives precede the noun that they are describing, and are always declined. Learning the adjective endings is a central part to the study of German. The adjective endings are frequently one of the hardest topics for new students to learn. It is best to commit the declension tables to memory, while attempting to speak independently. Proper use of adjective endings, especially in speaking, will come with repeated use. They are described in the next part of this chapter.

[edit] Adjective Endings

[edit] Forms

This section will make use of the mnemonic Oklahoma, which denotes the fields of nominative masculine; nominative neuter; accusative neuter; nominative feminine; and accusative feminine, which resemble the state of Oklahoma in the tables used below. The concept is used to describe endings in two declension tables: the weak adjective declension, and the indefinite-article/ein-word declension.

The endings of attributive adjectives can be divided into two groups: strong endings and weak endings.

Strong Adjective Declension

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	-er	-es	-e	-e
Accusative	-en	-es	-e	-e
Dative	-em	-em	-er	-en
Genitive	-en	-en	-er	-er

The strong adjective endings are nearly the same as the der-word endings, with the exceptions of masculine and neuter adjectives in the genitive case (marked in bold).

Weak Adjective Declension

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	-e	-e	-e	-en
Accusative	-en	-e	-e	-en
Dative	-en	-en	-en	-en
Genitive	-en	-en	-en	-en

Make note of the region, Oklahoma, in the nominative and accusitive cases, for weak endings.

The use of a weak or a strong adjective ending depends on what precedes it:

Choice of Adjective Ending

Preceding Article	Choice of Ending
Definite Article, der-words	Weak Ending
Indefinite Article, ein-words	Within Oklahoma, Strong Ending
	Outside Oklahoma, Weak Ending
No article	Strong Ending

The principle guiding adjective endings is that a noun, when possible, should have a primary case ending. Definite articles and der-words always provide a primary case ending. Indefinite articles and ein-words provide primary case endings outside of Oklahoma. Sometimes nouns have no article, in which case adjectives provide the primary case ending.

[edit] Forms in Context of Articles

This terminology - strong and weak endings - is confusing for many students. As the student develops, he or she will develop an ear for case endings, and will recognize when a noun has and has not received a case ending. Nonetheless, it is worth providing the three declension tables that result from this principle.

Adjective Declension following a Definite Article or der-word

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
	the large man	the small book	the quiet cat	the red apples
Nominative	der große Mann	das kleine Buch	die ruhige Katze	die roten Äpfel
Accusative	den großen Mann	das kleine Buch	die ruhige Katze	die roten Äpfel
Dative	dem großen Mann	dem kleinen Buch	der ruhigen Katze	den roten Äpfeln
Genitive	des großen Mannes	des kleinen Buches	der ruhigen Katze	der roten Äpfel

Adjectives following a definite article or der-word always have a weak ending. Within Oklahoma, that is "-e", and outside of Oklahoma, that is "-en". Oklahoma is in bold to illustrate this.

Adjective Declension following an Indefinite Article or ein-word

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
	a large man	a small book	a quiet cat	no red apples
Nominative	ein großer Mann	ein kleines Buch	eine ruhige Katze	keine roten Äpfel
Accusative	einen großen Mann	ein kleines Buch	eine ruhige Katze	keine roten Äpfel
Dative	einem großen Mann	einem kleinen Buch	einer ruhigen Katze	keinen roten Äpfeln
Genitive	eines großen Mannes	eines kleinen Buches	einer ruhigen Katze	keiner roten Äpfel

Note how, within Oklahoma (in bold), adjectives take strong endings, and outside Oklahoma, they take weak endings. This is because indefinite articles provide primary endings only ouside of Oklahoma.

Adjective Declension with no preceding article

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	großer Mann	kleines Buch	ruhige Katze	rote Äpfel
Accusative	großen Mann	kleines Buch	ruhige Katze	rote Äpfel
Dative	großem Mann	kleinem Buch	ruhiger Katze	roten Äpfeln
Genitive	großen Mannes	kleinen Buches	ruhiger Katze	roter Äpfel

Forms of nouns without articles are rare compared to those with definite and indefinite articles; however, one must still know the strong declension. Note that the strong adjective declension is almost the same as the der-word endings, with the exceptions of masculine and neuter in the genitive case (in bold).

[edit] Adverbs

Adverbs based on adjectives are one of the simplest parts of German grammar. Any adjective can be used as an adverb simply by placing its uninflected form within the sentence, usually towards the end.

Das Ehepaar ging gestern fröhlich spazieren.
(The married couple went for a walk joyfully yesterday.)

Other adverbs have no adjectival equivalent. Many of these express time.

Damals (at that time)
Ich bin gestern dort gewesen.  (I was there yesterday)
Morgens bin ich normalerweise im Büro.  (I am normally in the office in the morning.)

Adverbs can also be based on participles (past and present). These are less common.

Er betrachtete mich bedrohlich.  (He looked at me threateningly.)

Some adverbs are formed by adding -weise to adjectives and nouns in the plural form, and mean "regarding", "with respect to", or "-wise" in English. Construction of new adverbs of this sort is usually frowned upon.

[edit] Adverbs based on prepositions

Much of the material in this section will be explained in greater detail in the chapter on prepositions.

German has a complex system of adverbs based on prepositions, which are used to indicate direction of motion, location, time, and other concepts. English also possesses such a system, though it is used less. Consider the following sentences in English:

1) Could you take the garbage out?
2) Come over this evening if you get the chance.
3) You should just give up.
4) I will look you up in the phone book.
5) The contract, and the conditions contained therein, is hereby declared null and 
   void. (Legalese)

In both English and German, prepositions and particles derived from prepositions are treated as adverbs. In many cases, these prepositional adverbs are associated with specific verbs.

In the first two examples, the italicized prepositions are used as adverbs of motion; in the first example, the word "out" indicates the direction "out of the apartment"; in the second case, "over" not only means means the direction "towards", but also implies visitation of a residence.

The third and fourth examples correspond to separable-prefix verbs in German. The word "up" is integral to the verb, which would have a different meaning without the adverb. "To give up", whose infinitive in German would be "to up-give", means "to quit", in sharp contrast to "to give". In the fourth example, it is not even possible to "look someone", whereas it is possible to "look someone up," or "look a candidate's resume over". (English even has inseparable prepositional prefix verbs; compare "to look s.o. over" to "to overlook s.o." Many of these verbs have been replaced by verbs based on Latin and Greek.)

The adverbs in the fifth example correspond to da-, wo-, hin- and her- compounds in German. Such compounds are often used in legal texts in English. In such compounds, the object of the preposition is replaced with the words "there" or "here", compounded with the preposition. "Therein" simply means "in it".

The German system of adverbs based on prepositions is considerably more rigorous, and forms the basis of a large part of the language's morphology. "To catch on" means "to begin" in English; In German, the primary word for "to begin" is literally "to catch on" (anfangen), from which the equivalent noun, der Anfang (the beginning) is derived. A remnant of this in English can be found when describe a child's upbringing.

As in English, prepositional adverbs in German to varying degrees alter the meaning of their associated verb.

Separable-prefix verbs. This topic is better explored in the chapter on verbs. Separable prefixes are themselves adverbs. As in English, many of them are integral to the meaning of the verb. Fangen means "to catch," whereas anfangen means "to begin".

Most prepositional adverbs are treated as part of the root word in the infinitive, and are used as such in the construction of participles. However, not all possible separable-prefix verbs are lexical; "vorbeikommen" (to come over), "vorbeibringen" (to bring over), and so on, may not all be listed in a dictionary. It is better to learn "vorbei" as an adverb implying visitation.

The German prefix in is of note. It has two adverbial forms. As in it describes location; when describing movement, it becomes ein. Thus, for example, darin means "in there", whereas darein means "in(to) there". Another example is the word, einleiten, to introduce.

Hin- and her-. Prepositional adverbs of motion are usually based on hin-, implying motion or direction away from the speaker, and her-, implying motion or direction towards the speaker. Hin and her are themselves stand-alone adverbs meaning the same thing, and describe less-specific motion or direction. (One example in which hin is an integral separable prefix is the verb hinrichten, which means "to execute.) Not all verbs formed from hin- and her- compounds are lexical. Some examples of hin- and her- compounds are:

herab (down, down from)
hinein (in, inside)
hinaus (out, out of, onto)
darüber hinaus (furthermore, above all)
dahin (in the direction/towards of known location)

Mastery of hin- and her- requires considerable effort from the student.

Da- compounds are also adverbs, corresponding to "there-" compounds in English. They replace specific prepositional objects. Although are used principally in legal texts and therefore sound formal in English, they are often employed in written and spoken German and are convenient replacements for long and complicated prepositional phrases. Their comprehension and active use are essential in German. Da- compounds are formed by adding da- before the preposition, with an "r" inserted before prepositions starting with a vowel. There are exceptions to this, and da- compounds are given a fuller treatment in the chapter on prepositions.

Hier- and dort- compounds also exist in German, though they are used less frequently. As in English, they are considered formal, and are used primarily in academic and legal texts. They are best memorized as vocabulary.

hierhin und dorthin - hither and thither

[edit] Articles

[edit] The Definite Article

By The Vickmeister, The Leahnator, Domatron, NonaquonMcfadgeawidge, Aidan Man©

[edit] Forms - Formen

Each of these definite articles translate into English as "the".

Definite Articles

Cases	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	der	das	die	die
Accusative	den	das	die	die
Dative	dem	dem	der	den + n
Genitive	des + s	des + s	der	der

[edit] Usage - Gebrauch

The German definite article, in short, replaces the word "the" in English, with just a few exceptions. Formally, it is used for

• something which already has been mentioned or is already known. Readers or listeners know what someone is writing or speaking about. For example, "Ich habe eine Tasse. Aus der Tasse kann ich trinken."
• something that there is only one of (nouns of rivers, mountains, stars, planets): die Alpen, die Donau
• the superlative: das ist der höchste Berg der Region)
• generalizations (X is a kind of....): Die Rose ist eine Blume.
• certain countries and regions: die Schweiz, die Türkei, die USA (plural), das Elsass, die Steiermark
• abstract concepts, such as das Glück and das Leben -- this use differs from English.

[edit] Der-Words

Related to the definite article are "der-words", which decline like the definite article. Here is a list of der-words:

der-words in German

German	English
jen-	that, those
solch-	such (a)
manch-	many, some
jed-	each, every
all-	all
dies-	this, these
welch-	which

Usage is very similar to usage in English. One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike in English, jener (that) is mostly used to contrast with another noun, dieser, and rarely by itself.

Der-words are declined like the definite article. Here is their declension:

Der-word declension

Cases	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	-er	-es	-e	-e
Accusative	-en	-es	-e	-e
Dative	-em	-em	-er	-en + n
Genitive	-es + s	-es + s	-er	-er

[edit] Indefinite Articles

Indefinite Articles translate into English as "a" or "an" and therefore there is no plural. Like in English you use the plural noun without any article.

[edit] Forms - Formen

As there is no indefinite article in the plural, kein is used to illustrate plural declension. Make special note region in bold, Oklahoma, where the indefinite article lacks a primary case ending. This is important when declining adjectives.

Indefinite Article Declension

Cases	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	ein	ein	eine	keine
Accusative	einen	ein	eine	keine
Dative	einem	einem	einer	keinen +n
Genitive	eines +s	eines +s	einer	keiner

Er schnitt eine Zwiebel. - He chopped an onion.
Er schnitt Zwiebeln. - He chopped onions.
Er schnitt keine Zwiebeln - He chopped no onions

[edit] Usage

The indefinite Article is used to introduce new persons or objects or to talk about things which are not precisely identified.

[edit] Ein-words

All possessive pronouns, as well as the word, kein, are declined like the indefinite article. These are known as ein-words.

Ein-words

German	English
kein-	no, none
Singular
mein-	my
dein-	your (sing, informal)
sein-	his
sein-	its
ihr-	her
Plural
unser-	our
euer-	your (plural, informal)
ihr-, Ihr-	their, your (singular and plural, formal)

Here is their declension:

Ein-word Declension

Cases	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	-	-	-e	-e
Accusative	-en	-	-e	-e
Dative	-em	-em	-er	-en +n
Genitive	-es +s	-es +s	-er	-er

[edit] Pronouns

[edit] Pronouns

German Pronouns Declined

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive	Possessive Pronoun
Singular
I	ich	mich	mir	meiner	mein-
You (informal singular)	du	dich	dir	deiner	dein-
He	er	ihn	ihm	seiner	sein-
It	es	es	ihm	seiner	sein-
She	sie	sie	ihr	ihrer	ihr-
Plural
We (us)	wir	uns	uns	unser	unser-
You (informal plural)	ihr	euch	euch	euer	euer- (shortened to eur- for "eure")
They	sie	sie	ihnen	ihrer	ihr-
You (formal - singular or plural)	Sie	Sie	Ihnen	Ihrer	Ihr-

Note: The possessive is not a case of the personal pronoun, rather it's a pronoun itself. This table shows the possessive pronoun's stem, which is declined as an ein-word (like the indefinite article).

The genitive case indicates possession or association, and is equivalent to, and replaces, the English word "of". "Des" and "der" (do not confuse with masculine singular nominative) mean "of the"; "eines" and "einer" mean "of a/an"; and, "der Sohn guten Weins" means "the son of good wine" (no article, M, Gen strong adj). Strict replacement of the genitive case with the word "of" maintains the word-order of the German nominal phrase: possessed - possessor (in genitive). The genitive case also replaces "'s" in English, though reversing the word-order (in English: possessor's possessed). German itself also uses an "s" (though without the apostrophe) to indicate possession, in the same word order as English. It is used mainly with proper nouns, such as "Goethes Heimat", as well as for compounding words.

Standard genitive constructions are used with nouns and modifiers of nouns such as articles and adjectives, and the inflection they receive implies possession. The first noun may be in any case and may occur in any part of the sentence; the second noun, which possesses the first noun, immediately follows the first noun, and is in the genitive case. The noun in the genitive case need not have any modifiers - e.g., Heimat Goethes, Heimat Katerina, which mean the homeland of Goethe and Katerina, respectively - though such constructions can be cumbersome and ambiguous.

Proper treatment of the genitive case, including all of the declensions, is found in another part of this book.

German pronouns have genitive forms, but they are used only rarely nowadays, mostly in archaic or formal German. In many cases, a preposition can be added to allow a different case to be used.

Ich erinnere mich ihrer. (I remember her)
Also possible: Ich erinnere mich an sie.

Wir gedachten seiner. (We thought of him)
Also possible: Wir dachten an ihn.

Herr, erbarme dich unser! (Lord, have mercy upon us)
Also possible: Herr, erbarme dich über uns.

The possessive pronouns (mein-, dein-, unser-, etc.) are almost identical in form to the genitive pronouns and but they directly modify their attribute and could be conceived of as adjectives, though they decline differently. Alternatively, one could think of possessive pronouns, e.g., "mein-", as replacing the phrase, "of me". Directly translated, "mein-" means "my" in English.

Examples:

I want the teacher's book. Let's rewrite this as: I want the book of the teacher.
-Ich will das Buch des Lehrers (der Lehrerin).

--The genitive case here is masculine (feminine) singular, inflecting the definite article (des/der) as well as the noun (Lehrer (+s), but not Lehrerin, which doesn't change because it is feminine).

Without his friend's car, we cannot go home.
-Ohne den Wagen seines Freundes können wir nicht nach Hause fahren.

--Here, two possessive relationships are mentioned. The car belongs to the friend, and the friend belongs to "him". For illustrative purposes, one could conceivably re-write the prepositional phrase as "without the car (accusitive case) of the friend of him". German's rendering is far less awkward.

The wall of the building is old and brown.
-Die Wand des Gebäudes ist alt und braun.

--As in the first example, the genitive case here is in the masculine singular, and inflects the definite article and the noun (M,N add +s/+es in the genitive case).

[edit] Comparison of Pronouns to other Parts of Speech

Despite the difficulty many people have in learning German declensions, case-endings in German correspond to each other to a considerable degree. Specifically, the pronouns bear an obvious resemblence to their parent direct articles. Learning the corresponding 3rd-person declensions side-by-side allows some people to comprehend the declension pattern more easily.

As discussed above, possessive pronouns replace the genitive case for pronouns. In this table, they will be placed where the genitive case is, so that their similiarities to other parts of speech that actually are in the genitive case can become clear.

German is very rigorous in its use of gender, and will use the pronoun corresponding to the gender of the referential noun, regardless of whether the noun being referenced is a person (unlike English, which uses "it" for everything not a person or other entities (animals, ships) in certain contexts). Der Liberalismus will be referred to as "er", or "he", whereas "das Mädchen" would be "es", or "it". Many English speakers have trouble with this, especially in spoken language. Mastery is nonetheless possible with a proper understanding of German declension and a considerable amount of practice.

