Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Граматика A 1.1
Граматика A 1.1
The reason is that German capitalises all nouns. In grammar, noun is the term for a
word referring to a person, place, or thing – and ‘things’ includes time units, ideas, and
concepts. Anything you can count or describe is likely to be a noun: one morning, two
mornings; a good morning, a bad morning.
So when you see words capitalised in the middle of sentences in German, it’s because
they’re nouns. English does this for some nouns, too, but only for nouns referring to
specific places or people (Berlin, Angela Merkel) and for languages, which is why you’re
learning German, not ‘german’!
Tag тощо.
порахувати або описати, швидше за все, буде іменником: один ранок, два ранку;
для деяких іменників, але лише для іменників, які стосуються певних місць або
людей (Берлін, Ангела Меркель), а також для мов, тому ви вивчаєте Німецьку, а не
«німецьку»!
Greetings
Here's some good news to start: Hallo is an all-purpose greeting in German, just
like Hello in English. You can use it anywhere and any time!
Cultural tip! These greetings are a bit more formal – the kind of greetings you use
with shop assistants, at service counters, or with people you don’t know very
well. Guten Morgen is slightly different: you also say it to people you live with at the
start of the day. Apart from that, it’s used until midday. Guten Abend feels right from
around 5pm-6pm – perhaps slightly earlier in winter! Guten Tag is used in between.
Apart from that, there are a range of simple one-word greetings for informal use
between friends and colleagues. You can use them at any time of day. Moin is
standard in northern Germany, Servus in the south, Grüzi in Switzerland. Depending
on which part of Germany you’re in, you may hear other greetings. Wherever you are,
to keep it simple, you can always just say Hallo.
Farewells
To say goodbye in formal situations, you should use Auf Wiedersehen in person
and Auf Wiederhören on the phone. But nowadays people often just use the
informal Tschüss!
Like in English, Gute Nacht looks like the other greetings, but is used to say goodbye –
specifically, just before going to sleep, and so most frequently with family,
housemates, etc. Note that the Gute in Gute Nacht doesn’t have an -n like
in Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, and Guten Abend. (We’ll tell you why another time!).
вітання
Ось кілька хороших новин для початку: Hello — це універсальне привітання німецькою
Guten Tag. Good afternoon [literally: good day] Доброго дня [буквально: добрий день]
Доброго ранку трохи інакше: ви також говорите це людям, з якими живете на початку дня.
Крім того, він використовується до полудня. Добрий вечір – це приблизно з 17:00 до 18:00 –
Крім того, існує низка простих привітань з одним словом для неформального спілкування
стандартом у північній Німеччині, Servus на півдні, Grüzi у Швейцарії. Залежно від того, в
Прощання
дому тощо. Зверніть увагу, що Gute в Gute Nacht не має -n як у Доброго ранку, Доброго дня і
Доброго вечора. (Чому ми розповімо іншим разом!). Note that the Gute in Gute
Nacht doesn’t have an -n like in Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, and Guten Abend.
Wie war der Name? – What is your name?/What was your name again? (i.e. the person
asking you hasn’t quite understood)
Wie schreibt man das? – How is that spelled?
There are a couple of important little words here. Man is way of speaking generally
when the subject of the sentence could be anyone. English had a trick for this – ‘one’ –
but it fell out use in all but the most formal of contexts. (French, for instance, still has
‘on’, if that's of any help.) So literally, Germans ask ‘How does one spell that?’
Oh yes: das is ‘that’ – and also ‘this’, ‘it’ and lots of other things. A very important word!
To answer the question, of course, you’ll need to know the alphabet in German. But
that’s as easy as A, B, C…
Як звали? – Як тебе звати?/Як тебе знову звали? (тобто людина, яка вас запитує, не зовсім
зрозуміла)
Як це пишеться? – Як це пишеться?
Тут є кілька важливих слів. Людина - це спосіб говорити взагалі, коли суб'єктом речення
може бути будь-хто. Для цього в англійській мові була хитрість — «один» — але вона не
французькій мові все ще є «on», якщо це допоможе.) Тож буквально німці запитують: «Як це
О, так: das — це «that», а також «this», «it» та багато інших речей. Дуже важливе слово!
Щоб відповісти на запитання, звісно, потрібно знати німецький алфавіт. Але це так само
легко, як A, B, C...
People often say German is difficult and full of long words, but luckily, it does have a
short one-word solution for to be called: heißen.
Wie heißt du? What's your name? [literally: What are you called?]
Ich heiße Martin. My name's Martin. [literally: I’m called Martin.]
Notice the different endings on the verb: Ich heiße, du heißt. We'll go into this in more
detail later, but for now just remember this pattern.
Люди часто кажуть, що німецька – важка й сповнена довгих слів, але, на щастя, вона має
Ich heiße Martin. Мене звати Мартін. [буквально: мене звуть Мартін.]
Зверніть увагу на різні закінчення дієслова: Ich heiße, du heißt.. Ми розглянемо це
Sometimes you're lucky, and it's very obvious what gender a noun will have. No
surprises with der Mann (the man), die Frau (the woman) or das Baby (the baby). Note:
Children are das, so it's das Kind (the child) and das Baby.
