neuter feminine

masculine

indefinite (a/an) ein Mann ein Mädchen eine Frau

definite (the) der Mann das Mädchen die Frau

‘SEIN’ – To be

German English

ich bin I am

du bist you (singular informal) are

er/sie/es ist he/she/it is

wir sind we are

ihr seid you (plural informal) are

sie sind they are

Sie sind you (formal) are

Verbs
trinken (to drink)

English person ending German example

I -e ich trinke

you (singular informal) -st du trinkst

he/she/it -t er/sie/es trinkt

 English person ending German example

We -en wir trinken

you (plural informal) -t ihr trinkt

you (formal) -en Sie trinken

They -en sie trinken

Umlauts
Umlauts are letters (more specifically vowels) that have two dots above them and appear in
some German words like "Mädchen." Literally, "Umlaut" means "around the sound,"
because its function is to change how the vowel sounds.

An umlaut can sometimes indicate the plural of a word. For example, the plural of "Mutter"
(mother) is "Mütter." It might even change the meaning of a word entirely. That's why it's
very important not to ignore those little dots.

No continuous aspect
In German, there's no continuous aspect, i.e. there are no separate forms for "I drink" and "I
am drinking". There's only one form: Ich trinke.

There's no such thing as Ich bin trinke or Ich bin trinken!

Unless the context suggests otherwise, either form should be accepted.

Generic vs. specific (German is not Spanish or French)

Just like in English, using or dropping the definite article makes the difference between
specific and generic.

I like bread = Ich mag Brot (bread in general)

I like the bread = Ich mag das Brot (specific bread)

YOU – formal/ informal

du bist (informal, addressing one person) or ihr seid (informal, addressing more than one
person). (There's also the formal you (Sie sind),

German plurals - the nominative Case

 In English, making plurals out of singular nouns is typically as straightforward as adding an
"s" or an "es" at the end of the word. In German, the transformation is more complex, and
also the articles for each gender change. The following five suggestions can help:

1. -e ending: most German one-syllable nouns will need -e in their plural form. For
example, in the nominative case, "das Brot" (the bread) becomes "die Brote," and "das
Spiel" (the game) becomes "die Spiele."
2. -er ending: most masculine or neuter nouns will need the -er ending, and there
may be umlaut changes. For example, in the nominative case "das Kind" (the child)
becomes "die Kinder," and "der Mann" (the man) becomes "die Männer."
3. -n/-en ending: most feminine nouns will take either -n or -en in all four grammatical
cases, with no umlaut changes. For example, "die Frau" (the woman) becomes "die
Frauen" and "die Kartoffel" becomes "die Kartoffeln."
4. -s ending: most foreign-origin nouns will take the -s ending for the plural, usually
with no umlaut changes. For example: "der Chef" (the boss) becomes "die Chefs."
5. There is no change for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of
these in the singular: -chen, -lein, -el, or -er. There may be umlaut changes. For
example: "das Mädchen" (the girl) becomes "die Mädchen," and "die Mutter" (the mother)
becomes "die Mütter."
Regardless of grammatical gender, all plural nouns take the definite article "die" (in
the nominative case). This does not make them feminine. The grammatical gender of a
word never changes. Like many other words, "die" is simply used for multiple purposes.

Just like in English, there's no plural indefinite article.

ein Mann = a man

Männer = men

German feminine plurals - nouns ending in -in

Feminine nouns that end in "-in" will need "-nen" in the plural. For example, "die Köchin"
(the female cook) becomes "die Köchinnen" in its plural form.

ihr vs er
If you're new to German, ihr and er may sound exactly the same, but there is actually a
difference. ihr sounds similar to the English word ear, and er sounds similar to the
English word air (imagine a British/RP accent).

Don't worry if you can't pick up on the difference at first. You may need some more listening
practice before you can tell them apart. Also, try using headphones instead of speakers.
SIMPLE GERMAN PRESENT TENSE
In English, the present tense can be simple or progressive (as in "I eat" or "I am eating").
Both forms translate to just one German present tense form, because there is no
continuous tense in standard German. So, "she learns" and "she is learning" are both
"sie lernt."

WIE GEHT'S?
There are many ways to ask someone how he or she is doing. Take "How are you?," "How
do you do?" and "How is it going?" as examples. In German, the common phrase or idiom
uses the verb "gehen" (go): "Wie geht es dir?" (How are you?).

WILLKOMMEN CAN BE A FALSE FRIEND

In German, "Willkommen" means welcome as in "Welcome to our home", but it does
not mean welcome as in "Thank you - You're welcome". The German for the latter is
"Gern geschehen" or "Keine Ursache".

German Cases
In English, the words "he" and "I" can be used as subjects (the ones doing the action in a
sentence), and they change to "him" and "me" when they are objects (the ones the action is
applied to). For example, we say "He likes me" and "I like him." This is exactly the notion of
a "grammatical case:" the same word changes its form depending on its relationship to the
verb. In English, only pronouns have cases, but in German most words other than verbs
have cases: nouns, pronouns, determiners, adjectives, etc.

Understanding the four German cases is one of the biggest hurdles in learning the
language. The good news is that most words change very predictably so you only have
to memorize a small set of rules. We'll see more about cases later, but for now you just
need to understand the difference between the two simplest cases: nominative
(Subjective) and accusative (Objective).

The subject of a sentence (the one doing the action) is in the nominative case. So when
we say "Die Frau spielt" (the woman plays), "Frau" is in the nominative.

The accusative object is the thing or person that is directly receiving the action. For
example, in "Der Lehrer sieht den Ball" (the teacher sees the ball), "Lehrer" is the
nominative subject and "Ball" is the accusative object. Notice that the articles for
accusative objects are not the same as the articles in the nominative case: "the" is "der" in
the nominative case and "den" in the accusative. The following table shows how the articles
change based on these two cases:
THE

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Nominative der die das die

Accusative den die das die

A/one

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter

Nominative Ein eine ein

Accusative Einen eine ein

The fact that most words in German are affected by the case explains why the sentence
order is more flexible than in English.
For example, you can say "Das Mädchen hat den Apfel" (the girl has the apple) or "Den
Apfel hat das Mädchen." In both cases, "den Apfel" (the apple) is the accusative object,
and "das Mädchen" is the nominative subject.

Conjugations of the verb sein (to be)

The verb "sein" (to be) is irregular, and its conjugations simply need to be memorized:

German English

ich bin I am

du bist you (singular informal) are

er/sie/es ist he/she/it is

 German English

wir sind we are

ihr seid you (plural informal) are

sie sind they are

Sie sind you (formal) are

Conjugations of the verb essen (to eat)

The verb "essen" (to eat) is slightly irregular in that the stem vowel changes from e to i in
the second (du isst) and third person singular (er/sie/es isst) forms.

English person ending German example

I -e ich esse

you (singular informal) -st du isst

he/she/it -t er/sie/es isst

We -en wir essen

you (plural informal) -t ihr esst

you (formal) -en Sie essen

They -en sie essen

How can you hear the difference between isst and ist?

You can't. "isst" and "ist" sound exactly the same.
In colloquial (rapid) speech, some speakers drop the "t" in "ist".

So "Es ist ein Apfel" and "Es isst ein Apfel" sound the same?

Yes, but you can tell it's "Es ist ein Apfel" because "Es isst ein Apfel" is
ungrammatical. The accusative of "ein Apfel" is "einen Apfel". Hence, "It is eating an
apple" translates as "Es isst einen Apfel."

The verb haben (to have)

In English, you can say "I'm having bread" when you really mean that you're eating or about
to eat bread. This does not work in German. The verb haben refers to possession
only. Hence, the sentence Ich habe Brot only translates to I have bread, not I'm having
bread. Of course, the same applies to drinks. Ich habe Wasser only translates to I have
water, not I'm having water.

English person ending German example

I -e ich habe

you (singular informal) -st du hast

he/she/it -t er/sie/es hat

we -en wir haben

you (plural informal) -t ihr habt

you (formal) -en Sie haben

they -en sie haben

Having said that, the verb haben is sometimes used to describe physical conditions,
emotional conditions, and states of being.
 For instance, the German for I am hungry is Ich habe Hunger. You can think of it as having
the condition of being hungry.

Ich habe Hunger = I am hungry

Ich habe Durst = I am thirsty

Sie hat Recht = She is right

Er hat Angst = He is afraid

Mittagessen - lunch or dinner?

We're aware that dinner is sometimes used synonymously with lunch, but for the
purpose of this course, we're
defining Frühstück as breakfast, Mittagessen as lunch, and dinner / supper as 
Abendessen / Abendbrot.

Compound words
A compound word is a word that consists of two or more words. These are written as one
word (no spaces).

The gender of a compound noun is always determined by its last element. This
shouldn't be too difficult to remember because the last element is always the most important
one. All the previous elements merely describe the last element.

 die Autobahn (das Auto + die Bahn)

 der Orangensaft (die Orange + der Saft)
 das Hundefutter (der Hund + das Futter) (/feed)

Sometimes, there's a connecting sound (Fugenlaut) between two elements. For

instance, die Orange + der Saft becomes der Orangensaft, der Hund + das
Futter becomes das Hundefutter, die Liebe + das Lied becomes das Liebeslied, and der
Tag + das Gerichtbecomes das Tagesgericht.

Cute like sugar!

The word süß means sweet when referring to food, and cute when referring to living beings.

 Der Zucker ist süß. (The sugar is sweet.)

 Die Katze ist süß. (The cat is cute.)
Does Gemüse mean vegetable or vegetables?
In German, "Gemüse" is used as a mass noun. That means it's grammatically singular and
takes a singular verb.
Unlike English, German has two similar but different verbs for to eat: essen and fressen.
The latter is the standard way of expressing that an animal is eating something. Be
careful not to use fressen to refer to humans – this would be a serious insult. Assuming
you care about politeness, we will not accept your solutions if you use fressen with human
subjects.

The most common way to express that a human being is eating something is the
verb essen. It is not wrong to use it for animals as well, so we will accept both solutions. But
we strongly recommend you accustom yourself to the distinction
between essen and fressen.

Fortunately, both verbs are conjugated very similarly:

essen fressen (for animals)

ich esse ich fresse

du isst du frisst

er/sie/es isst er/sie/es frisst

wir essen wir fressen

ihr esst ihr fresst

sie/Sie essen sie/Sie fressen

Predicate adjectives
Predicate adjectives, i.e. adjectives that don't precede a noun, are not inflected.

Der Mann ist groß.

Die Männer sind groß.

Die Frau ist groß.

Die Frauen sind groß.

 Das Haus ist groß.

Die Häuser sind groß.

As you can see, the adjective remains in the base form, regardless of number and gender.

German Negatives
There are different ways to negate expressions in German (much like in English you can
use "no" in some cases, and "does not" in others). The German adverb "nicht" (not) is
used very often, but sometimes you need to use "kein" (not a). Nein (No)

Nicht
Use "nicht" in the following five situations: (My OBS– noun/ pronoun/adj + verb/ adverb)

1. Negating a noun that has a definite article like "der Raum" (the room) in
"Der Architekt mag den Raum nicht" (the architect does not like the room).
2. Negating a noun that has a possessive pronoun like "sein Glas" (his glass) in
"Der Autor sucht sein Glas nicht." (the writer is not looking for his glass).
3. Negating the verb: "
Sie trinken nicht" (They/You do not drink).
4. Negating an adverb or adverbial phrase. For instance,
"Mein Mann isst nicht immer" (my husband does not eat at all times).
5. Negating an adjective that is used with "sein" (to be):
"Du bist nicht hungrig" (you are not hungry).

Position of Nicht
((=MY oBS…IF NEGATING) after.. – noun/verb/ BUT ..before… adjective/ adverb)
1) The German "nicht" will precede adjectives and adverbs as in "Das Frühstück ist
nicht schlecht" (the breakfast is not bad) and "Das Hemd ist nicht ganz blau" (the shirt is not
entirely blue).

2) For verbs, "nicht" can either precede or follow the verb, depending the type of
verb. Typically, "nicht" comes after conjugated verbs as in "Die Maus isst nicht" (the
mouse does not eat). In conversational German, the perfect ("Ich habe gegessen" = "I have
eaten") is often used to express simple past occurrences ("I ate"). If such statements are
negated, "nicht" will come before the participle at the end of the sentence: "Ich habe
nicht gegessen" (I did not eat/I have not eaten).
3) Finally, "nicht" also tends to come at the end of sentences (after direct objects like
"mir" = "me,"" or after yes/no questions if there is just one conjugated verb). For
example, "Die Lehrerin hilft mir nicht" (The teacher does not help me) and "Hat er den Ball
nicht?" (Does he not have the ball?)

Kein
1) Simply put, "kein" is composed of "k + ein" and placed where the indefinite article
would be in a sentence. For instance, look at the positive and negative statement about
each noun: "ein Mann" (a man) versus "kein Mann" (not a/not one man), and "eine Frau"
versus "keine Frau."

2) "Kein" is also used for negating nouns that have no article: "Man hat Brot" (one has
bread) versus "Man hat kein Brot" (one has no bread).

Nicht versus Nichts

"Nicht" is an adverb and is useful for negations. On the other hand, "nichts"
(nothing/anything) is a pronoun and its meaning is different from that of "nicht." Using
"nicht" simply negates a fact, and is less overarching than "nichts." For example, "Der
Schüler lernt nicht" (the student does not learn) is less extreme than "Der Schüler lernt
nichts" (the student does not learn anything).

The word "nichts" can also be a noun if capitalized ("das Nichts" = nothingness).