Side-by-side Declension of Definite Articles, der-word Endings, 3rd-Person Pronouns (and possessives), Strong Adjective Endings, and Interrogative Pronouns, to illustrate their similarities

Gender and Case	Definite Article	der-word Endings	Pronoun (possessive)	Strong Adjective Endings	Interrogative Pronouns, sometimes also used as relative pronouns
Masculine
Nominative	der	-er	er	-er	wer (who?)
Accusitive	den	-en	ihn	-en	wen (whom?)
Dative	dem	-em	ihm	-em	wem (to/for whom?)
Genitive	des + s	-es	(sein-) (corresponding "s")	-en (M,N strong adjective endings in genitive case do not fit pattern)	(wessen) (whose? - form similar to masculine, genitive relative pronoun). N.B.(1)
Neuter
Nominitive	das	-es	es	-es	was (what?)
Accusitive	das	-es	es	-es	was (what?)
Dative	dem	-em	ihm	-em
Genitive	des + s	-es	(sein-) (corresponding "s")	-en (M,N strong adjective endings in genitive case do not fit pattern)
Feminine
Nominative	die	-e	sie	-e
Accusitive	die	-e	sie	-e
Dative	der	-er	ihr	-er
Genitive	der	-er	(ihr-)	-er
Plural
Nominative	die	-e	sie	-e
Accusitive	die	-e	sie	-e
Dative	den + n	-en	ihnen N.B.(2)	-en
Genitive	der	-er	(ihr-)	-er

N.B.(1) The use of "wessen" is considered old-fashioned, though most Germans would find it endearing to hear a non-native speaker use the word. One is encouraged to use the "gehören + dativ (wem?)" construction, which means "to belong to s.o. (whom?)".

N.B.(2) The dative plural. Except for words whose plural form adds an "-s" (mainly loan-words), and words whose plural form already ends in "-n"/"-en", all nouns add an "-n/-en" in the dative plural. Like the s's added to masculine and neuter nouns in the genitive, this is a remnant from when German inflected all of its nouns, which other languages based on declension, such as Russian and Latin, retain. Sometimes one will notice an "-e" after masculine and neuter nouns in the dative case, such as the dedication on the Reichstag building - "Dem deutschen Volke", "for the German People".

This nominal declension is reflected in the dative plural pronoun (to/for them), "ihnen", instead of "ihn" (masculine, accusitive). For example,

Helga: Können Sie bitte meinen Brüdern helfen?
Olga: Natürlich, aber ich kann ihnen leider nur nach zwei Tagen helfen.
Helga: Unsere Leben gehen trotzdem weiter.

Make a point of studying and getting used to the dative plural.

[edit] Sentences

[edit] Sentence Structure in Main clauses

Here is the ultimate syntax guide for a main clause. German allows a considerable amount of syntactical freedom as parts of speech are indicated through case, rather than syntax. Nonetheless, there are conventions to follow, especially ones that reduce the ambiguity of pronouns.

Word-Order in the Main Clause

First Position	Anything	Used for emphasis. Sometimes people will even put a past participle or some other verb in the first position. You shouldn't do that until you know what you are doing. The first position is often used for the subject (Nominative), however.
Second Position	Conjugated Verb	"habe", "muss", "arbeitete"
Mittelfeld	Nominative Pronoun	"ich"
	Reflexive Pronoun	"mich", "uns"
	Accusative Pronoun	A "dich"
	Dative Pronoun	D "dir", "mir"
	(Temporal Expressions)	Expressions of time, especially short temporal adverbs, are often placed here.
	Nominative Noun	"die Katze"
	Dative Noun	D "meiner Mutter"
	Accusitive Noun	A = ADDA "meinen Vater"
	Prepositional Phrases	Time, Manner, Place
	Adverbs, Predicate Adjectives	Time, Manner Place
	Verbal negation using "nicht"	see section on negation for proper treatment of this topic
Final Position All Remaining Verbs	Separable Prefixes	"Ich fange damit an!"
	Past Participles (conjugated verb should be either "haben" od. "sein)	"Ich habe heute nicht gearbeitet."
	Infinitives	Used with modal verb as conjugated verb. "Du sollst das nicht tun."
		Used with modal-like verbs (sehen, hören, helfen, lassen) "Ich höre dich atmen."
	Extended verb phrases: three verbs in sentence	Build Inwards
		Translating a hypothetical English sentence with three verbs into German, the first English verb - the conjugated verb - would be in the second position in the German sentence. The second verb will be on the outside of the verb-phrase, at the end of the German sentence. The third verb will be immediately before that. Subj . 1 . [Mittelfeld] . 3 . 2.
		"Ich habe (1) seit dem Unfall nicht arbeiten (3) können (2)." "I have (1) not been able (2) to work (3) since the accident."
Nachfeld	The stuff you forgot to say, or that you just thought of after saying your verb. This happens to both native-speakers and those learning the language. However, try to avoid it.	This position is also used for comparisons. See below.

This is the officially-sanctioned syntax of a main clause. However, German syntax is not written in stone. One has considerable latitude in the way one constructs one's sentence. Before fleshing out the topic, here are some rules, conventions, and words of advice:

1) In terms of being placed in proper syntax, the pronouns are the most important, for they are the ones most liable to ambiguity ("sie" = which person, what part of speech, which case? Put it in its correct position).

2) It is not possible for a sentence to include all of the listed items, but it is still good to be able to reproduce that schema from memory.

3) You must be able to recognize an element of a sentence. For example, you must not split something like, "mit einem Buch", for that is a prepositional phrase, i.e., one and only one sentence element. Many other sentence elements are, however, only one word. You get a lot better at this as time goes on.

4) Two good mnemonics. Number one: pronouns before nouns. always. even if it feels weird to put both your accusitive and dative objects before your subject (a noun), you must get used to it. It doesn't happen very often, though.

5) The second one is "ADDA" (i.e., NOT DAAD, the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst). ADDA describes, first, the pronouns (Accusitive, then Dative), and then the nouns (Dative, then Accusitive). ADDA. think ABBA, but with D's instead of B's.

6) The first position is usually your subject, but can also draw attention to something you want to discuss.

7) As will be explained below, prepositional phrases and adverbs follow the "Time, Manner, Place" format.

8) Beyond reducing/eliminating ambiguity, you actually do have a fair amount of freedom. "Time, Manner, Place" is more a suggestion than a commandment, and most German textbooks tell you to learn the schema laid out above, but then to speak and write your sentences with items in ascending order of importance. Put the important stuff at the end. Then you get to your verb, which gives all of the words in the sentence meaning, resulting in a crecendo of emotion and understanding. Or not. But you see how that might work.

9) If you speak enough, your verbs start going to the right places. It will seem perfectly natural that the verb is in the second position, and that the other verbs are at the end. Getting used to subordinate clauses takes more time, but eventually your words go to the right place. Don't worry about making mistakes, but also try not to forget which verb you have waiting in your head until the sentence ends.

10) Banish the terms, "subject", "direct object", and "indirect object" from your head. Get used to explaining things in terms of "nominative", "accusitive", "dative", and "genitive". Same goes for "linking-" and "helping-verbs". Start talking about modal verbs, and modal-like verbs.

In general, you have to learn how to talk about grammar to be able to study German successfully.

11) If you can do the declensions in your head, you can do the syntax in your head. Syntax is easier.

[edit] Position of the Verb

[edit] Clauses with one verb part - Sätze mit nur einem Verbteil

In a main clause (Hauptsatz), the conjugated verb is in second position.

Clauses with one verb part

	First Position (I)	(II)	Mittelfeld	Punctuation
1.	Er	geht	nach Hause	.
2.	Heute Abend	fahre	ich mit dem Auto nach Köln	.
3.	Im Park	machte	er einen langen Spaziergang	.

Second position does not equal second word, as you can see above. However, there is only one group of words allowed before the conjugated verb. Such groups of words are called "phrases". While you can put very long phrases in front of the conjugated verb you mustn't use two. Therefore the sentence "Heute Abend ich fahre mit dem Auto nach Köln" is wrong. This is a big difference between English and German syntax.

[edit] Clauses with two verb parts - Sätze mit zwei Verbteilen

Clauses with two verb parts

	First Position (I)	(II)	Mittelfeld	Second Verb	Punctuation
4.	Der Junge	zieht	den Mantel	an	.
5.	Der Junge	hat	den Mantel	angezogen	.
6.	Schüler	müssen	Hausaufgaben	machen	.
7.	Gestern	hat	sein Vater ein fantastisches Essen	gekocht	.
8.	Ein fantastisches Essen	hat	sein Vater gestern	gekocht	.

Sometimes you have to use more than one verb part in a clause. This is true for Perfekt forms, separable verbs, modals etc. Only one of these verbs is conjugated. The conjugated verb stays in second position, the other part goes to

[edit] Clauses with three verb parts - Sätze mit drei Verbteilen

Clauses with one verb part

	First Position	II	Mittelfeld	Third Verb	Second Verb	Punctuation
9.	Ich	werde	das morgen	nicht machen	können	.
10.	Du	hast	mich	nicht besuchen	dürfen	.
11.	Ich	kann	dir deinen Wagen übermorgen	umsetzen	helfen	.

Sometimes there are even three verbs in a sentence. These usually involve modals and perfect tenses. The conjugated verb is in the second position. The remaining two verbs are at the end of the clause, building inwards. What would be the second verb in English is placed at the end, and what would be the third verb is placed before the second verb.

[edit] Order of phrases - Reihenfolge der Satzglieder

In English, you need the position of phrases to determine whether a noun phrase is a subject or an object. In German the cases tell you which role is assigned to a certain noun phrase. Therefore, the word order is less strict.

[edit] First Position - erste Position

In neutral sentences the subject is most likely in the first position (Examples 1, 4, 5, 6).

However, you can put everything there you want to stress. This is very common with phrases about time or place (Examples 2, 3, 7). English speakers need to remember that the first position is restricted to exactly one phrase.

You can even put objects in first position (Example 8). You do it mostly, if you want to emphasize the object or if you have to repeat the sentence because your partner has not understood this particular part of it.

If the subject is not in first position, it goes directly after the conjugated verb (Examples 2, 3, 7, 8), unless preceded by a reflexive pronoun or an accusitive or dative pronoun.

[edit] Order of Phrases in the Middle of the clause - Reihenfolge der Satzglieder im Mittelfeld

[edit] Introduction

In the middle of the sentence - the part between the two parts of the verb - verb order is quite flexible.

Often the word order for a neutral sentence can be described like this:

1. Time
2. Objects
3. Manner
4. Place

The mnemonic is "STOMP" where S is for subject. However, when looking at wild german sentences you will find structures that do not follow this principles but are nonetheless correct. This is very frequent in spoken language. Mostly the deviation from the neutral structure is caused by a special focus. While they are not wrong, it would be inappropriate to use them all the time. Therefore it is best to learn the principles described here. If you have mastered them and can use them without thinking about it, you can try some of the deviations.

[edit] Time

Time seems to be a very important concept for German speaking people. It is mostly mentioned very early in the sentence, either at the very beginning in the first position which means that the subject goes directly after the conjugated verb (i.e.: Gestern war ich im Kino) or early in the middle field (i.e: Ich war gestern im Kino). The sentence "Ich war im Kino gestern" is not exactly wrong, but it would sound weird in most situations. It could be used though in a casual conversation when putting special emphasis on "im Kino", but it's not the regular sentence pattern.

[edit] Order of Objects

The order of objects is different for nouns and pronouns. Pronouns always come before nouns, and reflexive pronouns come before everything except nominative pronouns. ADDA, mentioned above, is a good way to remember the prescribed order of cases for pronouns and then nouns. As can contain only two objects, here are the three possible combinations deriving from ADDA:

Two pronouns: accusative before dative (AD)

I   II    Acc. Dat.       
Ich habe  sie  ihm  gegeben.
Ich gab   sie  ihm         .

One noun, one pronoun: The pronoun goes first, regardless of the case

I   II    Pronoun  Noun      
Ich habe  ihm      die Kleider gegeben.
Ich gab   sie      dem Jungen         .

Two nouns: dative before accusative (DA)

I   II    Dat.           Acc.      
Ich habe  dem Jungen     die Kleider gegeben.
Ich gab   dem Jungen     die Kleider        .

[edit] Manner

This includes adverbs and prepositional phrases describing how, why, and by what methods the event of the sentence has taken place.

[edit] Place

This includes adverbs and prepositional phrases describing location and direction

[edit] Satzglieder im Nachfeld

In German grammar the term Nachfeld is used to describe parts of the sentence that come after the second part of the verb. The Nachfeld is neglected in most learner's grammars. It is mostly used in spoken language, when people add something to a sentence as an afterthougt or with special emphasis. In written language it is important for comparisons. You put them almost exclusively in the nachfeld.

Consider the example Peter verdient mehr Geld als Paul' (Peter earns more money than Paul). Now try to convert the sentence to the perfect. If you follow the normal sentence structure rules you would have to write: Peter hat mehr Geld als Paul verdient, but this is almost never done. The sentence best accepted by a majority of German speakers is: Peter hat mehr Geld verdient als Paul. The comparison is put after the past participle.

Note that the two items being compared must be in the same case. Du verdienst mehr Geld als ich. This is also correct grammar in English, though it is a mistake that is commonly made; "You earn more money than I."

[edit] Syntax of Interrogatives and Imperatives

I am putting this up here for the sake of completion.

[edit] Interrogatives

Interrogatives (questions) change word order in the first two fields or so. There are two kinds. In a question based on a verb, the conjugated verb comes first. Following that is the same string of pronouns first and nouns thereafter (and other sentence elements and finally the remaining verbs) that was detailed above. The main difference between questions and statements is that the freedom of the first position is eliminated; the item you wanted to emphasize must now find a different position in the sentence. The ascending-order-of-importance convention still holds.

Example:

Q: Hast du schon "Fargo" gesehen?
A: "Fargo" habe ich noch nicht gesehen.

The second kind of question involves a question word or wo-compound, which always comes at the beginning, and is immediately followed by the conjugated verb. They are then followed by the remaining parts of the sentence in the order outlined above. Be mindful of the case of the question word, and make sure never to use a wo-compound when referring to a person.

Q: Warum hast du "Fargo" nie gesehen? (Why have you never seen "Fargo"?)
A: Ich hatte keine Lust. (I had no interest.)

Q: Wem hast du geholfen? (Wem = "who?" in the dative case.) (Who have you helped?)
A: Ich habe meiner Mutter geholfen. (I have helped my mother.)

Q: Bei wem hast du dich beworben?  (From whom have you applied [for a job]?)
A: Beim Geschäft meines Onkels habe ich mich beworben. (I applied at my uncle's business.)

Q: Worum hast du dich beworben? (For what did you apply?)
A: Um eine Stelle habe ich mich beworben!  Bist du verrückt? (I applied for a job!  
Are you insane?)

And so on.

[edit] Imperatives

Imperatives (commands) also slightly alter the aforementioned main-clause sentence structure. Imperatives are formed in several ways:

Geh', bitte!  (Please go, informal)
Gehen Sie, bitte! (Please go, formal)
Gehen wir, bitte! (Let's go! Within a group)

This sequence - verb in imperative form, perhaps followed by the person to whom it is directed in the nominative case (depending on the kind of imperative used, however) - is then followed by all of the other elements of the sentence, in the aforementioned order.

German-speakers, like English-speakers and the speakers of many other languages, consider the use of the imperative mood to be rude, and, as in English, use a conditional or subjunctive construction to convey requests. This will be dealt with in a different section of this book.

Both of these syntaxes are very easy to master once you understand main-clause syntax.

[edit] Coordinating Conjunctions

Before moving on to subordinate and relative clauses, we must address coordinating conjunctions and parallel clauses. A coordinating conjunction is a conjunction that connects two clauses that are able to stand alone, i.e., two main clauses.

Here are some examples in English:

I am here and I am glad to see you.
You are grateful for this job, or you are a spoiled brat.

Commas are generally optional in English, whereas they used more often in German.

Here are the common coordinating conjunctions one would find in German:

German   English

aber     but, nevertheless, however 
denn     for, because (rarely used in spoken German; not to be confused with weil)
oder     or 
sondern  but rather 
und      and

As coordinating conjunctions connect two independent clauses, they do not affect word-order in the two clauses. The first clause is often separated from the second with a comma - especially if it is a long or complicated clause - after which follows the coordinating conjunction and the second clause.

Here are some examples in German:

Ich hasse und ich liebe, und ich weiß nicht warum.  (Odi et amo - Catullus)
Ich bin nicht jung, aber ich bin froh.

There are two more constructions to be aware of: entweder/oder and weder/noch, which correspond to "either/or" and "neither/nor", respectively.

Entweder bist du mit uns gemeinsam, oder du bist unser Feind.

Entweder/oder and weder/noch can also be employed to contrast two items as well as clauses. Note how "entweder" functions as an adverb.

English speakers should take note of the difference between aber and sondern, both of which can be translated directly as "but". Aber means "however". Sondern means "rather". Many other languages make this distinction.

Coordinating conjunctions are rather straightforward, and the number of coordinating conjunctions is few.

[edit] Dependent Clauses: Subordinate and Relative Clauses

[edit] Introduction

Subordinate and relative clauses introduce information regarding the main clause that needs to be expressed as a separate clause. They are collectively called "dependent clauses" because they are unable to stand by themselves as independent clauses. Usually, subordinate and relative clauses occupy a part of the main clause that was not fully explained; subordinate clauses tend to fulfill more abstract missing sentence elements than relative clauses do. Here are a few examples in English:

Subordinate Clauses:

I know that you are unhappy.
We came because it was your birthday.
We came because we knew that you were having a rough time.

This last example has two subordinate clauses: because we knew and that you were having a rough time.

Subordinate clauses are usually set off by a subordinating conjunction, such as that, because, when, if, and so on. In English, it is sometimes possible to omit the subordinating conjunction, specifically that, resulting in sentences such as, "I know you are unhappy," which is perfectly acceptable in English. Such an option does not exist in German.