Watch out! Although the boy, der Junge, is masculine, the word for girl, Mädchen, is
neuter: das Mädchen! This is because all words that end in -chen (the diminuative form) are
always neuter.
Other words for nouns don't have any obvious relationship with the concept
of masculine, feminine or neuter: it's der Tag (the day), die Nacht (the
night) and das Jahr (the year).
All plural nouns have the article die, whatever the original gender of the word: die Tage (the
days) die Nächte (the nights) and die Jahre (the years).
Anyone who knows other languages with gender such as French (le, la, les) has a
headstart in understanding this. For everyone else: don’t worry, you’ll soon get used to
it.
1. Top tip: Whenever you learn a new noun, it’s a great idea to learn the definite article along
with it: so make point of learning that it's der Computer (the computer), die Schule (the
school) and das Handy (the mobile phone). You'll be grateful later!
Quick Overview
das Jah
der Tag die Nacht die Tage, die Nächte, die Jahre
r
Означений артикль
Можливо, ви помітили, що в німецькій мові є три слова: der, die і das. Це тому, що німецькі
іменники мають граматичний рід, а певний артикль (слово для «the») змінюється залежно від
роду іменника. У німецькій мові всі іменники чоловічого, жіночого або середнього роду.
Іноді вам щастить, і дуже очевидно, якого роду буде іменник. Ніяких сюрпризів з der Mann
Діти – це das, тож це дитина і дитина. Children are das, so it's das Kind (the
child) and das Baby.
Стережись! Хоча хлопчик чоловічого роду, слово для дівчини середнього роду: das Mädchen!
Це тому, що всі слова, які закінчуються на -chen (зменшувальна форма), завжди середнього
роду. Watch out! Although the boy, der Junge, is masculine, the word for girl, Mädchen, is
neuter: das Mädchen! This is because all words that end in -chen (the diminuative form) are
always neuter.
Інші слова для іменників не мають жодного очевидного зв’язку з поняттям чоловічого,
Усі іменники множини мають артикль die, незалежно від початкової статі слова: дні (дні),
ночі (ночі) і роки (роки). die Tage (the days) die Nächte (the nights) and die Jahre (the years).
Кожен, хто знає інші мови зі статтю, наприклад французьку (le, la, les), має перевагу в
Головна порада: щоразу, коли ви вивчаєте новий іменник, відмінна ідея буде вивчити
певний артикль разом із ним: тому зверніть увагу, що це комп’ютер, школа та мобільний
телефон). it's der Computer (the computer), die Schule (the school) and das Handy (the mobile
Швидкий огляд
Quick Overview
Watch out! Learners often get confused between Ich verstehe nicht (I don't
understand) and Ich weiß nicht (I don't know). Have a look at the example below to
see the difference:
Entschuldigung, ich verstehe nicht: Wann sage ich 'Guten Tag'? Excuse me, I don't
understand: When do I say 'Guten Tag'?
Ich verstehe die Grammatik nicht. I don't understand the grammar.
Ich verstehe das Wort nicht. I don't understand the word.
Was bedeutet 'Hund'? - Ich weiß nicht. What does 'Hund' mean? - I don't know.
Wo ist Bremen? - Ich weiß nicht. Where is Bremen? - I don't know.
Kannst du bitte wiederholen? Can you repeat that, please.Чи можете ви, будь ласка,
повторити?
Nochmal langsam, bitte. Could you say that again slowly, please? Ще раз повільно,
будь ласка.
In German, it’s… er… somewhat more complicated. Nouns take various endings in the
plural or, in some cases, none at all. Some of them also change the sound. Look out
for -n, -e and -er on the end of words and unlauts (a turning to ä, u to ü) on the stem,
as this often means more than one of something.
Don’t worry: we’ll explain it all in more detail at a later date. One way to think about it
for now is to remember examples of plurals in English which are different: one child,
two children; one sheep, two sheep; one knife, two knives. That is what all plurals in
German are like.
Quick overview
Ознайомлення з множиною
Граматика уроку «Вступ до множини»
Як я можу сказати два з чогось?
Англійська може бути складною мовою, але
множина, як правило, легка: one shoe, two shoes; один
носок, два шкарпетки, один шнурок, два шнурки.
Все, що вам потрібно зробити, це додати s і – магія! –
у вас є два або більше чогось.
Представляюся
Граматичний урок «Передставляюся»
Як я можу представитися?
Зайшов у кімнату, повну людей, яких ви не знаєте?
Звучить як кошмар! Звичайно, найпростіший спосіб
завершити це – представитися. Німці мають
репутацію прямих, тому не соромтеся.
Дозвольте представитися: я Мартін(а).
Я представлюся: я Мартін(а).
Often, and especially when you’ve just met someone, you’ll hear one of the full-length
versions:
First off, they both mean ‘to you’. So Germans literally ask each other ‘How goes it to
you?’