Yes/No Questions
Questions can be asked by switching the subject and verb. For instance, "Du verstehst
das." (You understand this) becomes "Verstehst du das?" (Do you understand this?). These
kinds of questions will generally just elicit yes/no answers. In English, the main verb "to
be" follows the same principle. "I am hungry." becomes "Am I hungry?". In German, all
verbs follow this principle. There's no do-support.

CONJUGATING REGULAR VERBS

(SIMPLY A VERB NOT IN ITS BASE FORM ) – EG – ALL BELOW…
Verb conjugation in German is more challenging than in English. To conjugate a regular
verb in the present tense, identify the invariant stem of the verb and add the ending
corresponding to any of the grammatical persons, which you can simply memorize:

machen (to do/make):

English person Ending German example

I -e ich mache
 English person Ending German example

zyou (singular informal) -st du machst

he/she/it -t er/sie/es macht

we -en wir machen

you (plural informal) -t ihr macht

you (formal) -en Sie machen

they -en sie machen

Notice that the 1st and the 3rd person plural have the same ending as "you (formal)."

NO CONTINUOUS ASPECT
In German, there's no continuous aspect, i.e. there are no separate forms for "I drink" and "I
am drinking". There's only one form: Ich trinke.

Unless the context suggests otherwise, either form should be accepted.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THINGS IN GERMAN?

Use the verb mögen to express that you like something or someone, and use the
adverb gern(e) to express that you like doing something.

mögen is used for things, animals, and people:

 Ich mag Bier (I like beer)
 Sie mag Katzen (She likes cats)
 Wir mögen dich (We like you)
 Ihr mögt Bücher (You like books)

mögen is conjugated irregularly:

 I like ich mag

you (singular informal) like du magst

he/she/it likes er/sie/es mag

we like wir mögen

you (plural informal) like ihr mögt

you (formal) like Sie mögen

they like sie mögen

gern(e) is used for verbs/activities:

 Ich trinke gern(e) Bier (I like to drink beer/I like drinking beer)
 Er spielt gern(e) Fußball (He likes to play soccer/He likes playing soccer)
 Wir lesen gern(e) Bücher (We like to read books/We like reading books)
 Sie schreibt gern(e) Briefe (She likes to write letters/She likes writing letters)

mögen cannot be followed by another verb.

(The subjunctive form (möchten) (/would like) can be followed by a verb, but Ich

möchte Fußball spielen translates as I would like to play soccer, not I like playing soccer.)

What's the difference between gern and gerne? They're just variations of the same word.
There's no difference in terms of meaning or style. You can use whichever you like best.

Kleider - dresses or clothes?

das Kleid means the dress, and die Kleider means the dresses, but the plural die Kleider
can also mean clothes or clothing. In most cases, clothing (or clothes) translates
to Kleidung (usually uncountable), but It's important to be aware that Kleider can be
used in that sense as well.

Hose or Hosen?
Both Hose and Hosen translate to pants (trousers in British English), but they're not
interchangeable. The singular Hose refers to one pair of pants, and the plural Hosen
refers to multiple pairs of pants.
Lakes and seas - false friends ahoy

The German for the lake is der See (masculine) and the most commonly used word
for the sea is das Meer (neuter).

There's another slightly less commonly used word for the sea which is die
See(feminine).

Be careful not to confuse der See (the lake) and die See (the sea). Keep in mind that the
dative and genitive of die See (feminine - the sea) is der See. This example shows how
important it is to know your noun genders and declension tables.

singular der See (masculine - the lake) die See (feminine - the sea)

nominative der See die See

accusative den See die See

dative dem See der See

genitive des Sees der See

The plural forms are identical.

die Seen (masculine - the

plural die Seen (feminine - the seas)
lakes)

nominative die Seen die Seen

accusative die Seen die Seen

dative den Seen den Seen

 die Seen (masculine - the
plural die Seen (feminine - the seas)
lakes)

genitive der Seen der Seen

Personal Pronouns in the Nominative Case

A pronoun is a word that represents a noun, like "er" does for "der Mann."
In the nominative case, the personal pronouns are simply the grammatical persons you
already know: "ich," "du," "er/sie/es," "wir," "ihr," "sie," and "Sie."

Demonstrative Pronouns in the Nominative Case

The demonstrative pronouns in English are: this, that, these, and those. In German, the
demonstrative pronouns in the nominative case are the same as the definite articles.
That means, "der," "die" and "das" can also mean "that (one)" or "this (one)" depending on
the gender of the respective noun, and "die" can mean "these" or "those." For example, if
you talk about a certain dog, you could say "Der ist schwarz" (that one is black).

Possessive pronouns  Nominative Case

personal pronouns possessive pronouns

Ich mein

Du Dein

er/es Sein

sie (feminine) Ihr

Wir unser

Ihr euer
 personal pronouns possessive pronouns

sie (plural) Ihr

der Das Die Die

Hund Insekt Katze Hunde

indef. ein ein eine (keine)

article

ich mein mein meine meine

du dein dein deine deine

er/es sein sein seine seine

sie (fem.) ihr ihr ihre ihre

wir unser unser unsere unsere

ihr euer euer eure eure

sie (plural) ihr ihr ihre ihre

EIN PAAR VS EIN PAAR

ein paar (lowercase p) means a few, some or a couple (of) (only in the sense of at least
two, not exactly two!).

ein Paar (uppercase P) means a pair (of) and is only used for things that typically come in
pairs of two, e.g. ein Paar Schuhe (a pair of shoes).
VERBS CONJUGATION

1) //Also verbs ending with –n (other than –en) , are conjugated same way. But instead of –
en ending (like Haben), end in ‘e (like Habn)
Same verb – tun (to do)
Ich tue, du tust, sie tut, wir tun

2) Verbs ending with –den & -ten (eg – reden: to talk) (Arbeiten – to work)
Same way conjugated, except add an ‘e’ before standard consonant endings
Eg – Ich rede, Du red(e)st, Er red(e)t, wir reden (already in this has an e)

3) Verbs ending with –zen & -ßen (eg – tanzen: to dance) ; (heißen: to be named)
Same way conjugated, except ‘st’ in Du form become ‘zt’ or ‘ßt’. & ‘z’ or ‘ß’ or prior word is
removed. So avoids double z or double ß, only single comes
Eg – Ich tanze, Du tanzt, Er tanzt, wir tanzen
Ich heiße, Du heißt, Er heißt, wir heißen

German is well known for its very long words that can be made up on the go by
concatenating existing words. In this skill you will learn one very simple and commonly
used way of forming compounds: adding "-zeug" (="stuff") to existing words.

Personal Pronouns in the Accusative Case

Aside from the nominative case, most of the German pronouns are declined in each of the
four cases. Like in English, when the subject becomes the object, the pronoun
changes. For instance, "ich" changes to "mich" (accusative object) as in "Ich sehe
mich" (I see me).

In the accusative case of the third person pronouns, only the masculine gender shows
the change, thus neither the feminine "sie" nor the neuter "es" change. For example,
"Er/Sie/Es mag ihn/sie/es" (He/She/It likes him/her/it).

Nominative Accusative

ich (I) mich (me)

du (you singular informal) dich (you singular informal)

er (he) sie (she) es (it) ihn (him) sie (her) es (it)

 Nominative Accusative

wir (we) uns (us)

ihr (you plural informal) euch (you plural informal)

sie (they) sie (them)

Sie (you formal) Sie (you formal)

Demonstrative Pronouns in the Accusative Case

Similarly, only the masculine gender shows the change in the demonstrative pronouns:
"der" (for "that one") changes to "den," but "die" and "das" (for "that one") remain the
same.

The demonstrative pronouns in the accusative case are thus: "den" = that one
(masculine), "die" = that one (feminine), "das" = that one (neuter), and for the plural,
"die" = "these." Take this example: "Er isst den" is "He is eating that one (masculine);" "Er
isst die" and "Er isst das" are both "He is eating that one," but for the other two genders.

Possessive pronouns in accusative case?? INSERT/ Table page 27….

Sie Vs Sie

First of all, the "sie" for "she" and "they" isn't capitalized (unless it's at the beginning
of a sentence), the formal you "Sie" is always capitalized. For "you" and "they," the verb
pretty much stays the same as the infinitive in the present tense, for example "Heute gehen
sie ins (in the) Kino" - "Today, they go to the cinema" and "Kommen Sie bitte rein" - "Please
come in." 

Difference b/w Dies, Dieser, Diese, Dieses, Das (this, these, that etc)

First of all, there is no such clear cut difference in German as in English

between this and that. In principle, there are the two forms dieses (this) and jenes
(that), but Germans pretty much never use "jenes" anymore. We just always use the same
(for this & that)
Then you have a big difference between spoken German and written German. Spoken
German is a lot more colloquial and often uses words with special emphases to mean
different things; since you can't see the emphasis in written German, we tend to use more
distinct words there.

WRITING: So let's start with das. Normally, it's just an article for neuter words, like "das
Auto". But if you use it without any noun it refers to, it becomes a demonstrative pronoun:

Das Auto ist schön - the car is nice.

Das ist schön - this is nice. (usually‚ Das can be ‘that‘ also)

Since it doesn't refer to anything in particular, it doesn't get any flection. Whatever you
currently do or see or experience, it is nice.  Generic ‘this / that’

Now if you want to talk about a specific noun and use a demonstrative like "this car",
you use dieses. Since it refers to a noun which has a gender and also a case , you have to
decline it according to the noun:  Specific ‘this / that’

This car is nice - dieses Auto ist schön. (nominative sg neuter)

This dog is dangerous - dieser Hund ist gefährlich. (nominative sg masc.)

This cat is black - diese Katze ist schwarz. (nominative sg. fem)

These children are loud - diese Kinder sind laut. (nominative pl)

I like this dog - ich mag diesen Hund (accusative sg. masc.)

...

and so on. You can look the tables up.

You can actually drop the noun here, but you still match the pronoun to the item you
refer to:

Dieser Ring gefällt mir - I like this ring.

Dieser gefällt mir - I like this one.

You mean a specific noun without naming the noun: this one.
Compare to unspecific "I like this" - "ich mag das".

SPEECH: you sometimes use the article as a demonstrative, but then it gets a
flection, too. You have to lay heavy emphasis on the article to convey that you use it as
demonstrative pronoun:
Der Hund ist gefährlich - the dog is dangerous.

Der Hund ist gefährlich - this dog is dangerous.

again, you can drop the noun but keep the declinated form and the emphasis:

Der ist gefährlich - this one is dangerous.

At last, we have dies without any ending. (actual ‘ this’ unspecific)

You can use it the same way you used das as a demonstrative in the example above:

Das ist schön - this is nice. (colloquial ‘ this/that’ unspecific, actual ‘ the’ unspecific)
Dies ist schön - this is nice. (actual ‘ this/that’ unspecific)

It sounds a little more stilted. You would mostly hear it while someone points a finger and
explains something, but using das is correct then as well, so you can easily live
without dies.

There are some more obscure demonstrative pronouns in german, like the
aforementioned jener (that), jene (those), derjenige (the one), derselbe (the
same) and solcher (such), welcher (which) but you don't need to worry about them for
now

CONJUNCTION: 2 sentences or Sentence + Clause

TYPE1: CONNECTING MAIN CLAUSES: ABER (BUT), DENN (BECAUSE), ODER (OR),

SONDERN (THE "OTHER" BUT, AFTER A NEGATION), UND (AND)

(vocab: Ob = If) ins/ im - in the

a) The first main clause ends with a comma before aber, sondern & denn, but you don't
need one in front of und + oder. After that, the second main clause is placed with the
same word order as the first (verb second in statements, verb first in questions and
commands). 
If the subject and/or verb in the second clause is the same as in the first, you can
omit them, unless you have the conjunction denn (don't ask me why):

Ich liege im Bett, aber (ich) kann nicht schlafen.

Wir gehen jetzt, denn wir (!) müssen den Bus noch erreichen (to
arrive).
Ich will keinen Kaffee, sondern (ich will) Tee. 
Wir laufen und ihr (lauft) auch.
Soll ich gehen oder (soll ich) bleiben?

There are also some two-part conjuctions: "sowohl... als auch" (as well as),
"weder...noch" (neither...nor), "Entweder...oder" (either...or), "zwar...aber" (in fact... but),
"nicht nur... sondern auch" (not only... but also), where each clause gets preceeded by
one of these parts.

Als= As

TYPE2: CONNECTING A MAIN CLAUSE WITH A SUBCLAUSE

(DASS = THAT)

The most important part to remember is that the sub-clause always begins with them.
The clauses also are always separated by a comma. The actual order of the clauses
however is your choice:

Ich weiß, dass du mich liebst! (main clause, subclause)

Dass du mich liebst, weiß ich. (subclause, main clause)

(Vocab: Dass = that - not demonstrative that, but ‘as a matter of fact’)
Note that in the second example, the word order of the main clause is twisted. This is
because the subordinate clause actually counts as "spot 1" of the sentence, so it is
immediately followed by the main verb in "spot 2". 
The word order of the subordinate clause stays unaffected, the verb still comes at the end
of the clause. Another fixed position is the subject of the sub-clause (du), which
always comes directly after the conjuction. You can not slip it around.