Relative Clauses:

I know the person to whom you were talking (who you were talking to).
God helps those who help themselves.
You are the person that got hit by the fly-ball at the game on Saturday.

Relative clauses relate one element of a clause to another clause by way of a relative pronoun. The system of relative pronouns in German is considerably more extensive than that of English.

In German, both subordinate clauses and relative clauses affect syntax, in most cases by moving the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. Both subordinate clauses and relative clauses are set off by a comma in German, which can frequently be omitted in English. We should now examine the two types of clauses in greater detail, and then return to their syntax.

[edit] Subordinate Clauses

Subordinate clauses are always set off by a comma, and begin with a subordinating conjunction. Here is a list of all subordinating conjunctions in German. Note how all of them answer a question presumably introduced in the main clause:

Subordinating Conjunctions

German	English
als	as, when
bevor	before
bis	until
da	as, since (because)
damit	so that, with it
dass	that
ehe	before
falls	in case
indem	while; "by [do]ing..." See below.
nachdem	after
ob	whether
obgleich	although
obschon	although
obwohl	although
seit/seitdem	since (time)
sobald	as soon as
sodass / so dass	so that
solang(e)	as long as
trotzdem	despite the fact that
während	while, whereas
weil	because
wenn	if, when, whenever

Furthermore, all interrogative (question) words, such as wie, wann, wer, and wo, and wo-compounds, may be used as subordinating conjunctions. For example:

Ich weiß nicht, wohin er gegangen ist.  (I don't know where he went.)
Ich weiß nicht, wie das Fest sich entwickelt hat.  (I don't know how the party turned out)
Ich weiß nicht, warum er dir so böse ist.  (I don't know why he is so mad at you.)

Subordinate clauses provide information missing in the main clause. Consider the previous two examples. In both cases, the subordinate clause answered the question, "what?", or what would have been the accusitive object. Other subordinate clauses provide information that would otherwise have been provided by one of the several parts of speech.

Er hat mich geschlagen, als meine Frau im Klo war.  (He hit me when my wife was in the bathroom.)

In this example, the subordinate clause, set off by the conjunction, "als", answers the question, "when?", which would otherwise be answered adverbially.

The syntax regarding subordinate clauses will be discussed later. At this point, a property of subordinate clauses that is not altogether shared with relative clauses should be pointed out. Subordinate clauses are themselves parts of speech for the main clause, and to a limited extent can be treated as such. Consider the following two sentences, which are equivalent:

Ich darf in Kanada bleiben, solange wir noch verheiratet sind.
Solange wir noch verheiratet sind, darf ich in Kanada bleiben.

Note how, in the second sentence, the subordinate clause occupied the first position, immediately followed by the conjugated verb. In reality, the use of subordinate clauses as parts of speech integrated into the main clause is limited; they are, for aesthetic reasons, restricted to the first position and to following the main clause. At both times they are set off from the main clause by a comma.

Indem..., ist x passiert. This subordinating conjunction accomplishes the same functions as the English construction, "by [do]ing something..., x happened."

Indem er die Tür offen gelassen hat, hat er auch die Räuber ins Haus eingelassen.
By leaving the door open, he let the robbers into the house.

By requiring a subject in the clause, the German construction is less susceptible to ambiguity than English is; consider the sentence, "by leaving the door open, the robbers were able to enter the house," which is lacking an agent for the door being left open, even though such a construction is common in spoken English.

This section must make note of the differences between the words, als, wenn, and wann, all of which can mean "when" in English.

Als refers to a single event or condition in the past, usually expressed using the preterite tense.

Als du mich anriefst, war ich noch nicht zu Hause.  (When you called me, I was not yet home.)

Wann is the interrogative word for "when". It's use as a subordinating conjunction is limited to indirect questions and immediate temporal events.

Ich weiß nicht, wann er nach Hause kommen wird.

Wenn is the most versatile of the three, and has several other meanings beyond its temporal meaning. In the temporal space wenn describes, events are less recognized, or focuses on a condition, rather than an event.

Finally, "wenn" has one other principle function. It also means, "if", and is used in conditional and subjunctive statements.

Wenn ich einmal reich wär', ... (If i were ever rich...)

We will return to syntax later.

[edit] Relative Clauses

In many ways, a relative clause is a lengthy description of an item in the main clause. Minimally, a relative clause takes a part of speech from the main clause, known as the antecedent and uses it in the dependent clause. What connects the two is a relative pronoun. As should already be published in this book, the following declension table is provided:

Relative Pronoun - Declension Summary

Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	der	das	die	die
Accusative	den	das	die	die
Dative	dem	dem	der	denen
Genitive	dessen	dessen	deren	deren

Relative pronouns are similar to the definite article, with the exceptions of the dative plural and the genitive case being marked in bold.

Note that the distinctions between "that" and "which"; and "that" and "who" in English do not exist in German, where everything is described with a standard set of relative pronouns with no regard to how integral the qualities described in the relative clause are to the antecedent.

As relative clauses take one item from the main clause and use it in some way in a dependent clause, it is important to consider how relative pronouns work to avoid confusion. All words in German possess gender, number (singular or plural), and case. The main clause, as it relates to the antecedent, determines the gender and number of the relative pronoun; the relative clause determines its case.

In order to use relative clauses sucessfully, it is critical that this point be understood. Gender and number are "inherent" to the antecedent; no grammatical agent could conceivably change those properties. The relative pronoun's case is determined by its role in the relative clause, i.e., how it relates to the other parts of speech in the clause. Consider the following examples, all based on "the man", who is masculine and singular, and apparently not well-liked.

Case of Relative Pronoun	Example
Nominative	Der Mann, der nach Hause allein ging, ...
	The man, who went home alone, ...
Accusitive	Der Mann, den mein Freund während der Hochzeit schlug, ...
	The man, whom my friend punched at the wedding, ...
Dative	Der Mann, dem meine Mutter kein Weihnachtsgeschenk gegeben hat, ...
	The man, to whom my mother didn't give a Christmas present, ...
Genitive	Der Mann, dessen Tochter arbeitslos ist, ...
	The man, whose daughter is unemployed, ...

In each of these examples, the gender and number of the relative pronoun were determined by the antecedent, while the case of the relative pronoun was determined by its role in the relative clause. Note particularly the genitive example, wherein the relative pronoun, meaning whose, modified a feminine noun, without his gender being affected.

Whenever you construct a relative clause, be mindful of this rule. Don't confuse yourself with its complexity, especially regarding the genitive case. As discussed in the chapter on personal pronouns, the word "whose", as well as other possessive pronouns such as "my", "your", and so forth, is a pronoun and not an adjective. The pronoun always expresses the characteristics of its antecedent, viz., gender and number.

Relative pronouns offered within prepositional phrases are perfectly acceptable:

Der Mann, mit dem meine Mutter wieder gestritten hat, ...
The man, with whom my mother argued again, ...

However, if the antecedent is not a person, and the relative pronoun falls within a prepositional phrase, a wo-compound is frequently substituted:

Das Flugzeug, worin ich nach Seattle geflogen bin, war fast kaputt.
The airplane, in which I flew to Seattle, was almost broken.

Relative clauses almost invariably follow the item that they are modifying or the main clause as a whole (with the gender and number of the relative pronoun indicating - to some extent - which potential antecedent it is referring to). Very rarely do they precede the main clause. Exceptions to this come in the form of aphorisms and proverbs:

Der (oder Wer) heute abend ruhig einschläft, bekommt morgen Eiskrem und Keks.  
(He who goes to bed quietly tonight will get ice-cream and cookies tomorrow 
- something a mother might say to her children.)

This usage is relatively unimportant.

One final property of relative clauses should be discussed. Relative clauses in some way describe their antecedent. The rules governing attributes in German are considerably more flexible than in English, because the German case system reduces ambiguity. This allows the German speaker to turn a relative clause into an extended attribute, which is essentially a long adjective. Compare the following two sentences, which are equivalent:

Der Mann, der jede Woche auf Dienstreise nach Seattle fährt, ist krank.
The man, who drives to Seattle every week on business, is sick.

Der jede Woche nach Seattle auf Dienstreise fahrende Mann ist krank.
The to-Seattle-every-week-on-business driving man is sick.

Such a construction is ludicrious in English, but not-uncommon in German. The experienced reader of German will, with practice, be able to read through such an item without difficulty.

It would be best to review what we have learned about subordinate and relative pronouns before discussing their syntax. Dependent clauses - both subordinating and relative clauses - modify or in some other way describe the antecedent clause upon which they are based. Subordinating clauses provide a variety of ways in which new information can relate to the main clause, many of which are adverbial in nature (e.g., "weil/because", but not "dass/that", which, in the examples above, replaced the accusitive object). Relative clauses modify and describe entities already mentioned in the main clause. Generally speaking, only subordinate clauses have the ability to occupy the first position in a main clause.

Format:

Main clause, subordinating conjunction + subordinate clause.
Subordinating conjunction + subordinate clause, conjugated verb + main clause.

Main clause including antecedent, relative pronoun based on antecedent + relative clause.

[edit] Syntax of Dependent Clauses

Subordinate and relative clauses have similar syntax. Indeed, neglecting the verbs, they have a syntax similar to main clauses. Recall the syntax described at the beginning of this chapter. That syntax will form the basis of the Mittelfeld in dependent clauses.

Syntax of Dependent Clauses

Field	Items	Examples
Comma	All dependent clauses are set off with a comma unless occupying the first position of a main clause	,
Conjunction	For subordinate clauses, this is the subordinating conjunction. For relative clauses, this is the relative pronoun.	"dass", "weil", "obwohl", "denen"
Mittelfeld	The Mittelfeld of a dependent clause follows the same syntax as the Mittelfeld of the main clause.
	Nominative Pronoun	"ich", "wir"
	Reflexive Pronoun	"mich", "uns"
	Accusative Pronoun	A "dich"
	Dative Pronoun	D "dir", "mir"
	Nominative Noun	"die Katze"
	Dative Noun	D "meiner Mutter"
	Accusitive Noun	A = ADDA "meinen Vater"
	Prepositional Phrases	Time, Manner, Place
	Adverbs, Predicate Adjectives	Time, Manner, Place
Verbs	Verbs will be dealt with in greater detail below.	They are very complicated.
	Number of Verbs	Placement of Verbs (always at end of clause}
	One (conjugated)	At end of Clause
	Two (conjugated - modal/-like or auxilliary; infinitive)	Build inwards. Infinitive, then conjugated verb
	Three
	Modal/-like is conjugated	3.2.1. Build inwards.
	Modal/-like is not conjugated (likely the second verb)	Conjugated verb (1); infinitive verb (3); modal verb (2)

Once again, no dependent clause will contain each of these elements. But understanding the position of pronouns is critical. The same conventions listed under the main clause schema apply.

[edit] Verbs in Dependent Clauses

The way the verbs are arranged depends on the number of verbs in the verb-phrase, and the presence of a modal verb.

Dependent Clauses with One Verb

This is the simplest case. Such a clause has one verb, conjugated based on the person and number of the subject of the sentence. This conjugated verb is placed at the end of the clause.

Subordinate Clause	Du weißt, dass ich dich liebe. (You know that I love you.)
Relative Clause	Er ist ein Mann, der oft Berlin besucht. (He is a man who often visits Berlin.)

Dependent Clauses with Two Verbs

A clause with two verbs has one conjugated verb and one verb in the infinitive. Such examples are clauses in a perfect tense (wherein the conjugated verb is the auxilliary verb, either "haben" or "sein"), the future tense ("werden"), ones with modal verbs, and ones with modal-like verbs (sehen, hören, helfen, lassen).

In a main clause, the conjugated verb will be in the second position, and the infinitive verb will be at the end of the clause.

In a dependent clause, both verbs will be at the end of the clause, with the conjugated verb last. This supports the principle of "building inwards".

Subordinate Clause	Du weißt, dass ich dich nicht lieben kann. (You know that I cannot love you.)
Relative Clause	Er ist ein Mann, der nach seiner absolvierenden Prüfung Berlin besuchen wird. (He is a man who will visit Berlin after his graduation exam.)

Dependent Clauses with Three Verbs

Sentences with three verbs typically involve a modal verb, whose presence complicates matters terribly. Let us think of some examples in English.

1) I am not able to help you move your car. - können - helfen - bewegen

2) I will be able to go to the store with you. - werden - können - gehen

3) I have not been able to afford that. (haben + "sich (dat) etw. leisten können" = to be able to afford sth.)

4) I have not been able to reach you over the phone. - haben - können - erreichen

And so on. The problem is, after you've learned how to put your verb at the end of the sentence in a main clause, and after you've learned how to "build inwards" in dependent clauses, and after you've pulled your hair out, night after night, sitting in a cafe in Seattle declining relative pronouns, German grammar throws yet another rule at you, this one so pointless and downright counter-productive, and it seems like German grammar is simply making fun of you at this point, that you leap out of your seat, scream "woo hoo!", and then get back to work.

The modal verb (or the modal-like verb) has to be at the end of the verb phrase, regardless of whether it has been conjugated. In cases where it has not, the conjugated verb moves to the beginning of the verb phrase. Let's look at our examples above.

Du weißt, dass...

1) ...ich dir dein Auto nicht bewegen helfen kann. This one is straightforward, because the modal verb is the conjugated verb, allowing the clause to follow the "build inwards" principle.

2) ...ich zum Markt mit dir nicht werde gehen können. The modal verb must come last. No semantic or logical reason for this.

3) ...ich mir das nicht habe leisten können. The modal verb must come last. Note here that the modal verb does not form a past participle when it has main verb to modify.

4) ...ich dich am Telefon nicht habe erreichen können. Note the somewhat sensible placement of "nicht".

And so...

Verb-order in Dependent Clauses

Number of Verbs	Placement of Verbs (always at end of clause}
One (conjugated)	At end of Clause
Two (conjugated - modal/-like or auxilliary; infinitive)	Build inwards. Infinitive, then conjugated verb
Three
Modal/-like is conjugated	3.2.1. Build inwards.
Modal/-like is not conjugated (likely the second verb)	Conjugated verb (1); infinitive verb (3); modal verb (2)

[edit] Infinitive Clauses

The reader is already familiar with several types of German verbs that require other verbs; these verbs are modal verbs (können, dürfen, wollen, etc.); modal-like verbs (sehen, hören, helfen, lassen); auxilliary verbs (sein, haben), used for the perfect tenses; and werden, used for future and passive constructions. Another verb that can take another verb without forming an infinitive clause is bleiben (e.g., stehenbleiben, to remain standing). These verbs never form infinitive clauses, and the verbs that are used with them go at the end of the sentence.

Infinitive clauses are another kind of clause found in German, and are equivalent to infinitive clauses in English. Consider the following examples in English:

I am here (in order) to help you clean your house.
The car is ready to be driven.
I work to be able to afford my car.

Infinitive clauses are formed after verbs that do not regularly take other verbs. They indicate purpose, intent, and meaning of the action in the main clause. As such, infinitive clauses have no subject, or no nouns in the nominative case. Here are the above examples in German:

Ich bin hier, um dir dein Haus putzen zu helfen.
Das Auto ist bereit, gefahren zu werden.
Ich arbeite, um mir ein Auto leisten zu können.

Infinitive clauses are usually found after a main clause, though it is possible for them to occupy the first position of a main clause. They are always set off by a comma.

Of particular interest is the construction, "um...zu..."", which corresponds to the English construction, "in order to...". Um is placed at the beginning of the clause, after which follows a standard infinitive clause. Whereas "in order" is frequently omitted from English infinitive clauses of this sort, "um" is always included such clauses in German.

The Mittelfeld follows the standard syntax of main clauses, though without nominative nouns and pronouns. At any rate, infinitive tend to be rather short.

Verbs (in the infinitive form) always come at the end, immediately preceded by the word zu. In the case of separable-prefix verbs, such a verb is written as one word, with the word zu between the prefix and the main verb; e.g. anzuschlagen, auszugehen, abzunehmen, and so forth.

The syntax of infinitive clauses can thus be summarized as follows:

Syntax of Infinitive Clauses

Position	Contents	Examples
Introduction	Comma or Capital Letter (beginning of sentence)	"," "Um"
Mittelfeld	Reflexive Pronoun	"mich", "uns"
	Accusative Pronoun	A "dich"
	Dative Pronoun	D "dir", "mir"
	(Temporal Expressions)	Expressions of time, especially short temporal adverbs, are often placed here.
	Dative Noun	D "meiner Mutter"
	Accusitive Noun	A = ADDA "meinen Vater"
	Prepositional Phrases	Time, Manner, Place
	Adverbs, Predicate Adjectives	Time, Manner Place
Infinitive Verb Phrase	Verbs with no separable prefix	zu + Infinitive; e.g., "zu gehen"
	Verbs with separable prefix	prefix-zu-infinitive, written as one word; e.g., "anzufangen"
End	Either a period to end the sentence, or a comma to introduce the main clause	","; "."

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Verbs

German verbs can be classified as weak or as strong. Weak verbs are very regular in their forms, whereas strong verbs change the stem vowel.

Weak:

kaufen, kaufte, gekauft

Strong:

singen, sang, gesungen

With its Anglo-Saxon origin, this notion is also present in English.

flip, flipped, flipped
sing, sang, sung

Some German verbs have weak and strong forms. This may depend on meaning:

Der Botschafter wurde nach Berlin gesandt.
Der Süddeutsche Rundfunk sendete ein Konzert aus dem Gasteig.

Or on transitive vs. intransitive use:

Das Hemd hing auf der Wäscheleine.
Sie hängte das Hemd auf die Wäscheleine.

[edit] Separable Verbs

Sometimes you will run into verbs such as anrufen, aufräumen, mitkommen. These verbs are examples of Separable Prefix Verbs. When you see these kinds of verbs, it will have a preposition prefix followed by a verb. These verbs separate when they are the main verb of a sentence.

EXAMPLES:

I am calling the butcher. Ich rufe den Metzger an.

I am trying on the boots. Ich probiere die Stiefel an.

[edit] Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive Verbs are verbs involving the reflexive pronoun "sich" and its conjugations that reflect, or refer back, to the performer of the action. There are only accusative and dative reflexive pronouns.

Accusative reflexive pronouns are used when there is no direct object. Dative reflexive pronouns are used when a direct object is present. However, when using a direct object, the possessive is not used.

Examples:

Accusative: Ich verletze mich. I injure myself.

Dative: Ich verletze mir die Hand. I injure my hand.

Accusative: Er hat sich verbrannt. He burned himself.

Dative: Er hat sich den Daumen verbrannt. He burned his thumb.

Reflexive pronouns in cases

	Accusative	Dative
Himself	sich	sich
Herself	sich	sich
Itself	sich	sich
Themselves	sich	sich
Yourself (informal)	dich	dir
Yourself (formal)	sich	sich
Yourself (informal plural)	euch	euch
Myself	mich	mir
Ourselves	uns	uns

[edit] Modals

[edit] Dürfen

Dürfen means to be allowed/permitted, may.

Present tense:

Ich darf - I am allowed to

Du darfst - You are allowed to

Er/Sie/Es darf - He/She/It is allowed to

Wir dürfen - We are allowed to

Ihr dürft - You (plural) are allowed to

Sie dürfen - They are allowed to/You (formal) are allowed to

Darf ich einen Freund zum Fest bringen? May I bring a friend to the party.

Man darf hier nicht rauchen. You're not allowed to smoke here.

Past tense:

Ich durfte

Du durftest

Er/Sie/Es durfte

Wir durften

Ihr durftet

Sie durften

Niemand durfte die Stadt verlassen. No one was allowed to leave the city.

[edit] Können

können means 'to be able, capable'. It is cognate with the English word 'can'/'could'.

Present Tense:

ich kann - I can

du kannst - You can

er/sie/es kann - He/She/It can

wir können - We can

ihr könnt - You can

sie können - They can

Ich kann das nicht tun. I can't do it.

Past Tense:

ich konnte

du konntest

er/sie/es konnte

wir konnten

ihr konntet

sie konnten

Wir konnten sie nicht erreichen. We could not reach them.

[edit] Mögen

mögen expresses a pleasure, or desire. In the present tense, it is used transitively with people or food. e.g. 'Ich mag dich' 'I like you' or 'Ich mag Erdbeeren' 'I like strawberries'. The subjunctive (of the past) expresses preference to perform the action of a subordinate clause 'Ich möchte nach Frankreich reisen' I would like to travel to France'. 'mögen' is cognate with the English verb 'may'/'might'.

Present Tense:

ich möchte/mag I would like to

du möchtest/magst You would like to

er möchte/mag He/She/It would like to

wir möchten/mögen We would like to

ihr möchtet/mögt You would like to

sie möchten/mögen They would like to

Ich möchte nach Deutschland reisen. I would like to travel to Germany.

(There is also a present subjunctive möge, which is very formal:
Der König sagte: "Er möge eintreten." - The king said: "He may enter.")

Past Tense:

ich mochte

du mochtest

er/sie/es mochte

wir mochten

ihr mochtet

sie mochten

[edit] Müssen

müssen expresses something forced on you. It is etymologically related to 'must'.

Present tense:

ich muss gehen I must (have to) go

du musst

er/sie/es muss

wir müssen

ihr müsst

sie müssen

Past Tense:

ich musste I had to

du musstest

er musste

wir mussten

ihr musstet

sie mussten

Note that the negative nicht müssen is not the English must not, but rather need not or don't have/need to. must not translates to nicht dürfen.

Ich muss nicht arbeiten. ~ Ich brauche nicht zu arbeiten. I don't have to work.

Ich darf nicht arbeiten. I must not work.

There are however some northern German uses like: Du musst das nicht tun meaning Du solltest das nicht tun.

[edit] Sollen

[edit] Use in Perfect (and Pluperfect) Tense

Although all these modals have a normal perfect:

gedurft gekonnt gemocht gemusst gesollt

in connection with other verbs, the infinitive form is used:

Ich habe das tun dürfen - können - mögen - müssen - sollen.

Falsch ist:

Ich habe das tun gedurft - gekonnt - gemocht - gemusst - gesollt.

Das gilt auch für die Verben sehen und hören:

Ich habe ihn kommen sehen - hören.

[edit] Present Tense

The Present Tense is used for..

• The Present Tense (="das Präsens") is used to describe situations that are happening and aren't the past.

• For Ongoing Action, like I'm swimming in the pool now

• Everyday Truths, like The moon and stars will come at night.

• Future meaning, if explictly stated, like I will run tomorrow morning

There IS a PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE.

Here is one example:

Ich bin am Fahren. (I am at the driving) I'm driving.

The person to say this would be driving during the time they say this and they would continue to drive after stating this for some time.

You nominalize the verb ("fahren" (driving) becomes "das Fahren") and add a "am". You can also du this with forms of the past.

Als er kam war ich gerade am Abwaschen. (When he arrived i was at "the dishwashing") I was washing the dishes when he arrived.

So the verb "sein" (to be) includes the information what tense he was doing what he did in.

Here the progressive meaning is also emphasized with the word "gerade" meaning something like: I was JUST ABOUT to wash the dishes(not the same though because it means he is already doing it and not about to start).

[edit] Perfect Tense

The Perfect Tense or das Perfekt of verbs is used to talk about things in the past which have already happened. It is sometimes referred to as "Present Perfect Tense". This can cause confusion. While the formation is similiar, the meaning and usage differs.

[edit] Formation

As in English, the perfect tense consists of two parts. An auxiliary (Hilfsverb) and a past participle (Partizip Perfekt). Compare the examples given below with their English translations.

Er	hat	gelacht.
He	has	laughed.

Sie	ist	gekommen
She	has	come.

Die Kinder	haben	gegessen.
The children	have	eaten.

[edit] Past participle for regular verbs

The general rule is simple:

verb	prefix	+ 3rd-person sing.	participle(er/sie/es)
lachen (laugh)	ge	+ (er/sie/es) lacht	gelacht
kaufen (buy)	ge	+ (er/sie/es) kauft	gekauft
mähen (mow)	ge	+ (er/sie/es) mäht	gemäht

There are some groups of regular verbs that slightly differ from that pattern.

Some verbs drop the prefix ge-. Like the other regular verbs they end in -t. These are:

1. Verbs with unseparable prefixes (be-, ent-, er-, empf-, ge-, ver-, miss-, zer-)
Examples:

verb	past participle
besuchen (visit)	besucht
entfernen (remove)	entfernt
erreichen (achive)	erreicht
gehören (belong)	gehört
verstecken (hide)	versteckt
missverstehen (misunderstand)	missverstanden

2. Verbs ending in -ieren
Examples:

verb	past participle
kopieren (copy)	kopiert
polieren (polish)	poliert

3. Another group is formed by verbs with separable prefixes
With separable verbs, the prefix ge is placed between the prefix and the rest of the verb.
Examples:

verb	sep. pref.+ ge + 3rd-person sg.	= past participle
aufmachen (open)	auf + ge + macht	= aufgemacht
abstellen (put down)	ab + ge + stellt	= abgestellt

Separable and inseparable verbs are distinguished by the stressed syllable:

verb	past participle
über'setzen (to translate)	über'setzt
'übersetzen (to ferry across)	'übergesetzt

Er hat das Buch ins Chinesische übersetzt.
Der Fährmann hat den Passagier übergesetzt (über den Fluss gesetzt).

[edit] Past Participle for Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs always end in -en. The vowel can be different from the one in present tense. Look at some examples:

infinitive	3rd-person sg.	past participle
gehen (go)	geht	gegangen
essen (eat)	isst	gegessen
schreiben (write)	schreibt	geschrieben
trinken (drink)	trinkt	getrunken
schlafen (sleep)	schläft	geschlafen
nehmen (take)	nimmt	genommen

You have to learn these forms by heart. How you can obtain the necessary information and how you should learn them is described in section tips for learning below.

Note that irregular verbs can be combined with the same prefixes as described above. The same rules regarding the prefix ge- apply. Therefore the forms for schreiben, verschreiben and aufschreiben are geschrieben, verschrieben and aufgeschrieben respectively.

[edit] Which verbs are irregular

A lot of verbs that are irregular in English are irregular in German, too. Unfortunately, this is not always true. It is most likely when the German and the English verb are related (i.e look similar).

Examples:

see:    irregular   sehen:    irregular
buy:    irregular   kaufen:   regular
get:    irregular   bekommen: irregular ;-)

Regular verbs are much more frequent than irregular ones, but a lot of the irregular verbs are used very frequently, for instance haben, sein, gehen, kommen etc.

When in doubt whether a verb is irregular or not, it is best to look it up in a dictionary (See below).

[edit] haben or sein as auxiliaries

Whether a verb is irregular or not does not influence the choice of auxiliary.

Most verbs take haben as auxiliary.

A) Verbs which take an accusative object (transitive verbs)
B) Reflexive verbs always take haben as auxiliary.

Examples A:

trinken: Er hat ein Bier getrunken.
lesen:   Sie hat ein Buch gelesen
kochen   Sie haben gestern Spaghetti gekocht.

Examples B

sich freuen   Ich habe mich gefreut
sich kämmen   Er hat sich gekämmt
sich ärgern   Wir haben uns schon lange nicht mehr so geärgert.

The auxiliary sein is taken by verbs that describe

C) the relocation from one place to another or

D) the change of a state

and with

E) sein (be) and bleiben (stay)

Note: none of the verbs from groups C-E is combined with an accusative object.

Examples C: relocation verbs

verb               aux.  irregular  sentence with perfect tense 
kommen (come)      sein  yes        Ich bin gekommen.
reisen (travel)    sein  no         Wir sind schon dreimal nach China gereist.
fahren (drive)     sein  yes        Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren.
begegnen (meet)    sein  no         Er ist ihm gestern begegnet. 
gehen (go)         sein  yes        Du bist gegangen.
starten (take off) sein  yes        Das Flugzeug ist gestartet.

In southern German (mostly Bavarian) use, also stehen, sitzen und schwimmen are treated like a (non-)movement:

Ich bin gestanden - gesessen - geschwommen. High German is: Ich habe gestanden - gesessen - geschowmmen.
Aber: Ich habe den See durchschwommen.

Examples D: change of state verbs

verb                        aux.   irr.    sentence with perfect tense
aufstehen (get up)          sein   yes     Ich bin heute früh aufgestanden.
einschlafen (fall asleep)   sein   yes     Die Kinder sind endlich eingeschlafen.
verblühen (whither)         sein   no      Die Blumen sind schon verblüht

Examples E: sein and bleiben

Er ist nicht lange geblieben.  He didn't stay long.
Er ist immer nett gewesen.     He has always been nice.

Exeptions to the rules Some of the verbs from group A can be used with an object in accusative case. In this case, they take haben as auxiliary.

Compare:

Ich bin nach Kalifornien gefahren.                  I drove to California. 
Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren.     I drove to California by car (literally: with the car)
Ich habe das Auto (Akk.) nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove the car to California. 

The same applies to fliegen (fly), starten and reiten (ride a horse).

[edit] sentence structure

The perfect tense consists of two verb forms: an auxiliary and a past participle. Together they form the so called predicate. The predicate consists of all verb parts in one clause.

The sentence structure in perfect behaves as with every two parts predicate (modals plus infinitive, separable verbs etc.)

[edit] Main Clauses

In a main clause (Hauptsatz), the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case) is in the second position and the past participle stands at the end of the clause.

   First Position (I)       (II)
1) Sein Vater               hat  gestern    ein fantastisches Essen gekocht.
2) Gestern                  hat  sein Vater ein fantastisches Essen gekocht.
   Both: Yesterday, his father cooked a fantastic meal.
3) Ein fantastisches Essen  hat  sein Vater gestern                 gekocht.*
   It was a fantastic meal that his father cooked yesterday.

* The third example is correct, although not very frequent. You might use it if you want to stress what exactly his father has prepared or if you have to repeat the sentence because your partner has not understood this particular part of it.

Second position does not equal second word, as you can see above. However, there is only one group of words allowed before the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case). Such groups of words are called "phrases". While you can put very long phrases in front of the conjugated verb, you must not use two. Therefore the sentence "Gestern sein Vater hat ein fantastisches Essen gekocht" is wrong.

[edit] subordinated clauses - Nebensätze

Subordinated clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction. Well known conjunctions of this kind are

weil  dass  wenn. 

*In spoken language weil is often used like und or aber, which means that it is followed by a main clause. However, after weil, speakers often pause for a little while. There is no pause after either und or aber.
Weil + main clause is not allowed in written language. Therefore you may say: Ich gehe, weil - (little pause) - ich bin müde. But you wouldn't use it in a letter. At least not yet.
The correct conjunction for a main clause is denn, which is rarely used in spoken language.

In subordinated clauses the conjugated verb, i.e the auxiliary, stands at the very end of the sentence. The past participle stands directly in front of it. For example:

                  conj.    aux.                 participle  aux.
Ich weiß,         dass  du      das             gemacht     hast.
Ich glaube dir,   weil  du      bisher noch nie gelogen     hast.
Ich glaube dir,   denn  du hast bisher noch nie gelogen.
Ich gehe,         wenn  du                      gegangen    bist.

[edit] Usage

Unlike in English the difference in meaning between Perfekt and Präteritum is rather small. The main difference between those two forms lies in usage. Perfekt is mostly used in spoken language, while Präteritum is mostly reserved for written texts. However, the modals, the verbs haben and sein and the expression es gibt are almost exclusively used in Präteritum - even when speaking. One reason might be the frequency of those verbs, the other reason is most likely the very complex perfect forms for modals.

(This is in southern German use; in northern German, you'll hear the preterite also in spoken language.)

On the other hand, the perfect tense is used in writing too. The more oral the text is, the more perfect tense you will find (for example in personal letters etc.). If an action has happened very recently, it tends to be in perfect tense too.

Look at the following conversation and concentrate on the distribution of Präteritum and Perfekt.

(1) Anna: Hallo Peter. Wo warst du denn? Ich habe dich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen.
(2) Peter: Hallo Anna. Ich war die letzen zwei Wochen im Urlaub.
(3) Anna: So? Wo warst du denn genau?
(4) Peter: Auf der Insel Elba, in einem fantastischen Hotel. Es gab jeden Abend ein Büffet und man konnte essen, so viel man wollte!
(5) Anna (lacht): Ich glaube dir sofort, dass dir das gefallen hat. Du hast aber nicht nur gegessen, oder? Was hast du denn den ganzen Tag gemacht?
(6) Peter (lacht auch): Nein, natürlich nicht. Ich bin viel geschwommen, ich habe mir die Insel angeguckt und am Abend bin ich immer zum Tanzen in eine Disco gegangen.
(7) Anna: Aha... Und? Hast du jemanden kennen gelernt?
(8) Peter (grinst): Kein Kommentar.

Vocablary to help you understand the text:

der Urlaub, -e   vacation
genau            exactly, precisely
die Insel, -n    island
das Büffet, -s   buffet
gefallen         like
angucken         to look at (colloquial)
kennen lernen    get to know
grinsen          grin

Used forms to talk about past events

Präteritum         Perfekt
du warst (1/3)     habe gesehen (1)
ich war (2)        es hat gefallen (5)
es gab (4)         du hast gegessen (5)
konnte (4)         du hast gemacht (5)
wollte (4)         ich bin geschwommen (6)
                   ich habe angeguckt (6)
                   ich bin gegangen (6)
                   du hast kennen gelernt

[edit] How to find the forms in a dictionary

Unless you have a special dictionary for learners, not all the forms will be spelled out. Regular forms are often omitted. The same goes for the auxiliary haben. If no forms are indicated, you may assume that the verb is regular and has the verb haben as an auxiliary. However, if you find the abbreviation itr or i. (for intransitive) behind the verb, the auxiliary is often sein. Intransitve verbs don't have an accusative object and these are often used with sein, while transitive verbs (tr. or t.) are always conjugated with haben.

Sometimes not even the forms of irregular verbs are given in the lexicon entry. Irregular verbs are often indicated by irr. for irregular or a similar abbreviation. In that case, look for a list of irregular verb forms in the index of your dictionary.

To find the past participle of separable verbs you often have to cut the prefix and look for the base form of the verb. If you look for aufstehen (get up), you probably find your answer in the entry of stehen. Remember: The prefix ge goes in between the prefix of the separable verb and the verb itself: auf + ge + standen.