TABLE of inflection/ adjective:

Same goes for :

1) All - Aller, Alle, Alles
2) This – Dieser, Diese, Dieses

| Singular | Plural
| Maskulinum Femininum Neutrum | ——
-----------|--------------------------------|------------
1 Nominativ | mancher manche manches | manche
----------- |--------------------------------|------------
| manches manches |
4 Genitiv | manchen mancher manchen | mancher
----------- |--------------------------------|------------
3 Dativ | manchem mancher manchem | manchen
----------- |--------------------------------|------------
2 Akkusativ | manchen manche manches | manche

http://www.germanlanguageguide.com/german/grammar/demonstrative-pronoun.asp
Demonstrative pronouns

Definition: Demonstrative pronouns have the same function and decline the same way as
definite articles. They correspond to English pronouns such as :

this dieser
Some mancher Aller
All
Jeder
each, every
such solcher
that jener
which welcher

Inflection

The pronouns dieser and jener are inflected in the same way. In German, the demonstrative
adjectives (der, die, das), and (dieser, diese, dieses) with the noun dropped are used as
demonstrative pronouns with the exception that the dative plural of the first group,
der, as a pronoun becomes denen. The demonstrative pronouns followed by hier ("here") and da
or dort (both meaning "there") are used to indicate "this" (near the speaker) and "that" (away
from the speaker).

  Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

         
Nominative der die das die
Accusative den die das die
Dative Dem der dem denen
Genitive dessen deren dessen deren

  Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

         
Nominative dieser diese dieses diese this/ these
Accusative diesen diese dieses diese this/ these
Dative diesem dieser diesem diesen to this/ these
Genitive dieses dieser dieses dieser of this/ these

Dative 1)

Which grammar case we have to use in a sentence is determined by the verb or

preposition of our phrase. Let’s have a look at some common examples -

Prepositions

o The prepositions mit, von, zu (to), and bei (at, like ‘am’) require the dative case.

o The prepositions für and ohne require the accusative case.

1. Ich gehe nur mit dir (dat.) zur Feier. – I am only going to the party with you.
2. Ich gehe ohne dich (acc.) nicht zur Feier. – I am not going to the party without you.
3. Das Geschenk ist von mir (dat.) – The present is from me.
4. Das Geschenk ist für dich (acc.) – The present is for you.
5. Ich komme zu dir. – I am coming to you(r place).
6. Er ist bei mir. – He is with me. / He is at my place.

Verbs that take the dative (only 4)

1. antworten – to answer: Sie hat mir noch nicht geantwortet. – She has not answered me yet.
2. helfen – to help: Ich helfe dir. – I help you.
3. gehören – to belong: Das gehört  mir. –That belongs to me.
4. zuhören – to listen: Ich höre  dir  zu. – I am listening to you.

Verbs that take the accusative (only 4)

1. anrufen – to call: Ich rufe dich morgen an. – I will call you tomorrow.

2. kennen – to know: Sie kennen mich. – They know me.
3. verstehen – to understand: Wir verstehen dich. – We understand you.
4. vergessen – to forget: Vergiss mich  nicht. – Do not forget me.

So whenever you come across verbs and/or prepositions in connection with personal pronouns it
is very useful to remember these forms well because most of the time it is the only form that
exists. That is, forms like “mit dich”, “ohne dir”, “dir kennen”, “dich antworten” do NOT exist.

Basic Chart of Forms of der/das/die, ein-words, Pronouns

Learn/Remember these two charts well, and everything else you do in German will become a
lot easier for you!

Pronouns and Possessive Articles

Nominativ Possessive
Accusative Dative
e Article/genitive

Ich Mich mir mein

Du Dich dir dein

Er Ihn ihm sein

Sie Sie ihr Ihr

Es Es ihm Sein

Wir Uns uns Unser

Ihr Euch euch Euer

sie/Sie sie/Sie ihnen/Ihnen ihr/Ihr

Mnemonic advice

 The third person singular and plural pronouns roughly rhyme with the
corresponding forms of "der/das/die" in the Nominative, Accusative and
Dative: (er <=> der, ihn <=> den, ihm <=> dem), (sie <=> die, sie <=> die, ihr
<=> der), (es <=> das, es <=> das, ihm <=> dem), and in the 3rd person plural
(sie <=> die, sie <=> die, ihnen <=> den (sort of)).
 For the "we" forms, note " sounds like nominative "wir English "we," and
accusative and dative "uns" sounds like English "us."
 For the possessives, note "mein," "dein" and "sein" rhyme.  The feminine
singular "ihr" looks and sounds roughly like its English counterpart "her."  The
3rd person plural form is also "ihr"; except in the Dative, the "she"
pronouns are always the same as the "they" pronouns

Der/das/die and Ein-word endings (including endings for the

possessive adjectives mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer) = same

Neutrum Feminin Plural

Maskulin

Nominat die  die 

iv  der  das 
eine  (keine) 
   ein  ein 
(==>meine,dein (==>meine,dein
   (==>mein,dein, (==>mein,dein,
e, seine, ihre, e, seine, ihre,
  sein, ihr, unser,  sein, ihr, unser, 
unsere,  unsere, 
euer) euer)
eure) eure)
 
Akkusati
v den  die  die 
das 
einen  eine  (keine) 
bis  ein 
(==>meinen,dein (==>meine,dein (==>meine,dein
für  (==>mein,dein,
en, seinen, ihren, e, seine, ihre, e, seine, ihre,
durch sein, ihr, unser, 
unseren,  unsere,  unsere, 
gegen euer)
euren) eure) eure)
ohne um

Dativ dem  dem  der  den + n 

aus außer einem  einem  einer  (keinen + n) 
bei  (==>meinem,dei (==>meinem,dei (==>meiner,dei (==>meinen,dei
mit nach nem, seinem, nem, seinem, ner, seiner, nen, seinen,
seit von ihrem, unserem,  ihrem, unserem,  ihrer, unserer,  ihren, unseren, 
zu eurem) eurem) eurer) euren + n)

Genitiv des + (e)s  des + (e)s  der  der 

 eines + (e)s  eines + (e)s  einer  (keiner) 
(an)statt (==>meines,dein (==>meines,dein (==>meiner,dei (==>meiner,dein
trotz es, seines, ihres, es, seines, ihres, ner, seiner, er, seiner, ihrer,
während unseres,  unseres,  ihrer, unserer,  unserer, 
wegen eures + (e)s) eures + (e)s) eurer) eurer)

Mnemonic advice

 Note the ein-word endings are the same as the der/das/die endings, except
in the masculine and neuter nominative and the neuter accusative, where
the ein-words have no ending.
 Once you know the nominative forms of der/das/die, you essentially know the
accusative forms, which are the same except for the masculine accusative, where
"der" changes to "den."
 For the Dative, the -m and -r endings are like the endings of English "him" and
"her" as in "for him" and "for her."
 For the Genitive, the -s and -r endings are like the endings of English "his" and
"her."

 To remember the accusative prepositions, use the acronym "Ob Fudge" [ohne
bis, für, um, durch, gegen], or ask your instructor about chanting "Durch-für-gegen-
ohne-bis-um, Deutsch zu lernen ist nicht dumm."(6)  For the dative prepositions,
sing "Aus-außer-bei-mit, nach-seit, von-zu" to the tune of the "Blue Danube" waltz,
or think of the touching love poem "Roses are red, violets are blue, aus-außer-
bei-mit, nach-seit, von-zu."(8)

 Two-way prepositions(9) : an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen
Pneumonic 3: (ZAAH VUüNI)
Example: Where to / Wohin: mit Akkusativ Where / Wo: mit Dativ

:take either the dative or the accusative case based on whether they imply location or
motion respectively, and watch out for dative verbs

A) The NOMINATIVE case: is the basic, dictionary form of the noun. It's the case that
names the subject of the sentence, the one who is performing the action. 
E.g. The cat is sleeping. - Because the cat is the one performing the action, it is the subject and it
would be in the nominative case.

 Der Mann isst. - The man eats.

B) The ACCUSATIVE case: is the one that indicates a direct object that the action is
being performed on. 
E.g. I'm eating an apple. - The action is being performed on the apple, so it's the direct object
should be in the accusative.
  Der Mann isst den Reis. - The man eats the rice

C) The DATIVE case: indicates an indirect object, a thing that's being affected in the
course of the action that affects the direct object. 
E.g. John throws the ball to his dog. - John is the subject in nominative, the ball is the direct
object (since action is performed on it) in accusative, and dog is the indirect object of this action in
dative. ***remember the sentence…now try omitting direct object…to see only ‘dative form in a
sentence’ (the sentence can stand with V+ direct object only, but not V+ indirect object only)
 Der Mann gibt dem Junge den Reis. - The man gives the boy the rice.

D) Genitive Case - The genitive is used to mark to demonstrate possession (similar to

the 's attached to the end of words in English - the man's rice).

 Der Bruder des Mannes ist müde-The man's brother is tired/The brother of the man is tired

((Sub-junctive case – “would like” – other less common cases..eg – Ich M(oe)chte))

Verbs forms

Gehen (to go)

Ich gehe Du gehst er/sie/es geht

Wir gehen ihr geht sie/Sie gehen

CHECK – with green table...

du er sie es Wir ihr sie

ich
m/
Nominati mein dein sein Ihr sein unser euer ihr
n
v
f/pl meine deine seine Ihre seine unsere eure ihre
m/
meines deines seines ihres seines unseres eures ihres
Genitiv n
f/pl meiner deiner seiner ihrer seiner unserer eurer ihrer
Dativ m/ meine deine seine ihre seine unsere eure ihrem
n m m m m m m m
 du er sie es Wir ihr sie
ich
F meiner deiner seiner ihrer seiner unserer eurer ihrer
Pl meinen deinen seinen ihren seinen unseren euren ihren
M meinen deinen seinen ihren seinen unseren euren ihren
Akkusativ N mein dein sein ihr sein unser euer ihr
f/pl meine deine seine ihre seine unsere eure ihre

Viel vs. viele
These roughly correspond to English "much/many". Use viel with uncountable
nouns, viele with countable ones.

 Ich trinke viel Wasser.
 Ich habe viele Hunde.

Alles oder nichts
Just like nicht (not) has a look-alike nichts (nothing), alle (all)
has alles (everything) as a counterpart.

 Ich esse nicht. (I do not eat.)

 Ich esse nichts. (I eat nothing.)
 Ich esse alles. (I eat everything.)
 Ich esse alle (Orangen). (I eat all (oranges).)
- Niemand schläft. (Nobody sleeps.
 - Keiner schläft. (None of them sleeps.)

SUBJUnctive = would like form?= konjunctive 2 (subjunctive is called konjunctive in DE)

Konjunctive 1 = Indirect speech/ report…

Konjuntive 2 = wish/ desire/ IMPORABBLE SITUATION /suggestion etc.. 4 cases)/OR 2

Rules and Application

Forming the Subjunctive II is much easier than you would think, and is done in two ways.
One is the adaptation of the imperfect, and the other is with an auxiliary verb, werden (to
become).

The most commonly used verbs used without the auxiliary are haben, sein and the modal
verbs. In these cases, the verbs use the stem of their imperfect tense (= past tense) conjugation,
but gain an umlaut and an “-e” if needed. For example:

3 FORMS BELOW
= Not (go, went, gone)… BUT (go, went, (would have/ CONDITIONAL) gone)… this (would
have) is not written in German, but also used in (I) present & (II) past… Eg – (i) would have
gone…(II) would had gone = KONJUNCTIV 2

Go, went, gone (ENGLISH) =becomes= present, past, conditional/perfect

participle (GERMAN)
Present participle = ‘ing’ form in English (eg – working)
Perfect Particple form = ‘have’ form English

Modal Verbs = 8
 haben – habe – hatte – hätte
 sein  – bin – war – wäre
 mögen – mag – mochte – möchte
 dürfen – darf – durfte – dürfte
 können – kann – konnte – könnte
 müssen – muss – musste – müsste
 wollen – will – wollte – wollte   (Q. Umm, where’s the umlaut?   A. Some verbs don’t
take one)
 sollen – soll – sollte – sollte            (Q. Again, where’s that umlaut?     A. Sorry.)
 So you see, it’s pretty straight forward. Of course all verbs have a subjunctive form. And
whether they’re irregular or regular, weak or strong, they are all formed from the stem of their
imperfect conjugation.

 gehen  – gehe – ging – ginge (ALL ARE FORMS OF 1st SING., but exist for all 6
SUBJECTS
 kaufen – kaufe – kaufte – kaufte
 geben – gebe – gab – gäbe
 essen – esse – aß – äße

You get the picture. But there’s a much, much easier way of getting a handle on Konjunktiv
II and it’s with the verb werden.

While those first eight verbs we conjugated above don’t use it, every other verb (except 8
modal) you can think of can be used in the subjunctive with werden; which I guess right now
is looking like a pretty special verb.

If you know the subjunctive form of werden, then you know the subjunctive form of every
other verb (except for those top eight, don’t forget them).
(normal form = werde, wirst wird, werden, werdet, werden) = to become
Past form – remove umlaut from below past participle 
Here it is:
ich würde
du  würdest
er/sie/es  würde
wir  würden
ihr  würdet
Sie/sie würden
All you have to do now is add the infinitive and you’ve got yourself a verb in Konjunktiv II.
Examples
Wenn ich viel Geld hätte, würde ich eine Weltreise machen. (werden at P2, infinitive in end)
(If I had a lot of money, I would travel the world = since dependent clause is “WISH”.)
Du würdest mich hier nicht alleine lassen, oder?
(You wouldn’t leave me alone here, would you?)
Nein, natürlich nicht, wir würden zusammen  fliegen!
(No, not at all, we could fly together!)  same werden could be “could or would etc.” =
Wish/desire/ improbable/ suggestion

Here we see the subjunctive mood being used firstly to express a desire dependent on a
particular condition (having lots of money) as well as being used in a question which
expresses a doubt or a negative (whether or not person B would be left by themselves, THUS
DESIRE/improbable situation ). And finally the resolution, still in the subjunctive because
the idea is still dependent on person A having enough money, which she doesn’t.