When working online, you might consider using Canoo. Enter an arbitrary form of the word you are interested in into the mask. Hit enter. On the results page, choose the link Flexion behind the appropriate entry (or inflection in the english version). You will get a table of all possible verb forms.

[edit] Tips for learning

Irregular forms are just that - irregular. Therefore you have to learn them by heart. By learning four forms, you can construct every verb form for a given verb.
The forms you should know are:

Infinitiv    Präsens          Präteritum    Hilfsverb  + Partizip Perfekt
infinitiv    3rd person       preterite     auxiliary  + past participle
gehen        geht             ging          ist        + gegangen
nehmen       nimmt            nahm          hat        + genommen
fahren       fährt            fuhr          ist        + gefahren
lesen        liest            las           hat        + gelesen
essen        isst             aß            hat        + gegessen
kommen       kommt            kam           ist        + gekommen
bleiben      bleibt           blieb         ist        + geblieben
sein         ist              war           ist        + gewesen
anfangen     fängt ... an     fing ... an   hat        + angefangen
...

All forms - besides the infinitive of course - should be in 3rd-person singular.

A good way to learn those forms is to put them on small cards. On one side you write the infinitive and probably a sentence to illustrate the usage of the verb. On the backside you put the rest of the forms and - if needed - a translation of the verb. When learning, you look at the infinitve and try to remember the forms and the meaning. You can easily verify your hypothesis by flipping the card.

If you encounter a verb you want to learn, look it up in a dictionary. If it is irregular, learn the verb together with its defining forms. Like that, you spare yourself a lot of trouble later on.

[edit] Preterite

[edit] Forms - Formen

[edit] Regular Forms

Regular (or better, weak) verbs take the ending -te. The person endings are added afterwards. Note that the forms for 1st- and 3rd-person singular are the same.

ich lern -te
du  lern -test
er  lern -te
wir lern -ten
ihr lern -tet
sie lern -ten
Sie lern -ten

If the stem of a verb (infinitive minus -en) ends in -t (arbeit-en), -d (end-en) or consonant plus m or n (öffn-en, rechn-en) you add an -e before the preterite endings.

ich arbeit -e -te
du  arbeit -e -test
sie arbeit -e -te
wir arbeit -e -ten
ihr arbeit -e -tet
sie arbeit -e -ten
Sie arbeit -e -ten

[edit] Irregular Forms

[edit] without -te

The strong verbs belong to this group. The endings are easy to memorize. It is harder to know which vowel to use.

fahren
ich fuhr -
du  fuhr -st
sie fuhr -
wir fuhr -en
ihr fuhr -t
sie fuhr -en
Sie fuhr -en

The rule mentioned above for t/d, double-consonant + n/m applies also for irreglar verbs.

stehen
ich stand -
du  stand -(e)st
er  stand -
wir stand -en
ihr stand -et
sie stand -en
Sie stand -en

gehen, ging, gegangen
stehen, stand, gestanden

[edit] with -te

Few irregular verbs take the -te ending. Examples are: nennen, rennen, kennen, bringen, denken and the irregular modals (können, dürfen and müssen).

nennen
ich nann -te
du  nann -test
er  nann -te
wir nann -ten
ihr nann -tet
sie nann -ten
Sie nann -ten

[edit] Usage

Unlike in English the difference in meaning between Perfekt and Präteritum is rather small. The main difference between those two formes lies in usage. Präteritum ist mostly used in written language, while Perfekt is mostly used in spoken language and in texts that have an oral touch like personal letters. However, the modals, the verbs haben and sein and the expression es gibt are almost exclusively used in Präteritum - even when speaking.

[edit] How to find the forms in a dictionary

Unless you have a special dictionary for learners not all the forms will be spelled out. Regular forms are often omitted. Irregular verbs are often marked by irr. for irregular or a similar abbreviation. In that case, look for a list of irregular verb forms in the index of your dictionary.

When working online, you might consider using Canoo. Enter an arbitrary form of the word you are interested in into the mask. Hit enter. On the results page, choose the link Flexion behind the appropriate entry (or inflection in the English version). You will get a table of all possible verb forms.

[edit] Tips for learning

Irregular forms are just that - irregular. Therefore you have to learn them by heart. By learning four forms, you can construct every verbform for a given verb.
The forms you should know are:

Infinitiv    Präsens          Präteritum    Hilfsverb  + Partizip Perfekt
infinitiv    3rd person       preterite     auxiliary  + past participle
gehen        geht             ging          ist        + gegangen
nehmen       nimmt            nahm          hat        + genommen
fahren       fährt            fuhr          ist        + gefahren
lesen        liest            las           hat        + gelesen
...

All forms - besides the infinitiv of course - should be in 3rd-person singular.

A good way to learn those forms is to put them on small cards. On one side you write the infinitive and probably a sentence to illustrate the usage of the verb. On the backside you put the rest of the forms and - if needed - a translation of the verb. When learning, you look at the infinitve and try to remember the forms and the meaning. You can easily verify your hypothesis by flipping the card.

If you encounter a verb you want to learn, look it up in a dictionary. If it is irregular, learn the verb together with its defining forms. Like that, you spare yourself a lot of trouble later on.

[edit] Future Tense

[edit] Talking about future with the present tense

German uses the Present Tense to talk about the future whenever it is clear to both speaker and listener that the future is meant. In the dialogue example:

Wenn du zu Hause bleibst, kommen wir dich besuchen.
If you stay at home, we shall come and visit you.

The whole conversation is about the future, so there is no need to indicate it again in the tense of the verb.

Some more examples:

Ich schreibe den Brief heute Abend.
I will write the letter this evening.

Wir fahren nächstes Jahr nach Spanien.
We will go to Spain next year.

[edit] Future Tense

[edit] Futur I

Where the meaning would not otherwise be clear, and in more formal language, e.g. to express an intention, German talks about the future tense by using werden plus the infinitive at the end of the clause. The forms of werden are:

ich werde
du wirst
er/sie/es/man wird

wir werden
ihr werdet
sie/Sie werden

Examples:

Ich werde ein Haus bauen.
I shall build a house. (an intention)

Wir werden sehen.
We will see.

The future can also express some inescapable fate:

Sie werden alle umkommen.
They will all perish.

[edit] Future II

If the sentence is speculative, "sein" or "haben" is added to the verb and Futur II is formed:

Sie werden angekommen sein.
literally "they will have arrived" - meaning "(I gather) they have arrived (by now)"

Sie werden es gemacht haben.
"they will have done it"

Normally, you use Futur II when speaking about something that should have happened already, but you are not sure or you can't prove it.

---

[edit] APPENDICES

[edit] Contents

• #A.01 - Das Alphabet
• #A.02 - Phrase Book
• #A.03 - Grammar Reference Table I
• #A.04 - Grammar Reference Table II
• #A.05 - Webseiten and other resources
• #A.06 - Übungen zum Satzbau
• #A.07 - Namen
• #A.08 - False Friends
• #A.09 - Level I Vocabulary

[edit] A.01 - Das Alphabet

[edit] The Alphabet

This page is incomplete; for the corresponding Wikipedia article, see German phonology.

The German alphabet, like English, consists of 26 basic letters. However, there are also combined letters and four umlauted forms (an umlaut is the pair of dots placed over certain vowels). The following table includes a listing of all these letters and a guide to their pronunciation. As in English, letter sounds can differ depending upon where within a word the letter occurs. The first pronunciation given below (second column) is that in English of the letter (or combination) itself. Reading down this column and pronouncing the "English" words will recite the alphabet auf Deutsch ("in German"). Note that letter order is exactly the same as in English, but pronunciation is not for many of the letters. In the list of pronunciation notes, no entry means essentially "pronounced as in English".

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) The alphabet Das Alphabet
A	(a) /ɑː/	Long 'a' as 'a' in 'father' (ah).
B	(be) /beː/	Pronounced like 'p' when at the end of a word
C	(ce) /tseː/	See combination letter forms; without a following 'h': before 'e', 'i', 'y', 'ä', 'ö' like the german letter 'z' else like 'k'
D	(de) /deː/	Pronounced like 't' when at the end of a word; slightly more "dental"
E	(e) /eː/	Long 'e' as 'a' in 'late' (ay); there is no movement in the sound as in the english equivalent. Short 'e' as 'e' in 'pet'. In unstressed syllables like 'a' in 'about' or 'e' in 'garden'
F	(ef) /ɛf/
G	(ge) /geː/	Pronounced like 'g' in 'get'; pronounced like 'k' when at the end of a word; pronounced like 'ich'-sound (see below) in the suffix '-ig' at the end of words
H	(ha) /hɑː/	like 'h' in 'house' only at the beginning of words or a syllable before 'a', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'y', 'ä', 'ö', 'ü' (only if these vowels don't belong to a suffix), else silent
I	(i) /iː/	Long 'i' as 'e' in 'seen' (ee); short 'i' as 'i' in 'pit'
J	(jot) /jot/	Pronounced like 'y' in 'yard'
K	(ka) /kɑː/
L	(el) /ɛl/	Slightly more "dental"
M	(em) /ɛm/
N	(en) /ɛn/	Slightly more "dental"; before 'a', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'y', 'ä', 'ö', 'ü' (only if these vowels don't belong to a suffix)
O	(o) /oː/	Long 'o' as 'o' in 'open' (oh), there is no movement in the sound as in the english equivalent. Short 'o' as 'o' in 'pot'
P	(pe) /peː/
Q	(ku) /kuː/	Pronounced like 'k'; only occurs in the combination 'qu', which is pronounced like 'kv' not like 'kw'
R	(er) /ɛʀ/	trilled with the front or back of the tongue, depending on area (see below)
S	(es) /ɛs/	In Germany, pronounced like 'z'; pronounced like 's' in 'sound' when at the end of a word, after consonants (except 'l', 'm', 'n', ng') and before consonants; in Austria, pronounced like 'z' only when it appears between two vowels, pronounced like 's' otherwise. Pronounced like 'sh' in the beginning of a word before 'p' or 't'
T	(te) /teː/	Slightly more "dental"
U	(u) /uː/	Long 'u' as 'oo' in 'moon' (oo); short 'u' as 'u' in 'put'
V	(vau) /fɑʊ/	Pronounced like 'f' when at the end of a word and in a few but often used words (in most cases of germanic origin), in general at the beginning of German geographical and family names. In all other cases like 'v'
W	(ve) /veː/	Pronounced like 'v'
X	(iks) /ɪks/	Pronounced like 'ks'
Y	(üpsilon) /ʏpsɪlon/	Pronounced like 'ü' (see below), except in words of English origin, where it is pronounced like in English
Z	(zet) /tsɛt/	Pronounced like 'ts'

[edit] Unique German Letters

Umlaut Letters

• Umlauts were originally written as 'ae', 'oe', and 'ue'.

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) The alphabet Das Alphabet
Ä	(a-umlaut) //	Long ä pronounced similar to long e (ay); very similar to 'ai' in 'air'
Äu	(a-umlaut-u) //	Pronounced like 'oi' in 'oil'
Ö	(o-umlaut) //	No English equivalent sound (see below); somewhat similar to vowel in 'jerk'
Ü	(u-umlaut) //	No English equivalent sound (see below)

The Ligature, ß

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) The alphabet Das Alphabet
ß	(es-zet or scharfes es) //	Pronounced like 's' in 'set' or 'c' in 'nice'; see below for uses.

Combined Letters

German Dialogue • Print version • audio (how to upload) The alphabet Das Alphabet
ch	(ce-ha) //	Pronounced various ways (see Konsonanten sounds below)
ck	(ce-ka) //
tz	(te-zet) //
ie	(i-e) //
ei	(e-i) //	Pronounced like the 'ie' in 'tie' or simply the personal 'I'
eu	(e-u) //	Pronounced like the 'oi' in the English word 'oil'
au	(a-u) //	Pronounced as a short 'ow' such as when experiencing pain
dt	(de-te) //
st	(es-te) //
sp	(es-pe) //
sch	(es-ce-ha) //
tsch, zsch, tzsch		Pronounced like English 'ch' //
ph	(F) //	Often used in the old orthography, now nearly always replaced: old: Photographie new: Fotografie
pf		Difficult pronunciation for non-speakers. Both letters are pronounced.
qu	(ku-u) //
...

• Audio: OGG (305KB) ~ Das Alphabet oder Das ABC
• Audio: OGG (114KB) ~ Die Umlaute

[edit] Deutsche Aussprache ~ German Pronunciation Guide

[edit] Vokale ~ Vowels

German vowels are either long or short, but never drawled as in some English dialects. A simple method of recognizing whether a vowel is likely to be long or short in a German word is called the Rule of double consonants. If a vowel is followed by a single consonant — as in haben (have), dir (you, dat.), Peter (Peter), and schon (already) — the vowel sound is usually long. If there are two or more consonants following the vowel — as in falsch (false), elf (eleven), immer (always), and noch (still) — the vowel sound is usually short. There are some German words that are exceptions to the double consonant rule: bin, bis, das, es, hat, and was all have short vowel sounds. It is also the case that the silent 'h' does not count as a consonant and the preceeding vowel is always long. Ihnen is an example.

This "rule" is applied to the use of 'ss' vs. 'ß' (see below), in that 'ß' is treated as 'hs'. Thus, the vowel before 'ß' in der Fuß (foot) is long, while that before 'ss' in das Fass (cask) is short.

• au – 'Ah-oo' is prononced like 'ow' in English 'cow'. German examples are blau (blue) and auch (also see below under ach ~ unique German sounds).

• äu – 'Ah-umlaut-oo' is pronounced like the German eu (ay-oo; see next). In written and printed German, 'ae' can be an acceptable subsitute for 'ä' if the latter is unavailable.

• eu – 'Ay-oo' is pronounced like 'oi' in English word 'oil'. German examples are neun (nine) and heute (today).

• ie and ei – 'Ee-ay' has exactly the same sound as a German long 'i'; that is, like the 'ee' in 'seen'. 'Ay-ee' is pronounced like the 'ei' in 'height'. Note that this appears to be the opposite for these two vowel combinations in English, where the rule is that the first vowel is long and the second is silent. Consider this word: 'die' — in German it is pronounced 'dee', in English like 'dye'. The word mein in German is the English 'mine'. In effect, 'ie' follows the same rule as in English, with the first vowel long (ee in German) and the second vowel silent; 'ei' is the equivalent sound in German to the English long 'i' as in 'mine'.

[edit] Konsonanten ~ Consonants

Most German consonants are pronounced similar to the way they are in English, with exceptions noted in column 3 above. Details of certain consonant sounds and uses are discussed further here:

• ch – Pronounced like 'k' in many words of Greek origin like Christ or Charakter, but like 'sh' in words of French origin, and 'tch' in words of English origin. The German sechs (six) is pronounced very much similar to the English 'sex', but with a voiced 's' (so it's more like 'zex'). See also the discussion of "ich-sound" below. The pronunciation of words with an initial 'ch' followed by a vowel, as in China or Chemie varies: in High German the "ich-sound" is the standard pronunciation, but in South German dialect and Austrian German 'k' is preferred.

• d, t, l, and n – These letters are pronounced similarly in English and German. However, in pronouncing these letters, the German extends his tongue up to the back of the base of the teeth, creating a more dental sound. As noted above, 'd' is a 'dental d' except at the end of a word, where it becomes a 'dental t'.

• sch – in German 'Ess-tsay-hah' is pronounced like 'sh', not 'sk' as in English. German word example: Schüler (student).

• sp and st – Where the combinations 'ess-pay' or 'ess-tay' appear at the beginning of a word, the 'ess' sound becomes an 'sh' sound. German examples are spielen (play) and spät (late). An interesting "exception" is a word like Bleistift (pencil), where the inside 'sti' is pronounced 'shti' — however, this is a compound word from Blei (lead) and Stift (pen). Some local dialects however pronounce all occurances "sharp" (with an 'ess' sound -- typical for North German dialects, especially near Hamburg) or "soft" (with an 'sh' sound -- typical for the Swabian dialect).

• ß – The former ligature (of 'ss' or 'sz'), 'ess-tset' is widely used in German, but its use is somewhat more restricted in very modern German (always pronounced like 's' in 'sound'). 'ß' is used for the sound 's' in cases where 'ss' or 's' can't be used: this is especially after long vowels and diphthongs (cf. the English usage of 'c' like in 'vice' or 'grocery'). Thus, the vowel before 'ß' in der Fuß (foot) is long, while that before 'ss' in das Fass (cask) is short. 'ß' appears after diphthongs ('au', 'ei', 'eu') because they are long. In written and printed German, 'ss' can be an acceptable subsitute for 'ß' if the letter is unavailable. The greek letter, β, is not to be used as a substitute for 'ß'. Note that in Switzerland, 'ß' is always written as 'ss'.

[edit] German Sounds not found in English

There are sounds in the German language that have no real equivalent in the English language. These are discussed here.

• r – German language has two pronunciations for r: The more common is similiar to the French r, a guttural sound resembling a fractionated g, as found in Arabic غ or some pronunciations of modern Greek γ, as well as modern Hebrew ר (the modern sound was affected by German). The second pronounciation is a "rolled" r as in Spanish or Scots. Its use is limited to Switzerland and parts of Southern Germany.

• ö (oh-umlaut) – The word "umlaut" means "change in sound" and an umlauted 'o' changes to a sound with no equivalent in English. An easy way to get this sound is to think of it as the 'u' in the British word 'murder'. Commonly, the 'long ö' is made by first sounding 'oo' as in moon, then pursing the lips as if to whistle, and changing the sound to 'a' as in 'late'. An example word is schön (beautiful). The 'short ö' sound is made by first sounding 'oo', pursing the lips, and changing the sound to 'e' as in 'pet. A 'short ö' sounds actually very similar to the 'i' in 'sir'. An example word is zwölf (twelve). If you have problems pronouncing ö, do not replace it by "o" but by "e" (as in elf) like in many German dialects. In written and printed German, 'oe' can be an acceptable subsitute for 'ö' if the latter is unavailable.

• ü (oo-umlaut) – As with 'ö', 'oo-umlaut' is a rounded vowel sound with no real English equivalent. The 'long ü' is made by first sounding 'oo' as in moon, then pursing the lips as if to whistle, and changing the sound to 'ee' as in 'seen'. A simpler approach is to simply shape your lips as if you were to whistle, and then put some voice. An example word is früh. The 'short ü' sound is made by first sounding 'oo', pursing the lips, and changing the sound to 'i' as in 'pit. An example word is fünf (five). If you have problems pronouncing ü, do not replace it by "u" but by "i" (as in fish) like in many German dialects. In written and printed German, 'ue' can be an acceptable subsitute for 'ü' if the latter is unavailable.

• ach – The letter combination 'ch' as in auch (also) is called the "ach-sound" and resembles a throat-clearing (guttural) sound. It is used after 'a', 'o', 'u', and 'au'. It is pronounced somewhat like "och" in Loch Ness (lock, not loke) in its original form. The Hebrew letter ח and the Arabic letter خ as well as continental Spanish j are pronounced the same as the "ach-sound".

• ich – The "ich-sound" in German is also somewhat guttural, like a more forceful 'h' in English "hue", "huge". Another approach is to say "sh" while (almost) touching the palpatine not with the tip but with the middle of your tongue. In the word richtig ("correct") both the 'ich' and the final 'ig' have this sound. It is used after 'e', 'i', 'y', 'ä', 'ö', 'ü', 'ei', 'eu', 'äu', after consonant-letters and sometimes at the beginning of words (especially before 'e', 'i', 'y', 'ä', 'ö'). If you have problems pronouncing ich, replace with the sound of 'hue' or by 'sh' but never by a hard 'k' (never "ick")! In some parts of Germany "ich", as well as the final 'ig', is pronounced "ish". In Austria and some local dialects of Germany the final 'ig' (as in "richtig") is simply pronounced as in English "dig".

Audio: OGG (37KB) ~ ach, auch, ich, richtig

[edit] Syllable Stress

The general rule in German is that words are stressed on the first syllable. However, there are exceptions. Almost all exceptions are of Latin, French, or Greek origin. Mostly these are words stressed on the last syllable, as shown by the following:

Vo=`kal    Kon=so=`nant    Lek=ti=`on

These words (not stressed on the first syllable) appear in the (Level II and III) lesson vocabularies as Vokal, Lektion (in some regions: Lektion), etc.

Words starting in common prefixes (ge-, be-, ver-, etc.) stress the syllable following said prefix. Examples are Gemüse, Beamte, and Vereinigung.

[edit] Links

For very advanced Readers:

• w:de:Vokal#Vokale_im_Deutschen
• w:de:ß

[edit] A.02 - Phrase Book

[edit] German Phrases

[edit] Greetings

Hallo!                      Hello!
Guten Tag!                  Good day!
  Tag!                        Good day!
Guten Morgen!               Good morning!
Guten Abend!                Good evening!
Gute Nacht!                 Good night!
Wie geht es Ihnen?          How are you (formal)? How are you doing?
  Wie geht's                  How are you (informal) 
Es geht mir gut             I'm doing fine, I'm well
  Prima!                      Great!
  Spitze!                     Super!
  Gut!                        Good!
  Sehr gut!                   Very good!
  Toll!                       Terrific!
  Ganz gut                    Pretty good
  So lala                     OK
  Es geht so                  Going ok
  Nicht gut                   Not well
  Schlecht                    Bad     
  Sehr schlecht               Very bad
  Miserabel                   Miserable
Und Ihnen?                  And you (formal)?

Auf Wiedersehen!            Good bye!
  Wiedersehen!                Bye!
Tschüss!                    See you!
Tschau!                     Ciao! (Italian for 'see you')
Bis später!                 Later! (until later)
Bis dann!                   Later! (until whenever)
Wiederhören                 (hear) again (used over the phone)

Note: How are you? is not a typical query in German greeting etiquette as it is in English, where the standard answer is I'm Fine. A German speaker will consider this to be an earnest question, and you may receive an honest answer that is longer than you expected.

Note: Wiedersehen directly translates as "to see again".

[edit] Gespräche (conversations)

Danke (sehr)!              Thanks, thank you
Danke schön!               Thanks a lot!
Bitte?                     Please?
Bitte (sehr)!              You're welcome! (comes after danke)
Entschuldigung!            Excuse me!
Vielen Dank                Much thanks
Gern geschehen             You are welcome

[edit] Verstehen (understanding)

Sprechen Sie bitte etwas langsamer.          Please, speak somewhat slower.
Bitte sprechen Sie langsamer.                Please speak more slowly.
Können Sie mich verstehen?                   Can you understand me?
Ich verstehe Sie nicht.                      I don't understand you.
Ich weiß nicht.                              I don't know
Was haben Sie gesagt?                        What was that? What have you said?
Können Sie das bitte wiederholen?            Can you say that again, please!
Ich spreche kein Deutsch.                    I don't speak German (literally: I speak no German)
Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch.        I speak only a little German
Ich spreche nur wenig Deutsch.               I speak a little German
Ich spreche nur ein paar Wörter auf Deutsch. I only speak a few words of German.
Sprechen Sie Deutsch?                        Do you speak German?
Sprechen Sie Englisch?                       Do you speak English?

[edit] Positionen (Locations)

Wo ist die Apotheke?                    Where is the drug store?
Wo ist das Geschäft?                    Where is the shop?
Wissen Sie, wo der Flughafen ist?       Do you know where the airport is? 
Wie gelangt man zur Bowlingbahn?        How do you get to the bowling alley?
Gehen Sie nach links.                   Go left
Gehen Sie nach rechts.                  Go right        

[edit] Common phrases

Translation	Phrase	IPA	Pronunciation	Sound
German	Deutsch	/dɔɪ̯ʧ/	(doytsh)	(listen)
hello	Hallo	/ˈhaloː/	(HAH-loh)	(listen)
good-bye	auf Wiedersehen	/aʊ̯f ˈviːdɐzeːn/	(owf VEE-der-zayn)	(listen)
please	bitte	/ˈbɪtə/	(BIT-tuh)	(listen)
you’re welcome	bitte schön	/ˈbɪtə ʃøːn/	(BIT-tuh shurn)
thank you	danke	/ˈdaŋkə/	(DAHNG-kuh)	(listen)
that one	das da	/das da/	(duss dah)	(listen)
how much?	wie viel?	/vi fiːl/	(vee feel)	(listen)
English	Englisch	/ˈʔɛŋlɪʃ/	(ANG-lish)	(listen)
yes	ja	/jaː/	(yah)	(listen)
no	nein	/naɪ̯n/	(nine)	(listen)
I need help	Ich brauche Hilfe	/ʔiç ˈbʁaʊ̯χə ˈhɪlfə/	(ish BROW-khuh HEEL-fuh)
excuse me	Entschuldigen Sie	/ʔɛntˈʃʊldɪgən ziː/	(ent-SHOOL-dee-gen zee)
pardon me	verzeihen Sie	/fɐˈʦaɪ̯ən ziː/	(fair-TSEYE-en zee)
I am sick	ich bin krank	/ʔɪç bɪn kʁaŋk/	(ish bin krunk)
where’s the bathroom?	Wo ist die Toilette?	/voː ʔɪst diː toːˈlɛtə/	(vo ist dee toe-LET-tuh)	(listen)
generic toast	prosit prost	/ˈpʁoziːt/ /pʁoːst/	(PRO-zeet) (proast)	(listen) (listen)
Do you speak English?	Sprechen Sie Englisch?	/ˈʃpʁɛçən ziː ˈʔɛŋlɪʃ/	(SHPRE-shen zee ANG-lish)	(listen)
I don’t speak German	Ich spreche kein Deutsch	/ʔɪç ˈʃprɛçə kaɪ̯n dɔɪ̯ʧ/	(ish SHPRE-shuh kine doytsh)
I don’t understand	Ich verstehe nicht.	/ʔɪç fɐˈʃteːə nɪçt/	(ish fair-SHTAY-uh nisht)	(listen)
Sorry	Entschuldigung	/ʔɛntˈʃʊldɪgʊŋ/	(ent-SHOOL-dee-gung)	(listen)
I don’t know	Ich weiß nicht	/ʔɪç vaɪ̯s nɪçt/	(ish vice nisht)
Happy birthday	Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag	/ˈhɛɐ̯ʦlɪçən ˈglʏkvʊnʃ ʦʊm gəˈbʊɐ̯ʦtaːk/	(HAIRTS-lee-shen GLUKE-voonsh tsoom ge-BOORTS-tahk)	(listen)

[edit] A.03 - Grammar Reference Table I

<< Beginning German | Basic German | Intermediate German

---

[edit] Der-word Case for German Nouns

	Case
Gender	Nominativ	Genitiv	Dativ	Akkusativ
masculine	der	des	dem	den
feminine	die	der	der	die
neuter	das	des	dem	das
plural*	die	der	den	die

* The same regardless of singular noun gender

[edit] Personal Pronoun Tables: nominative, genitive, dative & accusative cases

[edit] Nominative case personal pronouns

The nominative case is used as the subject of a verb.

	Singular		Plural
1st person	ich	I	wir	we
2nd person	du (Sie*)	you	ihr (Sie*)	you
3rd person	er, sie, es	he, she, it	sie	they

*Polite form.

---

[edit] Genitive case personal pronouns

The genitive case corresponds to the possessive case in English or to the English objective case preceded by 'of' and denoting possession. The use of genitive personal pronouns is very rare in German and many Germans are unable to use them correctly.

	Singular		Plural
1st person	meiner	my	unser	our
2nd person	deiner (Ihrer*)	your	eurer (Ihrer*)	your
3rd person	seiner, ihrer, seiner	his, her, its	ihrer	their

*Polite form.

Examples:

Ich erbarme mich eurer. ~ I take pity on you(rs).

meiner unbedeutenden Meinung nach. ~ in my humble opinion (IMHO)

---

[edit] Dative case personal pronouns

The personal pronouns in the dative case are used as indirect objects of verbs and after the prepositions aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu.

	Singular		Plural
1st person	mir	me	uns	us
2nd person	dir (Ihnen*)	you	euch (Ihnen*)	you
3rd person	ihm, ihr, ihm	him, her, it	ihnen	them

*Polite form.

---

[edit] Accusative case personal pronouns

The personal pronouns in the accusative case are used as direct objects of transitve verbs and after the prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne, um.

	Singular		Plural
1st person	mich	me	uns	us
2nd person	dich (Sie*)	you	euch (Sie*)	you
3rd person	ihn, sie, es	him, her, it	sie	them

* Polite form.

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<< Level I II III

[edit] A.04 - Grammar Reference Table II

<< Beginning German | Basic German | Intermediate German

---

[edit] Conjugating 'to be'

Ich bin groß.              I am tall.
Du bist sehr groß.         You are very tall.
Sie ist klein.             She is short.
Sie sind groß.             They are tall.

In these cases, we use the correct form of sein for each situation. Please notice the final two sentences both use 'Sie', and we must look at the verb to determine the difference between 'she' and 'they'.

In German, the English infinitive 'to be' is translated as sein.

This is the table of the forms of 'sein', with rough English translations. Note that in English, there are only three forms (am, is, are) while German has five (bin, bist, ist, sind, seid).

Also, the verb conjugation of the two you-formals are always the exact same.

German

sein

Person	Singular Pronoun	Verb Form	Plural Pronoun	Verb Form
1st	ich	bin	wir	sind
2nd	du	bist	ihr	seid
3rd	er / sie / es	ist	sie	sind
Fml.	Sie	sind	Sie	sind

English

to be

1st	I	am	we	are
2nd	you	are	y'all	are
3rd	he / she / it	is	they	are
Fml.	you (formal)	are	y'all (formal)	are

[edit] Conjugating Normal Verbs

Er spielt Volleyball.      He plays volleyball.
Ich mache Hausaufgaben.    I do my homework.
Wir kommen aus München.    We come from Munich.
Was machst du?             What are you doing?

In these sentences, different verbs and endings are used. Note that the verb is always in second position.

When conjugating normal verbs, use the endings shown below (a memory hook is the "best ten" endings). Note that in normal verbs, such as spielen and machen, ihr-form and er/sie/es-form are the same and the wir-form, sie (pl)-form and the formal are all the same as the infinitive.

-en

1st	ich	-e	wir	-en
2nd	du	-st	ihr	-t
3rd	er / sie / es	-t	sie	-en
Fml.	Sie	-en	Sie	-en

spielen - to play

1st	ich	spiele	wir	spielen
2nd	du	spielst	ihr	spielt
3rd	er / sie / es	spielt	sie	spielen
Fml.	Sie	spielen	Sie	spielen

machen - to make/do

1st	ich	mache	wir	machen
2nd	du	machst	ihr	macht
3rd	er / sie / es	macht	sie	machen
Fml.	Sie	machen	Sie	machen

[edit] Conjugating Irregular Verbs

Ich habe keine Zeit.       I have no time.
Gib mir das Buch!          Give me the book.
Sie wandert gern.          She likes to hike.
Er liest einen Roman.      He is reading a novel.

In each of these sentences, we use an irregular verb. Irregularity occurs in the ich-form or the du-form and er/sie/es-forms. There are three types of irregularity.

[edit] E in the first syllable

One form of irregularity occurs sometimes when the verb contains an 'e' in the first syllable. The change is simple: the du-form and er/sie/es forms both change the 'e' to an 'ie' or an 'i'. Two common examples are shown. Note that the er/sie/es-form and ihr-form are no longer the same.

sehen - to see

1st	ich	sehe	wir	sehen
2nd	du	siehst	ihr	seht
3rd	er / sie / es	sieht	sie	sehen
Fml.	Sie	sehen	Sie	sehen

geben - to give

1st	ich	gebe	wir	geben
2nd	du	gibst	ihr	gebt
3rd	er / sie / es	gibt	sie	geben
Fml.	Sie	geben	Sie	geben

[edit] Haben

A similar, yet different, change occurs in the verb "haben". As in the irregularity above, the du-form and er/sie/es-form change.

haben - to have

1st	ich	habe	wir	haben
2nd	du	hast	ihr	habt
3rd	er / sie / es	hat	sie	haben
Fml.	Sie	haben	Sie	haben

[edit] Verbs ending in Consonant-N

Some verbs change the ich-form for obvious reasons. "Wandern" and "basteln" are two examples. Both drop the first e in the ich-form. wandern - to hike

1st	ich	wandre	wir	wandern
2nd	du	wanderst	ihr	wandert
3rd	er / sie / es	wandert	sie	wandern
Fml.	Sie	wanderen	Sie	wanderen

basteln - to build

1st	ich	bastle	wir	basteln
2nd	du	bastelst	ihr	bastelt
3rd	er / sie / es	bastelt	sie	basteln
Fml.	Sie	basteln	Sie	basteln

[edit] Conjugating Modals

Ich will ins Kino gehen.   I want to go to the movies.
Dürfen wir hier essen?     May we eat here?
Was kann ich für dich tun? What can I do for you?
Er mag Romane lesen.       He likes to read books.

Modals are a new kind of verb. They are the equivalent to helping verbs in English. There are seven basic modals: können (can), mögen (like), dürfen (may), wollen (want), sollen (should), müssen (must), and möchten (would like). Möchten isn't technically a modal, but it acts like one in most aspects.

Modals are conjugated very differently. The ich-form and er/sie/es-form are always alike and singular has a different verb in the first syllable (except in sollen and möchten). Below are the conjugations of the six basic modals and möchten.

können - can

1st	ich	kann	wir	können
2nd	du	kannst	ihr	könnt
3rd	er / sie / es	kann	sie	können
Fml.	Sie	können	Sie	können

mögen - like

1st	ich	mag	wir	mögen
2nd	du	magst	ihr	mögt
3rd	er / sie / es	mag	sie	mögen
Fml.	Sie	mögen	Sie	mögen

dürfen - may

1st	ich	darf	wir	dürfen
2nd	du	darfst	ihr	dürft
3rd	er / sie / es	darf	sie	dürfen
Fml.	Sie	dürfen	Sie	dürfen

wollen - want

1st	ich	will	wir	wollen
2nd	du	willst	ihr	wollt
3rd	er / sie / es	will	sie	wollen
Fml.	Sie	wollen	Sie	wollen

sollen - should

1st	ich	soll	wir	sollen
2nd	du	sollst	ihr	sollt
3rd	er / sie / es	soll	sie	sollen
Fml.	Sie	sollen	Sie	sollen

müssen - must

1st	ich	muss	wir	müssen
2nd	du	musst	ihr	müsst
3rd	er / sie / es	muss	sie	müssen
Fml.	Sie	müssen	Sie	müssen

möchten - would like

1st	ich	möchte	wir	möchten
2nd	du	möchtest	ihr	möchtet
3rd	er / sie / es	möchte	sie	möchten
Fml.	Sie	möchten	Sie	möchten

[edit] Separable Verbs

Du siehst schön aus!       You look good!
Ich muss mein Zimmer aufräumen.
                           I have to clean my room.
Komm mit!                  Come with!
Probier diese Jeans an!    Try these jeans on.