There is a great game to really nail this form of the subjunctive. In a group beginning with the
idea “Wenn ich viel Geld hätte…,”  one person goes on to create a scenario. So using the
example above:
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
Wenn ich viel Geld hätte, würde ich eine Weltreise machen.

The next person uses this scenario to continue the story.

Wenn ich eine Weltreise machen würde (?? order), müsste ich meinen Hund zu Hause lassen.
(If I traveled the world, I would have to leave my dog at home.)

And so on…

Wenn ich meinen Hund zu Hause lassen  müsste (?? Word order), wäre ich ganz traurig.
(If I had to leave my dog at home, I would be very sad.)
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

Note on word order:…to make question type statement with “WENN” ,(i) Werden
form goes to end in dependent clause (after infinitv)..& (ii) Wenn comes at start..

Past Tense

The Subjunctive II only works in two tenses. The “non-past,” (= present/improbable for
future) as displayed above, and the indeterminate past (below), coz of unreal nature. “If I had
a lot of money I would travel the world” could relate to any time that has not yet occurred.

Similarly, the statement, “Had I worn warmer clothes, I wouldn’t have gotten sick” refers to a
time in the past which is unreal. Using the past in Konjunktiv II is a tad trickier, but nothing
to cause any breakdown  simple: with past form, use past participle,
X past simple (middle form). But participle form of middle form

Using sein and haben  in their subjunctive form as the auxiliaries, we simply add the past
participle of the verb we want to be expressed in the subjunctive and voila:
Wenn ich mich wärmer  angezogen  hätte,  wäre  ich nicht krank  geworden. (sich verkleiden = to
dress up) …. = sein perfect participle (3rd form) + past participle (not past simple)
(Had I worn warmer clothes, I wouldn’t have gotten sick.)

And that’s it.

Subjunctive I: “That’s What She Said”
Subjunctive I is nowhere near as frequently used as Subjunctive II. Chiefly this mood is used in
reported or indirect speech as a way of maintaining distance from the source.

You’ll also find it cropping up in older forms of instructional manuals, cookbooks and the
like, as well as general sayings, such as “Es Lebe der König” (long live the king) and “Gott sei
Dank” (thank God).

Rules and Application

Forming Konjunktiv I is fairly straightforward. Whereas Konjunktiv II is formed from the

stem of its imperfect conjugation=past/middle term, here we use the present tense stem and then
add the same endings as with earlier (Konjuntive 2)=e .(in konjunctive 2, even stem changes)
Luckily for us, this applies to every verb save one, sein, which was always going to be doing
something different, let’s face it.

Konjunktiv I forms of haben, leben, and gehen: (STEM = mach ‘en’, leb ‘en’ etc)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ich mache, habe, lebe, gehe
du machest, habest, lebest, gehest,  (SEE EXAMPLE)/// EG: :you said ‘you cannot do that‘
er/sie/es mache, habe, lebe, gehe,   form used in reported speech often “he said/ She said“
wir machen, haben, leben, gehen, 
ihr machet, habet, lebet, gehet, 
Sie/sie machen, haben, leben, gehen.  form used in reported speech often “they said”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Konjunktiv I form of sein:
Ich sei
du  seist
er/sie/es  sei
wir  seien
ihr  seiet
Sie/sie seien
While this is a necessary skill to acquire if you’re looking to enhance your written German, I
can’t stress enough how infrequently this mood is used outside of news reporting. Practice by
identifying it in online newspaper reports and in no time you’ll be able to differentiate by what a
person did and what a person is said to have done–good, huh?
Tenses
Unlike Konjunktiv II, which has only two, Konjunktiv I has four tenses: present, past, future
and future perfect. In these latter three, the rule is simple: The auxiliary verb is conjugated
in Konjunktiv I  .
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Present: Er sagte, er  habe kein Interesse. (He said he isn’t interested.)
(ie Konj 1 Aux + Present form OF VERB, 1st FORM)
Past: Er sagte, er  sei  nicht gegangen. (He said he didn’t go.)
(ie…Konj 1 Aux + PAST PARTICIPLE... particple form of 2nd form)
Future: Er sagte, er  werde es morgen machen. (He said, he will do it tomorrow.)
(ie…Konj 1 Aux + Infinitiv...or simple future..“werde Machen”..)
Future Perfect: Er sagte, er  werde sich vor Montag entschuldigt haben. (He said he will have
apologized before Monday.)
(ie…Konj 1 Aux + PERFECT FORM – 3rd form)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So there we are. The key to talking about being human, to talking about all your dreams and
wishes, as well as being able to talk about someone else’s dreams and wishes, with the use of the
German subjunctive mood. It may be a lot to take in, but the rewards of mastering it are huge.
Good luck!

WErden = 7 uses
1. Literal meaning = to become

How Do You Conjugate Werden?

Let’s start with the basics: Conjugation. Werden is used in various tenses, depending on its
grammatical function, and it’s important to get those straight before we go any farther.
Conjugation of werden in present tense
Here’s how you conjugate werden in the present tense:
ich werde
du wirst
Sie werden
er wird
wir werden
ihr werdet
Sie werden
Conjugation of werden in literary past tense
Here’s how you conjugate werden in the literary past tense, also known as das Präteritum:
ich wurde
du wurdest
Sie wurden
er wurde
wir wurden
ihr wurdet
Sie wurden
Conjugation of werden in subjunctive
Here’s how you conjugate werden in subjunctive, also known as Konjuntiv II:
ich würde
du würdest
Sie würden
er würde
wir würden
ihr würdet
Sie würden

Got all that? Let’s move on and learn how we use these different forms.

7 Distinct Uses of the German Verb Werden You’ve Got to

Master
1. Werden as a Vollverb  Normal verb
What does werden mean when you use it in its normal, present tense form? Werden means “to
become.”
The incautious German student might think that bekommen means “to become,” but be careful!
Bekommen is a falscher Freund  (false friend). It actually means “to receive.”
If you want to indicate that something’s in the process of becoming something else, werden is
the word for you. If you want to say you’re getting sick, use werden.
Ich werde Krank.
I’m getting sick.
If you want to say someone’s starting a new career, say, becoming a doctor, use werden.
Er  wird Arzt.
He’s becoming a doctor.
If you want to talk about something that became something else in the near past, you can use
the Particip II of werden to create the present perfect tense (Perfekt): geworden.
(note: 3rd - go went gone-: form is “conditional” =Partizip 1? – for Konj.2- X perfect Partizip)
Ich bin Journalistin geworden  1) Present perfect (Active).
I became a journalist. (OR I’ve become a journalist)
Since werden is a word that involves a change, make sure to use sein, not haben to form the
present perfect tense. Even though sentence also means “I’ve become” above= X possess.
If you want to talk about something that became something else in the simple past (which is
often used in literary forms or history books), use the Präteritum forms above.
Goethe wurde Schriftsteller.  2) Past simple (active)
Goethe became a writer.
2. Passive constructions of Werden
Have you figured out how to use werden to mean become/ became? Good. Now let’s move on
to using werden to construct passive sentences.  Active tenses

Remember, a passive construction is a construction where the subject of the sentence is acted
upon by something else, rather than the subject of the sentence performing an action. An English
example: The house was built.  Passive

To form a present tense passive construction in German, use the present tense of werden plus
the Particip II version of a verb.  1) Present simple= Present Cont. of passive/ Example:
Das Haus wird gebaut.
The house is being built.
To form a past passive construction in German, you could use either Perfekt or Präteritum.
In Perfekt, use Particip II of verb plus worden. 2) Past/ perfect ????= Past cont. Passive: Ex
Das Haus ist gebaut worden. (= sein + worden + Partizip 2)
The house was being built.
In Präteritum, or literary past tense, you would use the Präteritum version of werden plus
the Particip II.  3) Past simple passive : For Ex: (Note– i understand 1 & 3, but not 2 passive)
Der Song wurde von den Beatles gesungen.
The song was sung by the Beatles.
3. Werden in Konjunktiv II form = conditional
Now let’s talk about how you can use werden to express subjunctive, or conditional, forms.
Remember the Konjunctiv II conjugations in the first section of this post? Refresh your memory
on those, because you’ll need them to create the Konjunctiv.
Basically, these constructions are used to express something that isn’t real: a wish, a hope or an
unreal situation. How do you form these constructions? There are eight verbs that have their
own Konjunctiv II forms, but the rest of the time you use the Konjunctiv II form of werden,
plus the infinitive of a verb. (You can read more about those verbs with their own Konjuntiv II
forms them here.) Here are some examples:
Wenn ich das machen  würde…
If I did that…
Ich würde Sie ja gerne mitnehmen, wenn Sie Zeit hätten. (Q: why is 2nd hatte also in end????)
I would gladly bring you with me, if you had time.
Wenn ich Geld hätte, würde  ich einen Kaffee trinken.
If I had money, I would drink a coffee.
Werden can also be used with the infinitive form of a verb to create four different structures.
The first is not very important:
4. Talking about the future with Werden
To talk about the future (Zukunft), Germans use werden (present) plus infinitive form of verb.
Im August  werde ich in den USA Urlaub machen.
In August, I am going to the USA for a vacation.
Why is the future tense the least important use of  werden  plus infinitive? Because Germans
don’t actually use the future tense all that often. It’s much more common for Germans to simply
use present tense and imply future using context clues, such as in the following example:
Morgen koche ich etwas.
Tomorrow, I’m cooking something.
But it’s still important to know the future tense and to know how to differentiate it from the other
forms of werden plus infinitive.
5. Implying attitudes about certainty with Werden
Werden plus infinitive can also be used to talk about guarantees—also known
as Sicherheit  (security).
Sie wird garantiert krank sein.
She’s definitely sick.

So how do you distinguish a sentence that’s talking about a certainty from a sentence that’s
talking about the future? It’s all about the context words, words that mean “definitely” or
“for sure.” Look for the following words as indicators of certainty:

sicher
surely
bestimmt
definitely (unbestimmt – indefinite; stimmen = to agree)
sicherlich
certainly
gewiss
assuredly
mit Sicherheit
with certainty
garantiert
guaranteed
auf jeden Fall
absolutely = in any case
6. Implying probability with Werden
Just as you can use werden plus infinitive to talk about guarantees, you can also use it to talk
about probabilities. For example, if you wanted to say,
Maria wird gerade am Strand liegen.
Maria is probably lying on the beach right now.

A sentence construction that’s used for probabilities and certainties . Sounds confusing,
right? But don’t panic! Look for these context words that mean probably, and you’ll be able to
spot a sentence like this in no time.

vermutlich
presumably
wahrscheinlich
probably
vielleicht
maybe
möglicherweise
possibly
wohl
surely

7. Giving commands with Werden

Finally, werden plus infinitive constructions can be used to give someone a command.
Du wirst jetzt sofort kommen!
You need to come now!
This form of command is stricter and more official than an Imperativ command.
Werden has a lot of uses, and it can be confusing to try to figure them out. But with some
studying and a lot of practice, you’ll be well on your way to knowing all these different forms.

-=======
DATES MONTH & SEASONS

he German Days of the Week (Tage der Woche)

Let's start with the days of the week (tage der woche). Most of the days in
German end in the word (der) Tag, just as the English days end in "day." The
German week (and calendar) starts with Monday (Montag) rather than Sunday.
Each day is shown with its common two-letter abbreviation.

Tage der Woche

Days of the Week
DEUTSCH ENGLISCH
Montag (Mo) Monday
(Mond-Tag) "moon day"
Dienstag (Di) Tuesday
(Zies-Tag)
Mittwoch (Mi) Wednesday
(mid-week) (Wodan's day)
Donnerstag (Do) Thursday
"thunder-day" (Thor's day)
Freitag (Fr) Friday
(Freya-Tag) (Freya's day)
Samstag (Sa) Saturday
Sonnabend (Sa) (Saturn's day)
(used in No.
Germany)
Sonntag (So) Sunday
(Sonne-Tag) "sun day"

 
The seven days of the week are masculine (der) since they usually end in -tag
(der Tag).

The two exceptions, Mittwoch and Sonnabend, are also masculine= Der.

Note that there are two words for Saturday. Samstag is used in most of Germany,
in Austria, and in German Switzerland. Sonnabend ("Sunday eve") is used in
eastern Germany and roughly north of the city of Münster in northern Germany.
So, in Hamburg, Rostock, Leipzig or Berlin, it's Sonnabend; in Cologne,
Frankfurt, Munich or Vienna "Saturday" is Samstag.

Both words for "Saturday" are understood all over the German-speaking world, but
you should try to use the one most common in the region you're in. Note the two-
letter abbreviation for each of the days (Mo, Di, Mi, etc.). These are used on
calendars, schedules and German/Swiss watches that indicate the day and date.

Using Prepositional Phrases With Days of the Week

To say "on Monday" or "on Friday" you use the prepositional phrase am

Montag or am Freitag. (The word am is actually a contraction
of an and dem, the dative form of der. More about that below.) Here are some
commonly used phrases for the days of the week:

Day Phrases
Englisch Deutsch
on Monday am Montag
(on Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.) (am Dienstag, Mittwoch, usw.)
(on) Mondays montags
(on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc.) (dienstags, mittwochs, usw.)
every Monday, Mondays jeden Montag
(every Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.) (jeden Dienstag, Mittwoch, usw.)
this Tuesday (am) kommenden Dienstag
last Wednesday letzten Mittwoch
the Thursday after next übernächsten Donnerstag
every other Friday jeden zweiten Freitag
Today is Tuesday. Heute ist Dienstag.
Tomorrow is Wednesday. Morgen ist Mittwoch.
 Yesterday was Monday. Gestern war Montag.
 

A few words about the dative case, which is used as the object of certain
prepositions (as with dates) and as the indirect object of a verb.

Here we are concentrating on the use of the accusative and dative in expressing
dates. Here is a chart of those changes. 

NOMINATIV-AKKUSATIV-DATIV
GENDER Nominativ Akkusativ Dativ
MASC. der/jeder den/jeden dem
(so jeder & jeden
are same )
NEUT. Das Das dem
FEM. die Die der
EXAMPLES: am Dienstag (on Tuesday, dative), jeden Tag (every
day, accusative)
NOTE: The masculine (der) and neuter (das) make the same changes (look the
same) in the dative case. Adjectives or numbers used in the dative will
have an -en ending: am sechsten April.

Now we want to apply the information in the chart above. When we use the
prepositions an (on) and  in (in) with days, months or dates, they take the
dative case. Days and months are masculine, so we end up with a
combination of an or in plus dem, which equals am or im. To say "in May" or
"in November" you use the prepositional phrase im Mai or im November.

However, some date expressions that do not use prepositions (jeden

Dienstag, letzten Mittwoch) are in the accusative case.

The Months (Die Monate)

The months are all masculine gender (der). There are two words used for
July. Juli (YOO-LEE) is the standard form, but German-speakers often
say Julei (YOO-LYE) to avoid confusion with Juni -- in much the same way
that zwo is used for zwei.

 
Die Monate - The Months
DEUTSCH ENGLISCH
Januar January
YAHN-oo-ahr
Februar February
März March
MEHRZ
April April
Mai May
MYE
Juni June
YOO-nee
Juli July
YOO-lee
August August
ow-GOOST
September September
Oktober October
November November
Dezember December
 

The Four Seasons (Die vier Jahreszeiten)

The seasons are all masculine gender (except for das Frühjahr, another
word for spring). The months for each season above are, of course, for
the northern hemisphere where Germany and the other German-speaking
countries lie.
When speaking of a season in general ("Autumn is my favorite season."), in
German you almost always use the article: "Der Herbst ist meine
Lieblingsjahreszeit." The adjectival forms shown below translate as
"springlike, springy," "summerlike" or "autumnal, falllike" (sommerliche
Temperaturen = "summerlike/summery temperatures"). In some cases, the
noun form is used as a prefix, as in die Winterkleidung = "winter clothing"
or die Sommermonate = "the summer months." The prepositional
phrase im (in dem) is used for all the seasons when you want to say, for
instance, "in (the) spring" (im Frühling). This is the same as for the months.

Die Jahreszeiten - The Seasons

Jahreszeit Monate
der Frühling März, April, Mai
das Frühjahr im Frühling - in the spring
(Adj.) frühlingshaft
der Sommer Juni, Juli, August
(Adj.) sommerlich im Sommer - in the summer
der Herbst Sept., Okt., Nov.
(Adj.) herbstlich im Herbst - in the fall/autumn
der Winter Dez., Jan., Feb.
(Adj.) winterlich im Winter - in the winter

Prepositional Phrases With Dates

To give a date, such as "on July 4th," you use am (as with the days) and the
ordinal number (4th, 5th): am vierten Juli, usually written am 4. Juli. The
period after the number represents the -ten  ending on the number and is the
same as the -th, -rd, or -nd ending used for English ordinal numbers.

Note that numbered dates in German (and in all of the European languages) are
always written in the order of day, month, year -- rather than month, day, year.
For example, in German, the date 1/6/01 would be written 6.1.01 (which is
Epiphany or Three Kings, the 6th of January 2001). This is the logical order,
moving from the smallest unit (the day) to the largest (the year). To review the
ordinal numbers, see this guide to German numbers. Here are some commonly
used phrases for the months and calendar dates:

Calendar Date Phrases

 Englisch Deutsch
in August im August
(in June, October, etc.) (im Juni, Oktober, usw.)
on June 14th (spoken) am vierzehnten Juni
on June 14, 2001 (written) am 14. Juni 2001 - 14.7.01 (2nd opt
on the first of May (spoken) am ersten Mai
on May 1, 2001 (written) am 1. Mai 2001 - 1.5.01 (2nd option
 

The ordinal numbers are so-called because they express the order in a series, in
this case for dates.

But the same principle applies to the "first door" (die erste Tür) or the "fifth
element" (das fünfte Element).

In most cases, the ordinal number is the cardinal number with a -te or
-ten ending (becomes –ste/-sten after 20). Just as in English, some
German numbers have irregular ordinals: one/first (eins/erste) or three/third
(drei/dritte). Below is a sample chart with ordinal numbers that would be
required for dates. 

Sample Ordinal Numbers (Dates)

Englisch Deutsch
1 the first - on the first/1st der erste - am ersten/1.
2 the second - on the second/2ndder zweite - am zweiten/2.
3 the third - on the third/3rd der dritte - am dritten/3.
4 the fourth - on the fourth/4th der vierte - am vierten/4.
5 the fifth - on the fifth/5th der fünfte - am fünften/5.
6 the sixth - on the sixth/6th der sechste - am sechsten/6.
11 the eleventh der elfte - am elften/11.
on the eleventh/11th
 21 the twenty-first der einundzwanzigste
on the twenty-first/21st am einundzwanzigsten/21.
31 the thirty-first der einunddreißigste
on the thirty-first/31st am einunddreißigsten/31.

QUESTION WORDS

who wer vehr whom (acc.) wen vain

what was vahs whom (dat.) wem vaim

why warum vah-room how come wieso vee-zo

when wann vahn where from wohervo-hair

where wo voh where to wohin vo-hin

how wie vee which welche/-r/-s velsh-uh/er/es

TIME prepositions 5 (missing – von : Eg – von morgen an.. )

Time 5 – Prepositions
58 Comments
Hello everyone,

and welcome to the German is Easy Learn German Online Course… and today, it’s time for
THEM.
Prepare yourself for the 5  part of the Time Mini Series, get ready for:
th

Time – prepositions
Now, if you’re like „Oh god oh god, prepositions… this one is going to be so hard, I don’t
know if I can handle it“ (which, on an unrelated note, is in fact what she said) I have good
news for you:
German time prepositions are neither hard nor numerous. The reason why we are talking
about them this late in the series is not the level of difficulty but the mere fact that many
examples with prepositions use words we’ve learned in the parts before. And also, you need
to be able to correctly address points in time first before you can use a preposition to put
this point in time in a relation with something. Because that’s what prepositions do… they
express relations between stuff (read more about prepositions in general here).
So…  today is not going to be too tough, I promise. 
I want to say one thing before we start. I will give the English translation for each
preposition but I will also give an explanation of the relation or concept it expresses. The
reason for that is that not everyone reading this is a native English speaker and it is very
well imaginable that one English preposition has 3 possible translations in another
language… just like but vs the German equivalents. So if you find the explanations technical
and overly complicated and you are like „Yeah move on… I got it, it’s since.“ , please
indulge me.
Alright … there is one concept which you need to understand first..nothing too serious… just
some little something : the difference between a time span and a point in time. A time
span is a measure of time. It can be in minutes, seconds, hours, days, years,
moments or even just time.
 3 days, 5 years, some time, one moment, a while
All these are measures of time= time span… like… How much time? 3 Days.
A point in time on the contrary is what we basically have learned to point out in the 3
preceding articles.. a word or a group of words that kind of names a more or less specific
point in time
 soon, last Monday, tomorrow, 12:30, now… many many more
All these are examples for points in time… like… At what point in time/
When? Tomorrow.
Now why does this matter, you ask? Because some prepositions only work with a
span, some only with a point and some are ok with either. An English example for
this are the prepositions since and for. For needs a span while since wants a point as
indication.
 I have been here since yesterday.
 I have been here for 5 minutes.
 I have been here for yesterday… is pretty damn wrong… you know… because the
colors don’t match :)
So … for each preposition I will tell you whether it takes a point, a span or both. Ok… I think
now we’re set.

vor (pron. : foa)

Vor is THE word to give a measure between now and some point in the past However
you do this in your language, even if you have a million ways… in German, all those will
be vor… in English this is done by the word ago so we could say that vor is ago...
However, the structure is different. Vor is a PRE-position whilst ago is… well, not a
preposition…  if any “sition” than it is a post-position.
 3 days ago, I met my grandma.
 Vor 3 Tagen habe ich meine Oma besucht.
 Maria went to the library an hour ago.
 Maria ist vor einer Stunde in die Bibliothek gegangen.
So basically the only difference between ago and vor is the position… vor comes first, ago
comes last. Now, if you are a beginner and you are a native English speaker and you want to
say some ago-thing in German it will happen to you that you start right with the span… like
here:
 2 years ago, I did something.
 2 Jahre… uh…
If you do that, start over! There is no way to save this and get anywhere near correct. You
can’t just say vor at the end of something. Vor starts a group of word or in jargon a roma…
uh semantic unit. A German would need to do brain gymnastics to figure out that the vor is
supposed to be part of the time indication that has already been said…. so… it is no problem
if it happens, you have to get used to say vor first, but start over if you do it wrong and
correct yourself.
Now, here is one thing vor and ago have in common that might not be so in other
languages… let’s say you saw a pink fluorescent Elephant last Monday. However, that wasn’t
the first time because you had seen this beauty already on Saturday… can you tell the story
using vor 2 Tagen?
 Ich habe am Montag wieder den pinken, floureszierenden Elefanten gesehen, den
ich schon vor 2 Tagen gesehen hatte.
 On Monday, I have seen the pink, fluorescent elephant I had seen 2 days ago.
This doesn’t work. Neither in English nor in German. Both words, ago and vor do refer to
(some) now. This might be different in other languages, so I felt like I have to say it.
Anyway… moving on.

in (pron.: somewhat similar to greyhound but less syllables and different sounds)

In has 2 functions. First, it is the equivalent of  vor  in the future. If you want to indicate a
time difference, a span, between now and some point to come… use in.
 Ich rufe dich in 5 Minuten zurück.
 I will call you back in 5 minutes.
 In 100 Jahren gibt es vielleicht fliegende Autos.
 There might be (= gibt es future) flying cars in 100 years.
German and English are obviously pretty much the same here… in in sense of x- time from
now is in.
The second thing in is used for is a general indication of a duration that is needed
for an achievement … yeah… I didn’t understand that last part neither. The best way to
grasp it is to think of it as the answer to “in what amount of time have you done that?”.
 Ich habe in  3 Monaten Deutsch gelernt.
 I’ve learned German in 3 months.
It also works for the future.= (PAST + FUTURE)

 Morgen trinke ich  in  einer Stunde 3 Kaffee.

 Tomorrow, I’ll drink 3 coffees in one hour.
Here, we have 2 time indications and that’s why it is clear which in is meant. However,
sometimes it might be confusing.
 Ich mache meine Küche  in  3 Tagen sauber.
 I am going to clean my kitchen in 3 days.
This is not clear…. do you do 3 days from now or will it take you 3 days to do it… I don’t
know. Also here, German and English are the same however, so if you have a feel for
English, this shouldn’t be a problem in German.
But there is one difference between the German and the English in. The German
one is not used for in that are used in sense of since or for.
 I haven’t eaten  in  3 days.
 Ich habe in  3 Tagen nichts gegessen…. is wrong
This does NOT work in German so just remember the 2 concepts of in and don’t think of it
as a mere translation of … well in… which is the best approach to prepositions anyway.
They’re not translated. They have certain concepts and are used for these. Sometimes the
concepts are the same, sometimes they’re not. Before we move on, here is a weird example,
that uses in in both ways.
 In 100 Jahren kann man vielleicht in einer Stunde von Berlin nach NY fliegen.
 A hundres years from now, it might be possible to fly from Berlin to NY in one
hour.

seit (pron. : zuyt)

Seit is used to indicate an unfinished action or state that, and this is crucial, has
started in the PAST. Seit can be used with time spans and points which means that it is
the German word for since AND for … and also in as we learned above.
 Ich lerne seit Juni Deutsch.
 I have been learning German since June.
 Ich lerne seit  4 Monaten Deutsch.
 I have been learning for 4 months.
 Ich war seit 4 Wochen nicht mehr an der Uni.
 I haven’t been to university in 4 weeks.
So you see… it works in all those situations.
There is one little thing I feel I should mention… seit is NOT for in the following example.
 I have slept for a while.
This action is over. You’re clearly not sleeping anymore. So it not part of the concept of seit.
Hence, you can’t use seit here. The correct German phrase would use no preposition at all.
 Ich habe eine Weile geschlafen.
Now, some of you might ask which tense to be used with seit. That is a hard question. As
you might have realized, German is really lax when it comes to tenses… so much so that the
common subconscious compensates for this “lack” of precision by valuing punctuality so
much… this is just a theory though :)… anyway… so tenses. Frankly… it is nothing to worry
about… both the following examples are correct.
 Ich habe seit einer Woche kein Fleisch gegessen
 Ich esse seit einer Woche kein Fleisch.
  I haven’t eaten meat in a week.
The first sentence states a mere fact. You just happened to not eat any meat. The second
sentence expresses that this is something you’ve been actively doing and are doing still.
You don’t eat meat by choice… like..you breath, you go places and you don’t eat meat. The
following example takes this to the extreme.

 Ich habe seit einer Woche nicht geraucht.