Some verbs in German are seperable: they have a prefix that can be seperated from the base. When the verb is used with a modal, it regains the prefix at the end of the sentence. When it is the main verb of the sentence, the prefix is moved to the end of the sentence.

An "example" in English would be the word "intake". When it is used as a verb, it becomes "take ... in". When it is used as an adjective or a noun, it becomes "intake" again.

Two easy examples of seperable verbs are aussehen and mitkommen. Note that aussehen is also irregular.

aussehen - to appear

1st	ich	sehe aus	wir	sehen aus
2nd	du	siehst aus	ihr	seht aus
3rd	er / sie / es	sieht aus	sie	sehen aus
Fml.	Sie	sehen aus	Sie	sehen aus

mitkommen - to come along/with

1st	ich	komme mit	wir	kommen mit
2nd	du	kommst mit	ihr	kommt mit
3rd	er / sie / es	kommt mit	sie	kommen mit
Fml.	Sie	kommen mit	Sie	kommen mit

[edit] A.05 - Webseiten and other resources

Appendix 3 ~ Online Resources for German Language Students

[edit] Lists and directories to online resources

• bab.la - Language Portal | Online Quizzes | Learn Languages
• German Flashcards - Flashcards with audiofiles and dictionary
• www.deutschlern.net - E-learning platform for beginning, intermediate and advanced students and teachers of German. Exercises based on authentic texts train reading comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. Monitor function for teachers. Free of charge, requires free login.
• Learn German Online - Free German lessons online.
• Deutsch als Fremdsprache - Useful links for German language learners. Site in German.
• German Language and Culture Resources - Materials and resources for learning the German language and about German-speaking culture.
• Free Online German Tutorial - at ielanguages.com
• Free resources for language students - Practice speaking German with audio forums.
• Learn-German - Learn German quickly with our German tips, advice, and links.
• Mango - Mango Languages has free German Lessons for English speakers.

[edit] Über die deutsche Sprache - about German

• Ethnologue report for German
• Verein Deutsche Sprache

[edit] Online Wörterbücher - Dictionary

• Free Online Dictionary - Languages of the world

[edit] Deutsch-Englisch (German-English)

• Wiktionary - English
• Wiktionary - German
• bab.la German-English - Translations, synonyms, grammar, voice output, regional and colloquial expressions.
• dicologos really this is a multilanguage dictionary with ofer 7.000.000 lemmas in several languages.
• Babylon Babylon Online Dictionary
• LEO - with audiofiles of most of the words and vocabulary trainer.
• Dict.cc
• Pons - Dictionary with vocabulary trainer.
• Ding - Ding is a Dictionary lookup program for the X window system (Linux, Unix - not for Mac or MS Windows). It comes with a German-English Dictionary with approximately 180,000 entries.r.

[edit] Nur Deutsch - German only

• DWDS- Das digitale Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache - German only dictionary for advanced learners.
• Deutsche Wörterbücher von Wahrig - Orthography and foreign words
• Redensartenindex - German idioms and proverbs with explanations

[edit] Slideshows with pictures and pronuciations

Language courses German at the time of insertion there is only one file about fruit - I will try to add new ones every week-end.

[edit] Deutsche Grammatik und Rechtschreibung- German Grammar and Spelling

• Canoo - extensive database about inflection and word formation
• German Grammar Resource - Free German grammar lessons
• Free online German course - new orthography, grammar, exercises, tests, example sentences, jokes, learning tips

[edit] Aussprache - Pronunciation

• A Guide to German Pronunciation - Pronunciation course for beginners.

[edit] Blogs

• Deutschlernblog Tips for learning German. Site entirely in German.
• DaF-Blog On German language and how to learn it. Parts of the Site are in English, but most of it in German.
• Deutsch-Happen small, bite-sized snaps of German language for the advancing learner

[edit] Podcasts

[edit] from learners

• Speaken Sie Deutsch?: Podcast from Canadian Hugh Gordon (Rss-Feed).

[edit] for learners

• Guter Umgang: German language learning blog about colloquial German (RSS-Feed).
• Let's speak German: Jokes, poems, tonguetwisters and more in German (RSS-Feed).
• Podcasts of Deutsche Welle: Nachrichten, Top-Thema, Stichwort, Sprachbar and Alltagsdeutsch are specifically made for language learners. Most of the texts can be found on the pages Deutsch im Fokus (Sprachbar, Stichwort and Alltagsdeutsch) and Didaktuelles (Nachrichten and Top-Thema).

[edit] Tandem

Tandem by E-Mail

The Mixxer Tandem via Skype

[edit] A.06 - Übungen zum Satzbau

Grammatikalische Regeln:

       In einfachen Hauptsätzen steht das Verb direkt hinter dem Pronomen (pronoun).
       (also meist an zweiter Stelle)

       In Nebensätzen steht das Verb am Ende.

Sind die folgenden Sätze richtig oder falsch?

1

a) Ich mag keine Leute, die zu spät kommen. 
b) Ich mag keine Leute, die kommen zu spät.

2*

a) Wir müssen viel arbeiten, und auch wir müssen viel lernen.
b) Wir müssen viel arbeiten, und wir müssen auch viel lernen.

(* Das sind zwei vollständige Hauptsätze mit einem und verbunden.)

Wenn, sobald und weil leiten Nebensätze ein, deshalb, daher und darum leiten Hauptsätze ein.

The same in English:
Wenn (if; when), sobald (as soon as) and weil (because) introduce subordinate clauses, deshalb, daher and darum (that is why, because of that, therefore) introduce main clauses.

3 

a) Wenn wir gestresst sind, machen wir oft Fehler.
b) Wenn wir sind gestresst, machen wir oft Fehler.
c) Wir machen oft Fehler, wenn wir gestresst sind.

4

a) Wir haben keine Zeit mehr. So wir müssen jetzt gehen.
b) Wir müssen jetzt gehen. Wir haben keine Zeit mehr.
c) Wir haben keine Zeit mehr. Deshalb müssen wir jetzt gehen.
d) Wir haben keine Zeit mehr, weshalb wir jetzt gehen müssen.
e) Wir müssen jetzt gehen, weil wir keine Zeit mehr haben.

Richtig sind: 1 a, 2 b, 3 a+c und 4 b,c,d+e

[edit] A.07 - Namen

[edit] Names

This is a list of common, modern German names. Please add to it.

[edit] First Names

German names have undergone a drastic change in the last 60 years. Older, "typical" German names like Hans, Fritz, Heinrich, Karl or Wilhelm are now uncommon in contemporary Germany. Today many parents give their children names like (ten most popular names 2005):

Boys Alexander Maximilian Leon Lukas/Lucas Luca Paul Jonas Felix Tim David

Girls Marie Sophie/Sofie Maria Anna, Anne Leonie Lena Emily Lea/Leah Julia Laura

(Source: Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache)

[edit] Boys' Names

• Maximilian
• Alexander
• Leon
• Paul
• Lukas/Lucas
• Felix
• David
• Tim
• Gerhard, Gerd, Gert*
• Johannes, Jan
• Philipp
• Ingo*
• Jonas
• Peter
• Michael
• Patrick
• Thomas
• Jens
• Wolfgang*
• Andreas
• Günter / Günther*
• Claus / Klaus
• Stefan / Stephan, Steffen
• Jürgen*
• Werner*
• Hans*
• Fritz*
• Heinrich*
• Uwe*
• Rudi*
• Dieter*
• Harald*
• Nils/Niels (Often used in Northgermany and the scandinavian countries; Comes from the older name Nikolaus/Nicolaus)
• Jakob
• Josef
• Christian
• Niklas

Note: The names marked with * are getting rather unusual.

[edit] Girls' Names

• Ursula, Ulla*
• Helga*
• Karin*
• Ingrid*
• Renate*
• Monica / Monika
• Giesela / Gisela*
• Petra*
• Birgit / Birgitt*
• Nina
• Susanne
• Sabine
• Charlotte / Lotte
• Jana, Janine
• Katharina
• Silke
• Marie
• Sophie
• Maria
• Anna, Anne
• Lea(h)
• Lara
• Laura
• Lena
• Leonie
• Lisa
• Julia
• Sara(h)
• Isabel, Isabelle
• Heidi
• Inga
• Nicole
• Marina
• Angela

[edit] Last Names

The 51. most popular last names in Germany:

1. Müller
2. Schmidt
3. Schneider
4. Fischer
5. Meyer
6. Weber
7. Wagner
8. Becker
9. Schulz
10. Hoffmann
11. Schäfer
12. Koch
13. Bauer
14. Richter
15. Klein
16. Wolf
17. Schröder
18. Neumann
19. Schwarz
20. Zimmermann
21. Braun
22. Krüger
23. Hofmann
24. Hartmann
25. Lange
26. Schmitt
27. Werner
28. Schmitz
29. Krause
30. Meier
31. Lehmann
32. Schmid
33. Schulze
34. Maier
35. Köhler
36. Herrmann
37. König
38. Walter
39. Mayer
40. Huber
41. Kaiser
42. Fuchs
43. Peters
44. Lang
45. Scholz
46. Möller
47. Weiß
48. Jung
49. Hahn
50. Schubert
51. Zächer

[edit] A.08 - False Friends

There are some words which are spelled the same in English and in German, but have completely different meanings. Even though the words are spelled the same, they are usually pronounced completely differently. It can sometimes be dangerous to use these words (for both native English speakers and native German speakers.) Think of that, next time someone wants to give you a " Gift" or opens a door and says " After you!"

Note: This list contains some items of etymological interest. For example, the transformation of the consonant 't' in German to 'd' in English in word pairs like Bart->Beard, Bett->Bed, Gut->Good, Hart->Hard, Rot->Red, and Not->Need.

Word	German meaning (in English) Englische Bedeutung (auf Deutsch)
After	Anus Später, Nachher
Also	thus auch
Angel	Fishing Rod Engel
Apart	Striking Abgesondert, Abseits
Arm	Poor Arm
Art	Kind, sort, species Kunst, Künstlichkeit
Ass	Ace Esel, Dumpfbacke, Knallkopf
Bad	Bath Schlecht, Schlimm
Bagger	Excavator Angesteller im Supermarkt der die Einkäufe in Tüten packt
Bald	Soon Unbehaart, Kahlköpfig
Bang	Afraid Knall, Krach, Schall
Bar	in Cash, Pure Stab (see also: Stab), Kneipe
Bart	Beard Name eines Mannes
Bat	asked politely, requested Fledermaus
Beet	Flower bed Zuckerruebe, rote Ruebe
Bitten	to ask politely, request gebissen
Blank	Shiny, Shining Unbeschriftet, Unausgefüllt
Blech	Sheet metal Ausdruck des Ekels
Bog	to Twist, Form, Bend Sumpf, Torfmoor
Brand	Fire Markenprodukt
Brilliant	Diamond Blendend, Geistvoll
Bug	Front of a boat or plane Laus, Insekt, Störung
Danke	Thanks Feucht
Dick	Thick Schnüffler, Schwanz, der steife Penis
Elf	Team, Eleven Elfe, Kobold
Falls	If, in case Wasserfälle
Fang	Catch Reißzahn
Fatal	Unfortunate Verhängnisvoll, Unheilvoll, Tödlich
Fast	Almost, Nearly Schnell
Fasten	Fast Befestigen
Fee	Fairy Preise, Gebühr
Fell	Coat (animal) fällen
Fern	Far away, Distant Farnkraut
First	Ridge Zuerst
Flog	Flew Peitschen, Auspeitschen
Fort	Away, Off, Gone Festung, Kastell
Funk	Radio Drückeberger, Musik von 1970's
Gang	Walk, Gait, Way Gruppe, Bande, Trupp
Gift	Poison Gabe, Geschenk
Grab	Grave Aufgreifen, Ergreifen
Grad	Degree (temperature) einen akademischen Grad erlangen
Grub	dug Futter
Gut	Good Darm (Schnecke und Kette)
Hack	Heal Heib, Kerbe, Zerhacken
Half	Helped Halb
Handy	Cell Phone Praktisch, Passend, Handlich
Hang	Slope, Inclination Hängen, Henken
Happen	Bit, Morsel Zufällig Geschehen, Vorkommen, Passieren
Hart	Hard Hirsch
Heck	Back of a boat or plane Was zum Teufel? (What the Heck?)
Held	Hero Gehalten
Hell	Bright Hölle
Herd	Cooker, Oven, Range Herde
Hose	Pants Schlauch
Hub	Throw, Lob, Swing (see also: Lob) Wickelkern, Nabe
Hummer	Lobster Jemand der summt
Hut	Hat Hütte
Kind	child Art, Sorte
Labor	Laboratory Arbeit
Lack	Varnish Knappheit, Mangel
Lag	Lay zurueckbleiben, zoegern
Last	Load, Burden, Weight Zuletzt
Lied	Song Gelogen
Links	Left Verknüpfung, Verbindungen
List	Cunning Schlagseite
Lob	Praise Werf, Hub (see also: Hub)
Log	Lied Block, Klotz
Lot	Plumb (line) Pazille, die Menge, die Masse
Lust	To feel like doing something Sinnliche Begierde
Made	Maggot Hergestellt, Gemacht
Maul	Mouth (animal) der Schlegel, Beschädigen, Durchprügeln
Mist	Manure, Trash leichter Nebel
Not	distress, need Nicht
Note	Grade (in school), musical note bemerken, aufschreiben, kleiner Brief
Nun	Jetzt die Schwester (im Kloster), Nonne
Pest	Plague Nervensäge
Rang	Rank Geklingelt, Geklungen
Rad	Wheel Ausdruck der Bewunderung (wie Geil)
Rat	Advice die Ratte
Regal	Shelves Majestätisch, Königlich, Hoheitsvoll
Rind	Beef, Cattle Schwarte, Schale
Rock	Skirt Stein, Fels
Roman	Novel der Römer
Rot	Red Verrotten, Verwesung
Sage	History, Myth Weise, Klug, Gescheit
See	Lake Siehe
Sense	Scythe Wahrnehmung, Bedeutung, Verstand, Sinn
Silvester	New Years Eve Name eines Mannes
Speck	Bacon Fleck
Spore	Spur (see also: Spur) Spore (Pilze)
Spur	Trace, Tracks, Lane Schiffsschnabel, Sporn, Ansporn (see also: Spore)
Stab	Rod, Pole, Baton, Bar (see also: Bar) Erstechen
Stare	Starlings anstarren
Stark	Strong Völlig, Gänzlich
Stern	Star Ernst, das Heck
Tag	Day Markierstelle, Kennzeichnung
Tang	Seaweed Amerikanisches Orangengetränk
Taste	Key (as in keyboard) Kostprobe, Geschmackssinn
Toll	Great! Super! Zollabgabe, Straßenbenutzungsgebühr
Tod	Death, Dead Name eines Mannes
Ton	Clay, a Sound die Tonne
Tot	Dead kleines Kind, kleiner Knirps
Wade	calf (of the leg) waten
Wand	Wall der Zauberstab
War	Was (see also: Was) Krieg
Was	What? wurde/war (see also: War)
Welt	World Quaddel, Beule
Wetter	Weather Nasser
Wider	Against, Contrary to Weiter, Breiter
Will	Wants Wille

Although not spelled identically in both languages, beginners are often confused by the similarity of the German "bekommen" and English "to become".

bekommen => to receive, to get

werden => to become

[edit] A.09 - Level I Vocabulary

<< Beginning German | Basic German | Intermediate German

---

Appendix 9 ~ Vocabulary for Level One

[edit] Wie heißt du?

[edit] Subject Pronouns in Nominative Case

---

I             Ich
We            Wir
You           Du
              Sie (formal) 
You All       Ihr
              Sie (formal)
He            Er
She           Sie
It            Es
They          Sie

[edit] Verbs

---

[edit] To Have

---

Have          Habe (1st Person, Singular)
              Hast (2nd Person, Singular)
              Haben (1st & 3rd Person, Plural)
              Habt (2nd Person, Plural)
Has           Hat

[edit] To Be

---

Am            Bin
Are           Bist (1st Person, Singular)
              Sind (1st & 3rd Person, Plural)
              Seid (2nd Person, Plural)
Is            Ist

[edit] Greeting & Goodbyes

---

Hello!        Hallo!
              Servus! (used in Bavaria and Austria)
              Moin! or Moin Moin! (used in northern Germany)                    
              Grüezi! (used in Switzerland)
Good morning! Guten Morgen! or Morgen!
Good day!     Guten Tag! or Tag!
Good evening! Guten Abend! or N'Abend!
              Grüß Gott! (used in southern Germany, Austria and South Tyrol)
Goodbye!      Auf Wiedersehen! or Wiedersehen 
Bye!          Tschüss! or Tschau!
              Servus! (used in Bavaria, Austria)
Later!        Bis später! or Bis dann!
Good night!   Gute Nacht!