 I haven’t smoked for a week.
 Ich rauche seit einer Woche nicht mehr.
 I am not smoking since a week (lit.).
 I have stopped smoking a week ago.
Now, here we have a clear difference in meaning but for the most verbs, the difference
between past and present is but a nuance, so … don’t think too hard. Alright, quick
recap… Seit is used for stuff you started in the past, and you still do it now.

ab (pron.: up)

Ab is the equivalent of seit for the future. If you are going to start doing something at some
point and you either don’t know or don’t care when it is going to end, then use ab.
 Ich bin ab  Montag in Rom.
 I will be in Rome from next Monday.
Wow… the German example is actually shorter than the English one. This is a perfect
example for the lazy ass time indications in German. There are just soooo many
assumptions being made in the example… like.. which Monday? Are you there or will you be
there?
Still, it is 100% clear to a native because ab has a clear cut concept. Here is another
example.
 Ab morgen habe ich mehr Zeit.
 I will have more time starting tomorrow.
Now, there is a big difference to seit in that ab can only be used with points of time and
NOT with spans.
 Ich bin ab  3 Wochen in Rom… is wrong
This doesn’t mean anything because ab can’t be used with a measure. If you want to use a
measure with ab, you have to do 2 steps… let’s say our time span is 3 weeks. First, use this
to point to some point in the future. The preposition for that is one we’ve already
learned: in… so this would be in 3 Wochen. Now, this block is a point in time and we can
put our ab in front of fit…. ab in 3 Wochen.
 Ich bin ab in 3 Wochen in Rom.
 I will be in Rome starting 3 weeks from now.
While not being the prettiest sentence to utter, people do talk that way at times. Now is this
also correct?

 Ab vor 3 Wochen habe ich nicht geraucht.  X

No, it’s not.. because ab is only for the future and now and the word for the past
is… seit. Before we move on, here is one last example. Do you know these kind of little
games like “Who talks first is stupid” or “ Who laughs first secretly eats boogers.”? We
played those a lot at univers… uh elementary, yeah at elementary school … so if you want to
start a competition like that, here are the words:
 Wer als erstes lacht, ist doof… ab jetzt!
 Who laughs first is stupid.. starting now!

bis (pron.: bis)

The concept of bis is the opposite of seit and ab. Bis is used to indicate the end of an
action or state without saying anything about the beginning. It is used for past, present and
future and you already know it from the various good bye phrases like Bis bald, bis
morgen or bis dann. ( GOOD ONE= Till then)
 Ich war bis um 10 auf Arbeit.
 I was at work till 10.
 Ich bin bis um 10 auf Arbeit.
 I am at work till 10 (lit.).
 I will be at work till 10.
 Ich bin immer bis um 10 auf Arbeit.
 I’m always at work till 10.
 “Hast du deine Hausaufgaben gemacht?”
“Bis jetzt nicht”.
 “Have you done your homework?”
“Not until now/ Not yet.”
Bis also only works with points in time.
 Ich bin bis 2 Wochen in Paris… is wrong
If you want to use a time span in your phrase, you have to do the same as we already did
for ab like… indicate a point in time using the span and vor or in respectively. Then
put bis in front of the whole thing.
 Bis vor 3 Wochen hatte nie ein Wort Deutsch gelernt und jetzt spreche ich
fliessend
 I hadn’t learned one word of German until 3 weeks ago and now I am fluent.
You can see that English uses the same mechanics… you need 2 prepositions to make it
work, until and ago but in German, the prepositions are right next to one another so this
might make it look odd to some of you. Anyway, people do talk that way and they even use it
to say good bye
 Bis in 3 Tagen.
 Until in 3 days.(lit.)
 See you in 3 days.
And speaking of good bye and see you in 3 days.. I think we will make a break here. There
are some more things to know, namely the teams vor-nach and von-bis and the word her.
If we did all that now, this would be by FAR the longest post evuhhhh and it would be way
beyond the 5 minutes internet attention span… what’s that? We have already exceeded that
span a good deal? I totally didn’t realize… I mean, I only visited like 124 145 different
websites while writing this.. not so much after; all.
Anyways… the prepositions we learned today are the most important ones anyway. Here
they are again with the question they are answering.
 vor (span) – How much time ago did something happen?
  in (span) – In how much time is something going to happen? and How much
time did it take for something to happen?
 seit (point/ span) – For how much time has something been happening? Since
when has something been happening?
 ab (point ) – From what point in time onwards will something be happening?
 bis (point) – Until which point in time has something been happening?

Common noun endings (often ‘-n/en’ can be feminine plural) … page 3

DIE

ung, -schaft, -keit or -heit will always be feminine, 

Dankbarkeit (Gratitude), Wichtigkeit (Importance), Freundschaft(Friendship), Bedeutu
ng (Meaning), Entscheidung (Decision) 

Noun Ending Example

– ung die Entscheidung (the decision)
– tät die Universität (the university)
– tion / – sion die Explosion (the explosion)
– schaft die Gesellschaft (the society)
– keit/ – heit die Schönheit (the beauty)
– ie die Geographie (the geography)
– enz / – anz die Toleranz (the tolerance)
– ei die Schlägerei (the fight)
– ur die Natur (the nature)
– in die Boxerin (the [female] boxer)

The large majority of nouns which end in -e are feminine, so die Lampe (the
lamp), die Rede (the speech), and die Bühne (the stage).

Example
 DER

Noun Ending
– ant der Konsonant (the consonant)
– ast der Gast (the guest)
– ich der Teppich (the carpet)
– ismus der Marxismus (the Marxism) = „ism“
– ling der Häftling (the prisoner)
– us der Rhythmus (the rhythm)

The majority of singular nouns ending in -er are masculine, so der Sommer (the

summer), der Lehrer (the [male] teacher), der Angeber (the show-off), der Besitzer (the
[male] owner), der Amerikaner (the [male] American) or der Bestatter (the [male]
undertaker).

DAS
– chen das Häuschen (the little house)
– lein das Büchlein (the booklet/little book)
– um das Wachstum (the growth)

The large majority of nouns beginning with Ge- are neuter, so das Gesetz (the

law), das Gespräch (the conversation) or das Gebäude (the building) —

BUT die Geschichte (probably the most common of the anomalous Ge- nouns) bucks

the trend by taking the feminine form. We recommend you pay particular attention to the
feminine noun endings, as these crop up very frequently.

You should also ensure you internalize the gender of every new noun you learn
— don’t just learn Lehrer, learn the word with it’s definite article: der Lehrer.

Regelm(ae)(ss)ige verben
Plural endings of Nouns (N, Nil, or S)

Ausnahmen (exceptions) , zum Beispiel –

More Plurals of Nouns (1 sylaable nouns)

Others (plural moun)

4 grammer cases (Die Handlung – action/story)

Besitz – Posession
Teilhabe – Participation
Herkunft - Origin

Nominative Case

Last Sentence – The nominative is also called – “WHO case”

Der Akkusativ

First Sentence – The accusative marks mostly the Direct Object

2nd sentence – with agreeable Prepositions & Verbs, must use accusative
Last Sentence – The accusative is also called – “WHOM / WHAT case”

Agreeable Verbs (more verbs 3 pages down)

Nominative – Akkusative Pronouns

Subject-Verb-Object sentences

W-Questions

Dativ = for Empfa€nger / receiver of action= indirect obj.= ‘to/for’ someone

(Fu€gen = to put; zufu€gen = to add; hinzufu€gen = to add behind/append

Verbs with Dative only, and dative + akkusative

Wem = Dative form (like Dem, = to whom/ whom, also Fem.) of Wer (like Der)

Dative – Possible Satzstellungen (Die Ziege = Goat)

Die Stellung = position),
Die Stellungnahme = opinion/comment/ statement;
Stellung Nahmen = take position

Subject and Direct object/Dative can reverse in Dative= P1-P3, Verb = P2

Genitiv

Besitz – Posession Wessen – Whose

Teilhabe – Participation ‘von’ stattdessen – ‘from’ Instead
Herkunft - Origin
Jemanden etwas geho(e)rt- someone has/owns something
Masculine & Neutral have ‘s’ at end

Tips contd..

A) WIE WEIT IST ___ VON HOW FAR IS __ FROM ___ AWAY?
___ENTFERNT ?
A’) ___ is ___km von ___ entfernt.
B) DIE ENTFERNUNGEN
ZWISCHEN ___ UND ___ IST
___KILOMETER

Wie gross ist die Entfernung von dir nach ___ ? ( from you to__ )

More agreeable verbs – akkusativ..=10

(lieben/ mo(e)gen, essen/triken, haben/mo(e)chten, sehen/suchen, fragen, kaufen)
Time (Die Angaben = Information)

Ex – a) Mein Flug startet um Siebzehn Uhr (/ 17:00 hours)

b) Wir treffen uns um fu(e)nf (/ 17:00 hours)

Um – preposition with clock/day time - Uhrzeit

Am – with Day

Von..bis – Express Timspan

General time
Abends sehen wir zussamen fern

W words (questions)

who wer whom (acc.) wen

what was whom (dat.) wem

why warum how come wieso

when wann where from woher

where wo where to wohin

how wie which welche/-r/-s

Asking Questions in German

1. Simply add a question mark to the end of the statement for yes/no questions

2. Invert the verb and subject for yes/no questions

3. Add nicht wahr?  or  oder?  to end of statement for yes/no questions (Wahr = true)

4. Use a question word + verb + subject for information questions

Time Phrase : 1st (beginning of sentence) or After the verb = Place 1 or 3

Regelma€(ss)ige verbs

Unregelma€(ss)ige verbs
(Die = Regel); Einteilen = to organize; Die Einteilung = Classification
Compound Word / Description for an ACT
= noun(s) + verb OR 2 verbs OR broken word/Teil….
1) ESSEN GEHEN/ ESSEN/INS THEATER GOES TO END (1ST
INS THEATER GEHEN VERB/NOUN) , SINCE 2ND VERB IS MAIN
VERB
COMPOUND WORD = NOUN(S) + VERB OR
2 VERBS
2) FERN.SEHEN With break word/Teil...Fern goes to end

Ex – Abends sehen wir fern

Meine eltern gehen gerne essen
Wir gehen am Wochenende ins Theater

Also, it lacks „der/die/das‘ since its a generic descriptions  Not really Ignore

Modal Verb: Mo€gen (Kombinieren = to combine)

Gern (with verbs) Vs Mo€gen (with nouns, rarely with verbs)

O€fter = once in a while/more often
Broker word example

Dar.stellen / Darsteller IS REPRESENT(ED) BY / ACTOR

EX- STELLEN DIE BILDER DAR = IS
REPRESENTED BY THE IMAGES = BROKEN
WHEN (IS..VERB..BY)

Positioning of Nicht in a sentence  Special easy way (PAGE ¼)

A) Background

after words like dass and  weil, the one with all the verbs at the end.

 Ich trinke heute ein leckeres Bier. (main sentence)

 … , dass ich heute ein leckeres Bier trinke. (side sentence)

For the average learner, the main sentence structure is the normal structure and the side
sentences are just a (per)version of it. CRAZY IDEA TO UNDERSTAND NICHT.. the side sentence
structure is actually the true structure of a German sentence. Word order is much stricter in
side sentence and  it is there that the underlying structure of German really shows

Think of main sentence as a side sentence with two extra slots in the beginning and these slots
get filled with stuff you take out of its normal position.
One of the slots, the second one, gets filled with part of the verb, the other is kind of a wild card
slot and can take pretty much any one element.
(OR as regular learned  P2 = main verb; {P1 = subject/noun/time etc.)

FOR example-
       …, dass ich heute in die Bar gegangen bin.= SIDE SENTENCE = main verb at end
 [Extra 1] [Extra 2 ]   ich heute in die Bar gegangen bin. = BECOMES AS MAIN SENTENCE

And now lets fill the extra slots. Extra 2 gets the verb from the end, extra 1 can take any one thing
pretty much. 

 [Extra slot 1] [extra slot 2]    [natural order of elements]

 [Ich]                     [bin]                ich heute  in die Bar    gegangen  bin.
 [Heute]               [bin]                ich heute  in die Bar    gegangen  bin.
 [In die Bar]        [bin]                ich heute  in die Bar  gegangen  bin.

Most people think, that the standard position for the verb is the second one. With our way, the
verb slot is actually at the very end and in main sentences we’re taking out something from
that slot and put it into position 2.
And this way of looking at things is the key to the fundamental rule nicht.

Positioning of Nicht in a sentence  Special easy way (PAGE 2/4)

B) The Basic Rule of NICHT

2 kinds of nicht-negations.

i) Element negation : done by putting nicht in front of the element you want to negate, (noun or
Verb) = BASIC
ii) Sentence negation: the sentence as a whole gets negated. And for sentence
negation, nicht  comes at the end… or at least as late as possible.

 Ich werde nicht morgen nach Berlin fahren. (“element negation”)

 Tomorrow is not the day I will go Berlin.

 Ich arbeite heute nicht. (“sentence negation”)

 I’m not working today. 

A) The only absolute rule for position of nicht: “Nicht” precedes what it

negates.

B) Nicht at end/ sentence negation, is re-working of A BASIC RULE

## Because nicht actually ISN’T at the end. It is in front of verb slot, which is empty

 because we took out the content and moved it into the extra slot.

AS MAIN SENTENCE , IT IS -
Ich arbeite heute nicht.  IS ACTUALLY
Ich arbeite heute nachmittag nicht [ verb slot – empty]
(negates last element = arbeite;;; ie. I XnotX work, instead of XnotX today)

AS SIDE SENTENCE , IT IS – (OR regularly  Verb at end)

…, dass ich heute nachmittag nicht [arbeite.]
…, dass ich heute nachmittag [arbeite] nicht…. WRONG!!