[edit] How You Are

---

Good          Gut
Super!        Spitze!
Great!        Prima!
Very good!    Sehr gut!
Bad           Schlecht
Miserable     Miserabel

[edit] Interrogative Adverbs

---

Who           Wer
What          Was
Where         Wo
When          Wann
Why           Warum
How           Wie

[edit] Genders

---

Boy           Der Junge
Girl          Das Mädchen
Man           Der Herr
Woman         Die Frau
Boys          Die Jungen
Girls         Die Mädchen
Men           Die Männer
Women         Die Frauen

[edit] Freizeit

[edit] Sports & Activities

---

Sport(s)      Sport
Interests     Hobbys/Interessant
Soccer        Fußball
USA Football  Amerikan Football
Volleyball    Volleyball
Basketball    Basketball
Tennis        Tennis
Baseball      Baseball
9-pin Bowling Kegeln
Chess         Schach
Board Game    Das Brettspiel
Game          Das Spiel
Homework      Hausaufgaben
Television    Fernsehen
Movie         Der Film, Filme

[edit] Conjunctions

---

And           Und
But           Aber
Or            Oder

[edit] Verbs

---

To Have       Haben
To Be         Sein
To Be Called  Heißen
To Play       Spielen
To Do/Make    Machen
To Read       Lesen
To Watch      Schauen
To See        Sehen
To Work       Arbeiten
To Write      Schreiben
To Swim       Schwimmen

[edit] Numbers

---

One           Eins
Two           Zwei
Three         Drei
Four          Vier
Five          Fünf
Six           Sechs
Seven         Sieben
Eight         Acht 
Nine          Neun
Ten           Zehn
Eleven        Elf
Twelve        Zwölf
Thirteen      Dreizehn
Fourteen      Vierzehn
Fifteen       Fünfzehn
Sixteen       Sechzehn
Seventeen     Siebzehn
Eighteen      Achtzehn
Nineteen      Neunzehn
Twenty        Zwanzig
Thirty        Dreißig
Forty         Vierzig
Fifty         Fünfzig
Sixty         Sechzig
Seventy       Siebzig
Eighty        Achtzig
Ninety        Neunzig
Hundred       Hundert
Thousand      Tausend

[edit] How to Read Time

---

After         Nach
Till          Vor
Quarter       Viertel
Half Before   Halb

[edit] Times in the Day

---

Day           Tag
Today         Heute
Tomorrow      Morgen
Yesterday     Gestern
Early Morning Morgen (use morgen früh for tommorrow morning)
Morning       Vormittag
Afternoon     Nachmittag
Evening       Abend
Night         Nacht
Noon          Mittag
Midnight      Mitternacht

[edit] Days

---

Monday        Montag
Tuesday       Dienstag
Wednesday     Mittwoch
Thursday      Donnerstag
Friday        Freitag
Saturday      Samstag or Sonnabend
Sunday        Sonntag

[edit] Months

---

January       Januar 
             Jänner (used in Austria)
February      Februar
March         März
April         April
May           Mai
June          Juni 
             Juno (in spoken word only)
July          Juli 
             Julei (in spoken word only)
August        August
September     September
October       Oktober
November      November
December      Dezember

[edit] Seasons

---

Spring        Frühling
Summer        Sommer
Autumn        Herbst
Winter        Winter

[edit] Time

---

Time          Die Zeit
Free Time     Die Freizeit
Always        Immer
Often         Oft
Sometimes     Manchmal
Seldom        Selten
Never         Nie
Only          Nur

[edit] Essen

[edit] Subject Pronouns in the Accusative Case

---

Me            Mich
Us            Uns
You           Dich
You All       Euch
Him           Ihn
Her           Sie
It            Es
Them          Sie

[edit] Food

---

Appetizers    Vorspeisen
Salad         Der Salat
Bread         Das Brot
Breadstick    Die Scheibe Brot
Main Dishes   Hauptgerichte
Sausage       Die Wurst
Sausages      Die Würste
Bratwurst     Die Bratwurst
Hot Dog       Das Hot Dog
Pizza         Die Pizza
Pizzas        Die Pizzen
Hamburger     Der Hamburger
Hamburgers    Die Hamburger
With          Mit (ignore article)
Without       Ohne (ignore article)
Tomatoes      Tomaten
Lettuce       Der Salat
Cheese        Der Käse
Pickles       Die Gewürzgurken
Onions        Die Zwiebeln
Ketchup       Der Ketchup
Mustard       Der Senf
Chicken       Das Hähnchen
Chickens      Die Hähnchen
Seafood       Die Meeresfrüchte (plural)
Fish          Der Fisch 
Sides         Die Beilage (singular), die Beilagen (plural)
Soup          Die Suppe
Soups         Die Suppen
Noodle Soup   Die Nudelsuppe
French Fries  Die Pommes frites (plural)
Fries         Die Fritten (Informal and plural)
Pasta         Die Pasta or Die Nudeln
Potato        Die Kartoffel
Potatoes      Die Kartoffeln
Corn          Mais
Bean          Die Bohne
Beans         Die Bohnen
Desserts      Nachspeisen
Gâteau        Die (Sahne-)Torte
Strudel       Der Strudel
Apple strudel Apfelstrudel
Cake          Der Kuchen
Piece of Cake Das Stück Kuchen
Pie           Die Pastete
Piece of Pie  Das Stück Pastete
Apple Pie     Die Apfelpastete
Ice Cream     Das Eis
Pudding       Der Pudding
Cookie        Der Keks
Cookies       Die Kekse
Fruit         Das Obst
The Meal      Das Essen
Lunch         Mittagessen
Dinner        Abendessen
Hunger        Der Hunger 
Thirst        Der Durst

[edit] Verbs

---

To Eat        Essen
To Drink      Trinken
To Receive    Bekommen
To Want       Wollen
Would Like    Möchten

[edit] Polite Conversation

---

Danke         Thank you
Bitte         Please & You're Welcome
Dankeschön    Thank you very much
Danke sehr    Thanks a lot
Kein Problem! No problem

[edit] Regional Foods

---

Chinese Food  Chinesisch Essen
Japanese Food Japanisch Essen
American Food Amerikanisch Essen
Mexican Food  Mexikanisch Essen
Arabic Food   Arabisch Essen
Italian Food  Italienisch Essen
Indian Food   Indisch Essen
French Food   Französich Essen
Greek Food    Griechisch Essen

[edit] Prepositions in the Accusative Case

---

Durch         Through
Für           For
Gegen         Against
Ohne          Without
Um            At, Around

[edit] Tastes

---

Delicious     Lecker
Tasty         Schmackhaft
Juicy         Saftig
Crunchy       Knackig
Crispy        Knusprig
Spicy         Würzig
Stale         Fade 
              Fad (used in Austria)
Salty         Salzig
Sweet         Süß
Bitter        Bitter
Sour          Sauer
Creamy        Cremig     
Hot           Heiß
Burnt         Angebrannt
Cold          Kalt
Disgusting    Schrecklich

[edit] Paying at a Restaurant

---

To Pay        Zahlen
The Bill      Die Rechnung
Waiter        Der Ober

[edit] Kleidung

[edit] Shopping

---

Babywear 	                  Die Babyartikel (plural)    
Children's Wear 	     Die Kinderbekleidung 
Clearance Sale 	             Der Räumungsverkauf 
Closed 	                     Geschlossen
Clothing 	             Die Kleidung
Computer Section 	     Der Computershop 
Cosmetics 	             Die Kosmetik
Customer 	             Der Kunde
Customer Service 	     Der Kundendienst 
Electrical Appliance 	     Das Elektrogerät
Escalator 	             Die Rolltreppe   
Fashion 	             Die Mode 
Furniture 	             Das Möbel (no plural)
Gift 	                     Der Geschenkartikel 
Good Value (Adj.) 	     Preiswert
Groceries 	             Die Lebensmittel (plural)
Jewelery 	             Damenschuhe (plural) 
Leather Goods 	             Die Lederwaren (plural) 
Open 	                     Geöffnet 
Opening Hours 	             Die Öffnungszeiten (plural) 
Present 	             Das Geschenk
Reduced 	             Reduziert
Sales Receipt 	             Der Kassenbon 
Souvenir 	             Das Andenken 
Special Offer 	             Das Sonderangebot 
Sports Goods 	             Sportartikel (plural)
Stationery 	             Schreibwaren (plural)
Summer Sale 	             Der Sommerschlussverkauf (abbr. SSV)  
Video Store 	             Die Videothek 
Winter Sale 	             Der Winterschlussverkauf (abbr. WSV) 

[edit] Shopping 2

---

Department Store             Warenhaus
Retail Store                 Einzelhandelsgeschäft
The Mall                     Einkaufszentrum
Boutique                     Boutique
Store                        Geschäft
Manager                      Manager
Employee                     Angestellter
Sales Clerk                  Verkäufer               
Cashier                      Kassierer
Dressing Room                Umkleidekabine
Men's Section                Männerabteilung
Women's Section              Frauenabteilung
First Floor                  Erstes Stockwerk
Menswear                     Männerkleidung
Second Floor                 Zweiter Stock
Womenswear                   Frauenkleidung
Third Floor                  Dritte Stock
Kids Section                 Kinderabteilung
Fourth Floor                 Vierter Stock
Electronics                  Elektronik
Kitchenware                  Küchenbedarf
Fifth Floor                  Fünfter Stock
Lighting                     Beleuchtung           
Bedding                      Bettwäsche
Toys                         Spielwaren
Six Floor                    Sechster Stock
Food                         Lebensmittel

[edit] Items to Buy

---

Electronics                  Elektronik           
Television                   Fernsehen
Digital Camera               Digitalkamera
Telephone                    Telefon
Cell phone                   Mobiltelefon, Handy
Computer                     Computer, Rechner
Speakers                     Lautsprecher
DVDs                         DVD
CDs                          CD
DVD Player                   DVD-Player
CD Player                    CD-Player
Bedding                      Bettwäsche
Blankets                     Decken
Pillow                       Kopfkissen
Pillow Case                  Kopfkissenbezug
Sheets                       Blätter
Bed Skirt                    Bett-Rock

[edit] Money

---

Price                        Preis
Note                         Der Schein
Coin                         Die Münze
1 Euro Coin                  Das Eurostück
2 Euro Coin                  Das Zweieurostück
5 Euro Note                  Der Fünfeuroschein
10 Euro Note                 Der Zehneuroschein
100 Euro Note                Der Hunderteuroschein
1 Cent Coin                  Das Centstück
2 Cent Coin                  Das Zweicentstück
5 Cent Coin                  Das Fünfcentstück
10 Cent Coin                 Das Zehncentstück
20 Cent Coin                 Das Zwanzigcentstück
50 Cent Coin                 Das Fünfcentstück

[edit] Clothes

---

Skirt                        Der Rock
Pullover                     Der Pullover
Scarf                        Das Tuch
Coat                         Der Mantel
Shirt                        Das Hemd
Sweater                      Der Pullover
Necktie                      Der Schlips
Jacket                       Die Jacke
Pants                        Die Hose
Hat                          Der Hut
Shoe                         Der Schuh
Sock                         Die Socke
Glove                        Der Handschuh
Blouse                       Die Bluse

[edit] Sizes

---

Size                         Die Größe
Color                        Die Farbe
Cotton                       Die Baumwolle
Leather                      Das Leder
Rayon                        Die Kuntseide
Small                        Klein
Medium                       Mittel
Large                        Groß
Extra-Large                  Extragroß

[edit] Words That Describe

---

Cheap                        Billig                               
Expensive                    Teuer
Pretty                       Schön
Ugly                         Hässlich
Soft                         Weich
New                          Neu
Broad                        Breit 
Wide                         Weit 
Tight                        Eng
Comfortable                  Bequem

[edit] Colors

---

Red                          Rot     
Blue                         Blau
Green                        Grün  
Orange                       Orange
Violet                       Veilchen
Yellow                       Gelb
Brown                        Braun
Indigo                       Indigo
Gray                         Grau
Black                        Schwarz
White                        Weiß

[edit] Verbs

---

To Look                      Aussehen
To Try On                    Anprobieren
To Put On                    Anziehen
To Take                      Nehmen
To Buy                       Kaufen
To Have On/Wear              Anhaben or Tragen

[edit] Volk und Familie

[edit] Family

---

Sohn                         Son
Tochter                      Daughter
Vater                        Father
Mutter                       Mother
Großvater                    Grandfather
Großmutter                   Grandmother
Opa                          Grandpa  
Oma                          Grandma
Schwester                    Sister
Bruder                       Brother
Geschwister                  Brothers & Sisters
Enkel                        Grandson
Enkelin                      Granddaughter  
Frau                         Wife
Mann                         Husband
Schwiegervater               Father-in-Law
Schwiegertochter             Daugther-in-Law
Schwager                     Brother-in-Law
Schwägerin                   Sister-in-Law
Schwiegermutter              Mother-in-Law
Schwiegersohn                Son-in-Law
Onkel                        Uncle
Tante                        Aunt
Geschenk                     Present

[edit] Schule

[edit] Verbs

---

Nimmt                        To Take Away
Lesen                        To Read
Schreiben                    To Write
Studieren                    To Study
Lernen                       To Learn
Zeichnen                     To Paint

[edit] Classes

---

Deutsch                      German
Englisch                     English
Russisch                     Russian
Französisch                  French
Latein                       Latin
Mathematik                   Mathematics
Sport                        PE or Gym
Kunst or Zeichnen            Arts
Musik                        Music
Geschichte                   History
Biologie                     Biology
Geografie                    Geography
Religion                     RE or Religion
Chemie                       Chemistry
Physik                       Physics
Informatik                   Computer Science

[edit] School Supplies and Ect.

---

der Radiergummi              Eraser/Rubber
der Bleistift                Pencil
der Kuli/Kugelschreiber      Pen
das Fach                     Subject
die Klasse                   Class
der Lehrer                   Teacher (male)
die Lehrerin                 Teacher (female)
die Schule                   School
der Schüler                  Student (High/Secondary School and Lower)
der Student                  Student (College/University)
die Stunde/Schulstunde       Lesson
die Pause                    Break
die Schultasche              Backpack

[edit] Die Fete

[edit] Gifts

---

das Spiel                   Game
das Videospiel              Video Game

[edit] Parties

---

der Spaß                    Fun
die Feier                   PartyFormal
die Party                   Party
die Musik                   Music
die Torte                   Cake
das Fass                    Keg
das Bier                    Beer
der Schnaps                 Hard Liquor
der Wein                    Wine
der Weißwein                White Wine
der Rotwein                 Red Wine
Feiern                      To Party
Trinken                     Drinking
Saufen                      To Get Drunk
sich Erbrechen              To Throw Up
Kotzen                      To Puke (slang)
Tanzen                      To Dance
der Geburtstag              Birthday
Weihnachten                 Christmas
Ostern                      Easter
das Jubiläum                Anniversary

[edit] Privileg und Verantwortung

[edit] Careers

---

Work                        Arbeit
Doctor                      Arzt
Buniness Man                Geschäftsmann
Buniness Woman              Geschäftsfrau
Teacher                     Lehrer
Police Officer              Polizeibeamte
Fireman                     Feuerwehrmann
Actor  	                    Schauspieler  	 
Artist  	            Künstler  	
Author  	            Schriftsteller  	
Bank Clerk  	            Bankangestellter  	 
Car Mechanic  	            Automechaniker  	 
Chemist  	            Chemiker  	 
Civil Servant  	            Beamter  	  	 
Engineer  	            Ingenieur  	
Farmer  	            Landwirt  	 
Hairdresser  	            Friseur  	 
Journalist  	            Journalist  	 
Lawyer  	            Rechtsanwalt  	 
Lecturer  	            Dozent  	 
Nurse  	                    Krankenpfleger  	 
Pensioner  	            Rentner  	 
Photographer  	            Fotograf  	 
Politician  	            Politiker  	 
Postman  	            Briefträger  	 
Professor  	            Professor  	 
Salesperson  	            Verkäufer  	 
Secretary  	            Sekretär  	 
Student  	            Student  	 
Taxi Driver  	            Taxifahrer  	  
Waiter  	            Kellner

[edit] Tasks

---

Cleaning                   Reinigung
Cooking                    Kochen
Homework                   Hausaufgaben 
Tasks                      Aufgaben

[edit] Locations

---

Germany                 Deutschland
Hamburg                    Hamburg
Berlin                     Berlin
Frankfurt                  Frankfurt
Colonge                    Köln
Munich                     München

[edit] Wetter

[edit] Weather

Weather               Wetter
Rain                  Regen
Snow                  Schnee
Snow Showers          Schneesch
Showers               Schauer
Thunder               Donner
Storm                 Sturm
Thunderstorm          Gewitter
Cloudy                Bewölkt
Overcast              Bedeckt
Hail                  Hagel
Drizzle               Nieseln
Thaw                  Tauen
Frost                 Frost

[edit] Transportion

Car               Auto
Train             Zug
Trainstation      Bahnhof
Airplane          Flugzeug
Boat              Boot
Highway           Landstraße
Road              Straße

---

[edit] CONTRIBUTORS

German/Contributors

---

[edit] GNU FREE DOCUMENTATION LICENSE

Version 1.2, November 2002

Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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4. MODIFICATIONS

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.

B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.

C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.

D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.

E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.

F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.

G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's license notice.

H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.

I. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.

J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.

K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.

L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.

M. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.

N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.

O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements."

6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

8. TRANSLATION

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

9. TERMINATION

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.