## SAME REASON why nicht doesn’t come after i) prefixes (teil-worter) or ii) ge-forms (not
main verbs) or iii) other verbs (INFINITV/ 2nd VERBS etc. in MAIN SENTENCE & regular verbs in
SIDE SENTENCES):Because those sit in the final verb slot.

Positioning of Nicht in a sentence  Special easy way (PAGE 3/4)

  Ich schlafe heute [aus] nicht… WRONG!
  Ich schlafe heute  nicht [aus]… correct /// PREFIX- BROKEN WORD = Aus.schlafen
 
 Ich habe heute [geschlafen] nicht… WRONG! 
 Ich habe heute nicht [geschlafen]. /// GE-verb –PARTICIPLE FORM; haben=main=modal
verb
 Ich kann heute [schlafen]  nicht…  WRONG!
 Ich kann heute nicht [schlafen]. /// MODAL/DOUBLE-verb/INFINITV –2nd verb becomes
NOUN

## SAME REASON: NICHT in MIDDLE – which element to negate

if nicht  precedes what it negates that also implies that anything coming before nicht  is NOT
negated. And that can help for instance understand the difference between the following two

 Ich schwimme nicht  gern.  SEEMS CORRECT ( = NOT (LIKING))  seems better

 Ich schwimme gerne nicht. SEEMS CORRECT ALSO (NOT (SWIMMING LIKE) = not as good

Both are correct but only 1st one is the proper translation for “I don’t like swimming”. VALIDATE
BOTH AS SIDE SENTENCE As true form  USE NOT = ! from Boolean

 …, dass ich nicht gern schwimme. (make side sentence, verb goes to end) ! (SWIM LIKE)
  …, dass ich gern nicht  schwimme. (make side sentence, verb goes to end)  LIKE !
(SWIM)

The word that expresses the liking is gern,  and in the second version gern  comes before  nicht  so it
is NOT negated. The second sentence actually means - I do like not swimming.

MY take of BASIC rules

1) Simple Union (Logic/ SET theory) to differentiate b/w sentence or element negation AS
WELL AS POSITIONING of nicht i.e. which element is negated
(which element to negate : EX - I don’t like swimming, not swimming or not like): NOUN VS VERB

For example - (VALIDATION WITH SIDE SENTENCE FORMATION)

(negates last element = arbeite;;; ie. I XnotX work, instead of XnotX today) (ALSO SEE BELOW)

 NotXX SWIMMING is WRONG, , it means I like everything other than swimming

 NotXX LIKE iS CORRECT, it means I don’t like swimming (only; makes no assumption
of any SET outside swimming) (ALSO, TODAY ! (WORK) IS OK..TODAY WORK !  X

Positioning of Nicht in a sentence  Special easy way (PAGE 4/4)

2) Main verb doesn’t come at the end, (like Arbeite), but Pre-fixes/ Modal or 2nd verb/
Participle form can come at the end of sentence ending with ‘nicht’  Regular way

3) i) Ich (Nicht arbeite) heute OR Negate VERB – XX wrong (= PUT verb in place 2)
ii) ich (nicht heute) arbeite OR Negate ADverb (describes verb) – XX wrong(PUT verb in P2)
iii) Ich arbeite heute nicht  CORRECT: (Nicht to be an end; CASE of Adverb Vs
Verb negation = sentence negation):
iv) ich arbeite nicht heute  XX (negates adverb, verb in P2, then what?), nicht to be in
end in adverb vs verb = sentence negation (simple, like SET: (NOT of) I work today

1) In choosing negation element - adverb Vs Verb: Both are same, since Adverb
describes verb. Negating verb IMPLIES negating whole sentence  so NICHT at END
2) also: (Actually HEUTE is Temporal/ Time word, not adverb. So IT’S NOT NEGATED
 “HEUTE” is always true . HEUTE ! (WORK)  OK; ! (HEUTE WORK)  NOT OK
3) also: WHAT ! (HEUTE WORK) means is negating 2 different elements, TIME/
TEMPORAL & Verb,…CANNOT: Either NEGATE 1 element OR WHOLE sentence

C) NEUTRAL NEGATION / Special cases of NICHT/ longer sentences

Example –
  Ich rede mit Maria im Zoo nicht…. super correct :)
 Ich bin mit Maria im Zoo  nicht…. SUPER  WRONG :[ 
 Ich habe immer noch nicht den neuen Song von Rhianna gehört…. super correct :)
 Ich habe immer noch nicht ihn gehört….  SUPER WRONG :[

 Ex - Thomas didn’t check his mails today  Neutral emphasis. (oral)

 Thomas didn’t check HIIIIS mails today.  special emphasis (oral)

English, at least spoken, keeps one structure and relies on aural emphasis for the focusing.
German uses (aural emphasis, + position of nicht),  can create special focus. Can, not must.

In longer sentences, several positions can sound neutral depending how you say it. And which
positions are how neutral doesn’t only depend on the sentence… it actually depends on the
context (or scenery) in which the sentence is said, on the intention of the speaker (so go with
your intuition)

For Ex:

 I don’t STUDY at the library.

Using aural emphasis/ bold font…focus on the verb  to study    here to negate.  
The other elements (“I”, “at the library”) are NOT touched by the negation.  And those elements
are the “scenery“. Me at the library, that’s the scenery: we learn something about.
And what we learn is that studying is NOT what I do there.

Example -

1. …, dass   nicht Thomas gestern mit Maria im Zoo war.

2. …, dass Thomas nicht  gestern mit Maria im Zoo war.
3. … , dass Thomas gestern nicht mit Maria im Zoo war.
4. …, dass Thomas gestern mit Maria nicht  im Zoo war.  MOST NEUTRAL
5. …, dass Thomas gestern mit Maria im Zoo nicht war.

1. …, that it wasn’t Thomas who was at the zoo with Maria yesterday.
2. … that it wasn’t yesterday that Thomas was at the zoo with Maria.
… that Thomas WASN’T at the zoo with Maria yesterday.
3. … that it wasn’t Maria with whom Thomas was at the zoo yesterday.
… that Thomas wasn’t at the zoo with Maria yesterday.
4. … that Thomas wasn’t at the ZOO with Maria yesterday.
... that Thomas wasn’t at the zoo with Maria yesterday. (most neutral)
5. … (not translatable) = STILL correct – where as I thought this is ONLY RIGHT
<See part 2 of yourdailygerman.com..for complete chapter on longer sentences >

The rule:    Nicht ALWAYS  precedes what it negates. no exceptions.

The assumption:  The side sentence structure is the REAL, normal German sentence structure. 

Possessive Article
## ##

## ##

## ##

## ##
Adverb (NOTE: always at P3?, after Verb)

Position # After conjugated verb (+sub) OR sentence start

Fragrwo€rter= P1, Verb= P2

Example- “Mit Fragrwo€rtern” (Dative)

Frage without “W” word / = Yes/No question; Verb = p1

Ich-laut (=ring/tone) vs Ach-laut of CH
a. After a/o/u/au = “ach“ (not E/I) b. After rest sounds like “ich”
EG : nacht, Buch na€chste, Bu€cher (Note – Buch Vs Bu(e)cher)

Unregular verbs – Essen

(Sing 2 and 3 person Vokalwechsel von e zu i)

Modal Verbs (can/may/ should/ want / must...) (Bleiben = to stay)

= MV (at P2, sync Sub.) + Infitiv (End-satz)
Modalverbs – I) Same for Person 1 & Person 3 (sing. & plural)
ii) in Singular (except Sollen & Mo€chten), only Stem vowel used

a. Wollen – want (= strong wish; typically with family/friends)

b. Mo(e)chten – would like (more polite/gentler than Wollen;

but Similar meaning)/ ; Formal situations- only mochten );
 Other forms ending
(Other than person 1 & 3 – singular + Plural))

c. Sollen & Ko(e)nnen

(Should – contract/ agreement/ job/ assignment (=auftrag)
Can – Possibility = fa€higkeit/ Ability/ Approval
(permission=erlaubnis)

d. Du(e)rfen Vs Mu(e)ssen
(May – permission
Must – Need/Necessity/ command= befehl)
Trennbare Verbs (Separable Verbs)

 For these verbs, the particle is separated and placed at

the end of the clause for simple verb tenses (as long as
the clause is not  subordinate  or  relative)
[Präsens (present) , Präteritum (past simple), Imperativ (Imperative)]

Example – Absagen : to cancel

Er sagt ein Konzert ab (present simple)

Person Conjugation Translation

ich sag-e [...] ab I cancel

du sag-st [...] ab you cancel

er/sie/e sag-t [...] ab he/she/it cancels

s

wir sag-en [...] ab we cancel

ihr sag-t [...] ab you cancel (speaking to a group)

sie sag-en [...] ab they cancel

Past Simple –
 Person Conjugation Translation

ich sag-t-e [...] ab I cancelled

du sag-te-st [...] you cancelled

ab

er/sie/e sag-t-e [...] ab he/she/it cancelled

s

wir sag-t-en [...] ab we cancelled

ihr sag-te-t [...] ab you cancelled

sie sag-t-en [...] ab they cancelled

Imperativ – doesn’t exist for 1st Sing. (self) & 3rd (he/she/it, sing. & plural)

Person Conjugation Translation

2nd person singular sag [...] ab cancel

1st person plural sag-en wir [...] ab Let’s cancel

2nd person plural sag-t [...] ab cancel

polite form (Sie) sag-en Sie [...] cancel

ab

FOR partizip 2 :

do same as for "Partizip II" trannbare verbs  not-separated

and add the particle as a prefix=ge

Infinitive Partizip II Translation

absagen abgesagt cancelled

 aufmachen aufgemacht opened

umsteigen umgestiegen changed

zumachen zugemacht closed

Compound SENTENCES & WORDS

FOR Subordinate, relative clauses & “um + zu = Compound words”

For subordinate & Relative clauses, separable verbs behave like

normal verbs, meaning that they aren´t separate

Sie hat erzählt, dass er ein Konzert absagt

She said that he’s cancelling a concert
Ich schickte dir eine SMS, die nie ankam
I sent you a text that never arrived

Compound clauses with "(um) + zu", the separable verbs are

split by placing the preposition zu b/w the particle and the verb:

Es ist schwer, das Spiel wegzulegen

It’s difficult to put down this game

= weg (particle/noun) + legen (verb)

Separable particles List  Q) should I remember the whole list?

ab-
an-
auf-
aus-
auseinander-

bei-
dar-
durch-
ein-
 entgegen-
entlang-

fehl-
fest-
her-
herein-
los-
mit-
nach-
über- (WHOLE WORD in itself = preposition)
um-

unter-
vor-
vorbei-
weg- (WHOLE WORD in itself = preposition)
weiter- (WHOLE WORD in itself)
wieder- (WHOLE WORD in itself)
zu-
zurück- (WHOLE WORD in itself = preposition)

Special Case of Trennbare Verb particle placement  NOT even together word

Normally at end of sentence

Geht er ins Kino mit?
Is he also going to the movie theater?

But if a complement is taken for granted (it doesn’t provide

new information) in street German (although this is not correct) is
placed at the end, leaving the particle inside the sentence

Geht er mit ins Kino?

Is he also going to the movie theater?
[mit=particle; ins Kino = complement = understood already in context]

PARTIZIP 1 & 2
Partizip I: = ‘ING’ form: noun/adv. /adjuction form (eg- a laughing man)
= Present participle

form of word that is derived from verbs. It can have different functions in a
sentence. For example, as – adjunction (adjective form of verb), adverb (in
case of double verbs) or noun
We can form the Partizip I with every verb.
Just add the letter -d to the infinitive present form of the verb,
e.g.

schreiben (to write) -> schreibend (writing)

lachen (to laugh) -> lachend (laughing)

spielen (to play) -> spielend (playing)

There are only 2 verbs that don’t follow this rule:

Verb Partizip I
sein seiend
tun tuend
These are the only verbs don’t end with “en”, “ln” or with “rn”, that’s why form differently

Adjuction form - Decline it like an adjective. the ending of the adjunction must agree with
the noun you are using in gender, case and number. Since it describes a noun obviously

Der Mann schreibt. – The man is writing.

Ein schreibender Mann. – A writing man.

Der schreibende Mann. – The writing man
Schreibende Männer. – Writing men
Die schreibenden Männer. – The writing men.

Adverb form = double verb (ex- He goes ‘laughing’)

When used with a full verb. In this case, the Partizip I need not be inflected.
It only exists in its basic form with -d.

Der Mann steht schreibend am Tisch. – The man is standing at the table writing.

Die Frau geht lachend über die Straße. – The woman is crossing the road laughing.

Das Kind sitz spielend in seinem Zimmer. – The child is sitting in his room playing.

Noun form
Usually translated as- “the (verb) one” in Englisch, e.g.
can only be used when referring to a person or thing that’s involved in a particular activity

Der Schreibende. – The writing one. (m.)

Die Schreibende. – The writing one. (f.)

Die Schreibenden.  – The writing ones. (pl.)

Der Lachende. – The laughing one. (m.)

Compare translation of following nouns:

Der Schreiber; Der Lacher – the writer; the laugher

Partizip 2 = Perfect participle + Past participle (see ‘F’, different past participle)
with have/had: 3rd form [Ex: have/had ‘taken’; - From ”take, took, taken”] = perfect
- with ‘-ed’ (English form) of verb typically: More regular = past participle

= i) present/past perfect + future perfect?

ii) + PASSIVE voice: all tenses ;
iii) + as an adjective sometimes ; the past participle ‘–ed form’

Construction: depends on the verb in question

A) Regular verbs without a prefix

Construction: ge - (VERB STEM) -(e)t

Infiniti Partizip II Meaning

v

kauf-en ge-kauf-t to buy

regn-en ge-regn-e- to rain

t

B) Regular verbs with separable prefix (trennbare)

Construction: (SEPARABLE PREFIX) - ge - (VERB STEM) -(e)t

Infinitiv Partizip II Meaning

auf-rund- auf-ge-rund-e- to round up

en t

ein-kauf-en ein-ge-kauf-t to go
shopping

C) Regular verbs with inseparable prefix /nicht trennbare: no ‘ge’

Construction : (inseparable prefix) - (verb stem) -(e)t

Infinitiv Partizip II Meaning

be-nutz-en be-nutz-t to use

ent-wickel-n ent-wickel-t to
develop

D) Verbs ending with "-ieren"

 Construction: (verb stem) -t

Infinitiv Partizip Meaning

II

studier- studier-t to study (at the University)

en

rotier-en rotier-t (to rotate)

E) Strong verbs= Irreg. verbs(don’t take ‘t’ at end, keep ‘en’)

Most strong verbs follow the structure: ge-(VERB STEM) - en

Infinitiv Partizip II Meaning

 komm-en ge-komm-en to come

fahr-en ge-fahr-en to drive

E’) although a few other verbs do not follow this rule:

(sometime spell changes)

Infiniti Partizip II Meaning

v

sein gewesen to be

haben Gehabt to have

werden geworden to become/to

be

Summary -
“ Ge [IF i) Regular verb OR ii) separable prefix/trennbare;
NOT IF iii) ‘–ieren’ ending verb OR iv) nicht trennbare ]
+ Verb Stem (maybe spelling changes)
+ (e)t / en (‘en’ in case of strong verbs)

F) Mixed verbs= Reg+Irreg. verbs

(Present tense: Regular,
Past Tense: - ‘(e)t’ ending of weak/reg. verb + vowel/spell change of strong/irreg. verb

Example - wissen (to know) → gewusst

Application:
= i) present/past perfect + future perfect?
ii) + PASSIVE voice: all tenses ;
iii) + as an adjective sometimes ; the past participle ‘–ed form’
 i) present/past perfect + future perfect? :(also called) Past Participle
 Perfekt tense describes - an action finished in past, identical to Präteritum/ simple past tense.
Ex - Ich habe Brot gegessen. (I ate bread.)
So an English speaker might may translate Ich habe Brot gegessen to “I have eaten bread,” an
equally (probably more accurate) translation is “I ate bread.”  shows action is completed.

A) Depending on verb/action, either pair with haben (to have) or sein (to be). Most

verbs use haben, but verbs that describe change in condition/ movement use sein

B) In a normal sentence, the past participle will always take the end position.

C) Although there are a couple of different conjugation patterns for past participle
, but the participle form doesn’t change depending on the subject of the sentence.

Here’s how essen (to eat) looks with different subjects:

Ich habe Brot  gegessen. (I have eaten bread./I ate bread.)
Du hast Brot  gegessen. (You have eaten bread./You ate bread.)
Er/sie/es hat Brot gegessen. 

ii) + PASSIVE voice: all tenses ;

used to stress an action or the recipient of an action. In passive voice, the subject is not
completing the action (active voice). Rather, the subject is being acted on by the verb.

EX: Sam ate bread. (active)

The bread was eaten by Sam. (passive)

2 types of Passiv: Zustandspassiv (conditional/ existential) &

Vorgangspassiv (procedural).
There’s no real hard and fast rule on when you’re supposed to use one or the other, and in most
contexts, both will make sense

A) Zustandspassiv - with sein (to be) & describes the state an object is in after an action.
Example: Die Tür ist geschlossen. (The door is closed.)
B) Vorgangspassiv- with werden (to become) and describes ongoing action of an object.
Example: Die Häuser werden gebaut. (The houses are being built.)

Note – Werden = are being, also sounds like future perfect?/ since it means “to become

iii) + as an adjective sometimes ; the past participle ‘–ed form’

The past participle may be used as adjective when the action is finished/ has been completed.
(Present particle is continuing action – a ‘writing man’)

Examples:
a sliced apple → ein geschnittener Apfel (changes form/declension as with NOUN)
a painted wall →  eine gestrichene Wand

The position of “nicht” – Part 2

Part 1 Summary
The rule:    Nicht ALWAYS  precedes what it negates. no exceptions.
The assumption:  The side sentence structure is the REAL, normal German sentence structure. 

 the core dynamic of a sentence comes from… intuition. Dynamic position of nicht is same as
with word order. There are several options for any given sentence. Some sound neutral, some carry
special emphasis and some sound wrong.
So : Where is the natural spot for nicht (what most sources call “sentence negation”) and what
happens if we move it out of there?

Main Example -

 … ,dass ich gestern Abend zuhause einen Film geguckt habe.

 …, that I watched a movie at home last night. (Gucken = to watch/see)

Example sentence dynamic -

 1. … , dass ich gestern im Zoo Maria getroffen habe. (…, that I met Maria at the zoo yesterday.)
2. … , dass ich sie gestern im Zoo getroffen habe.        (…, that I met her at the zoo yesterday.)
3. …., dass ich dort gestern Maria getroffen habe.      (…, that I met Maria there yesterday.)

The elements bounce around depending on whether they are new or just references.
As soon as something is a reference (sie, dort), it has been part of the conversation already, it
moves to the left because it is not part of the “news”.
Sentence 1) the person who I am meeting is part of the main news.
Second 2) she has already been mentioned, so it’s just news that I met her, and possibly where.
Sentence 3) We learn what I did at the zoo yesterday.

3 part structure:
Setting up the scene – vague stuff that can belong to either side – main news

A) the neutral position of nicht

The neutral position of nicht is right before the big news.
And everything that comes before it is automatically scenery.

Example -
1. … , dass ich gestern Abend zum ersten Mal nicht Youtube geguckt habe.
… that I didn’t watch Youtube last night for the first time.
2. … , dass ich gestern in der Bar nicht fünf Bier getrunken habe.
… , that I didn’t drink five beers at the bar yesterday.
3. …, dass Maria heute mit ihrem Hund nicht in den Park geht.
… that Maria doesn’t go to the park with her dog today.
Sentence 1) the story/scene- I did something for the 1st time last night;
& the main info - this thing was NOT watching Youtube.
S2) scene - me at a bar, main- I DIDN’T drink five beers.
S3) Scene- something about Maria and her dog today; the news -she DIDN’T go to the park with it

Don’t try to pin down rules, just take it in and see if it makes sense and sounds intuitive.

B) moving ‘nicht’ rightwards

By moving  nicht right from neutral position, we’re moving it to the block of the news. We’re
splicing off a part & making it part of the scene. Because - everything before nicht is scenery.
Example -
S1)…, dass ich gestern Abend zum ersten Mal Youtube nicht geguckt habe.

Youtube is now part of the setup.

So the story of/Scene- what happened between me and Youtube last night for the first time.
That story/news: I didn’t watch it.

The sentence is grammatically fine, but not very natural. Since, a story about something is
usually  pretty strongly connected to the verb. The two together make for the news, not just the
watching. Subject & Verb are connected together in a sentence (but not as strong as connection
b/w a verb and its separable prefix)

Why not natural? Separating the two creates a tension/focus that is hard to justify. Must justify. 
what else could I have done with Youtube, if I didn’t watch it. Maybe I read it? I invited it to dinner?
Sounds wrong. Having Youtube as part of scene and & not be to watch is just rare.

S2). …, dass ich gestern in der Bar fünf Bier nicht getrunken habe.

Again, contrary to general sources this is a perfectly fine sentence.

story/scene- about me and five beers yesterday at the bar.
(Maybe I tried all except those 5 beers. Maybe I drank up ALL the beers except those 5. The point
is, the sentence doesn’t negate those beers.  Acc. To General Sources
But usually, a story about us drinking something, the drink itself is an essential part of that news. By
splitting it away from the verb, we’re introducing a tension which has to be justified by some unusual
message. For example, S3

S3). …, dass Maria heute mit ihrem Hund in den Park nicht geht.

Story/ scene- Maria and her dog. AND that they are directed toward the park, as established by
Accusative – ‘in den Park’.
Event/News - the only thing negated is the “gehen”. Only makes sense if she didn’t “go”, but maybe
hovered/ teleported.
Generally, destination is VERY strongly connected to verbs of motion, & splitting it creates extreme
tension. So mostly, people call it “wrong” because the tension and focus is not justified.
Cool.

Moving  nicht  to the right from neutral position, into  news chunk,  we create quite a bit of tension
because we split up what naturally belongs together. And depending how strong that bond is, this can
just suggest a special message (the beer example)/ sound wrong/ Sound weird OR Poetic (Example-)
 … , dass die Tür auf nicht geht.
 C) moving “nicht” left
Some sentences have undefined elements in the center- can be either scene or main message. If we
have those elements, and move nicht left past it, then the element becomes part of main message.

Example -
S1) … , dass Maria heute mit ihrem Hund in den Park geht.

Meaning -a) she does (“going to the park with her dog“) OR
b) what she does with her dog (“go to the park“).
It doesn’t really make a difference information-wise.

So it doesn’t really matter which version we negate Doesn’t matter If nicht is before or after dog

Therefore, negation –

. …, dass Maria heute mit ihrem Hund nicht in den Park geht.

…, dass Maria heute nicht mit ihrem Hund in den Park geht.

BOTH version sound neutral.

Possible Objection: Isn’t 2nd version an element negation? Since We negate dog part spec.?
Answer: NO. NOT element negation because there isn’t enough tension, and thus not enough
focus on one element. That’s a good example why this whole sentence negation vs. element
negation stuff isn’t really that great. To put focus on the dog-part, use your voice /special font (below)

… , dass Maria heute nicht MIT IHREM HUND in den Park geht (sondern mit ihrer Kuh).

So if we have one or more unclear elements, then the position of nicht doesn’t really matter in that
area. But as soon as we move it into what is clearly the scene, THAT’S when we create focus.

Example -

S2). … , dass ich gestern nicht  in der Bar fünf Bier getrunken habe.
(colourless/regular satz) = (B) below

Technically, we can interpret the whole part after nicht as news.

But #5 (suggests THE AMOUNT) is story/news, & the location (the Bar) is part of scene.

A) If we remove number (OR Switch bar & 5’s positions), then bar becomes more newsworthy 
“drinking beer at the bar”  a nice description for an evening activity.

B) By moving nicht in front of the bar-part, we create a focus on this element (which is part of the
scene), making THIS negation the main point of sentence. While the rest becomes scene.
SO - (B example)
… , dass ich gestern nicht  in der Bar fünf Bier getrunken habe.
I did drink five beers yesterday, I just didn’t do it at the bar.

Here nicht isn’t far from neutral position, so not crazy tension. So speakers give “the bar” little extra
nudge/oral emphasis.

SO -
…., dass ich  nicht  gestern  in der Bar fünf Bier getrunken habe.
I did drink five beers at the bar. But it wasn’t yesterday.

By moving nicht to the left more, the stronger tension/ clearer focus on that single element.

S3 Example)
… , dass ich heute nicht zum ersten Mal Youtube geguckt habe.

i) Technically OK. (Tricky sentence, 2 ways possible, technical & natural)

NEWS: After nicht, watching Youtube for the first time 
SCENE: “what I didn’t do today”.  : Maybe I did years ago, maybe not yet.

ii) More natural way  Consider “for the first time” as part of scene.
So The neutral position for nicht  Before Youtube.

Special focus/tension on the first time is neutralized/negated. : So it becomes - think by set logic,
[[“Today it was NOT! (youtube). Therefore before, it could be youtube. Also, today it could be
Something Else.’’]]

SUMMARY Position of NICHT 2-

Each sentence consists of – i) setup (usually the protagonist), ii) references to stuff (that has been
part of the conversation) and time and place, iii) followed by the news. That news can be just a verb
or a verb and its object or a longer chunk.

Different for each sentence, so best way = use common sense.

The neutral position of nicht = right before the news.
And if we move it away from there, it creates tension that might –
i) focus on negation of one specific element OR ii) to a sentence that sounds weird or wrong.
A1.1 6.6

Dativ Personalpronomen

Schmecken – Dative (I.e. - it tastes to me/ him/ them etc..)

Active to passive…very good..

- Note - (Ich..gern… //// Mir....gut)  gern with subject “I“

- Also note – it remains “schmeckt” in all forms

Gegfallen – Dative (I.e. - it is liked by me/ him/ them etc..)

- Note – it remains “gefa(e)llt” in all forms

Gefallen= (for things/objects) pASSIVE…Moegen = for People  ACTIVE

Example -

A1.1 6.7
Substantive = noun/ main word ; (Verneinen = to deny)

Kein =
i) noun w/o article Eg – Hunger = uncountable noun
ii) OR indeterminate article – “a/an”

..always before noun

Singular

Plural
Forming “kein” (Bilden = to build)

Nicht

Note– Nicht comes after negated Verb, but before negated adjective
(OR preposition? ) = nach Berlin, in Frankfurt

.. (also think from perspective of previous lesson 

NICHT always before negated element= before Ads/ Prep..
But in main sentence, verb goes from sentence end P2, = before nicht
Ist / sind = existence verb  nicht before them

A1.1 FINISH