The difference between the two is formality. You use Wie geht es dir? with people your
own age who you know well – i.e. friends, and colleagues (if the place you work is
friendly!). It’s a bit like ‘What’s up?’, ‘Hey, how’s it going’ or ‘You alright?’ Wie geht es
Ihnen? is more formal. You’ll use it with people you don’t know yet. In shops and
restaurants, for example, customers and staff will say this unless they know each
other well enough. It’s more like ‘How are you?’.
Як ти?
Граматична мова "Як справи?"
Як запитати, як у когось справи?
Найшвидший і найпростіший спосіб запитати когось,
як вони там німецькою, - це Wie geht's? Це майже
завжди прийнятно, але також є трохи неформальним.
Це скорочення від Wie geht es – буквально: «Як
справи?», наприклад «Як справи?» англійською.
These are probably the first questions a German is likely to ask you, so let's get
practicing!
If you want to ask someone how they are, you have two options:
It’s the same when asking people other questions – like their name:
Use Sie if you don’t know the other person well. It is also used to show respect: e.g in
customer service situations, and with authorities.
1. Cultural tip: Increasingly people under 40 automatically use du with each other even
when they don’t know each other. When you meet new people roughly your age –
especially in pubs, clubs, or at parties – use du with them straight away.
But if you're not sure, take your lead from the other person and use Sie to be on the
safe side until the other person invites you to use the informal du by saying: Wollen
wir uns duzen? Shall we say 'du'?
As a general rule, if you would use first names in English, you can use du in German.
Where you would say Mr./Mrs. or sir/madam, you should use Sie in German. German
is a bit more formal than English, though, and people are not as quick to switch to first
names. And although there are similarities with other European languages (e.g.
French tu/vous, Spanish tú/Usted), some details are different.
If that all sounds complicated, that’s because it is! Even Germans sometimes have
trouble navigating the social map of du and Sie. But the good news is that as a learner,
people will forgive many social mistakes.
And if in doubt, you can always smile and ask: Du oder Sie?
What else changes along with with du and Sie?
You'll notice that German verbs have different endings depending on the person. The
same thing happens in English: we say ‘I live’ but ‘he/she lives’.
Du → -st / ßt
Sie → -en
Quick Overview
Ти і Ви
Граматика уроку "ти і ти"
Як відомо, є два способи звернення до людей
німецькою мовою.
Ви → -st / ß
Ви → -en
Швидкий огляд
МЕНЕ ЗВУЄТЬСЯ МОЄ ПРОЖИВАННЯ Я ЇДУ
ти кажеш, що живеш, прийшов
Ти кажеш, що живеш, прийшов
Де ти мешкаєш? Де ти мешкаєш?
Урок 3 Regular verbs
Грамматика урока "Regular verbs"
You've already seen that verbs like heißen, wohnen, kommen take
different endings according to which person (ich, du, Sie etc) you are using them
with.
All verbs in German are conjugated and have a specific ending depending on
which person (or personal pronoun) is the subject of the verb. For an overview of all
the different personal pronouns, see the entry dedicated to them.
To find the correct form of the verb, you need to follow these simple steps:
Remove the -en from the infinitive (dictionary form) of the verb. This gives you
the stem. So wohnen → wohn- etc.
o ich + e
o du + st
o er/sie/es + t
o wir + en
o ihr + t
o sie/Sie + en.
It doesn't make any difference if the subject comes before the verb (like in a normal
sentence) or after the verb (in a question). It's still the same ending.
Sebastian (=er) kommt aus Frankfurt. Sebastian (=he) comes from Frankfurt.
Katrin (=sie, Singular) kommt aus München. Katrin (=she) comes from Münich.
Sebastain und Katrin (=sie, Plural) wohnen zusammen in Berlin. Sebastian and Katrin
(=they) live together in Berlin.
Quick Overview
Note that it’s not ✘ du heißst ✘ but rather du heißt. That’s because ß already represents an /s/
sound and so cannot be followed by another s.
If you're wondering why sie/Sie are presented together, it's because even though they have
very different meanings (they and you, formal), the verb endings are always identical. For
simplicity, most grammar guides group the two together.
Правильні дієслова
Грамматика уроку "Правильні дієслова"
Ви вже бачили, що дієслова, такі як heißen,
wohnen, kommen, мають різні закінчення
відповідно до того, з якою особою (ich, du, Sie
тощо) ви їх використовуєте.
Швидкий огляд
ENDUNG
(КІНЧЕННЯ) ЖІНКИ
(ЖИТИ) KOMMEN
(ПРИЙТИ) ГЕЙСЕН
(БУТИ ПОКЛИКАНИМ)
ich -e wohne komme heiße
du -st wohnst kommst heißt
er/sie/es -t wohnt kommt heißt
wir -en wohnen kommen heißen
ihr -t wohnt kommt heißt
sie/Sie -en wohnen kommen heißen
If you want to keep things simple, just use das ist + the name of the person. Works
every time.
Das ist Max, ein Freund von mir. This is Max, a friend of mine.
Und das ist Tobias, mein Freund. And this is Tobias, my boyfriend.
Note that German has female versions of common roles and titles, ending in -
in: Freund (friend, male), Freundin (friend,
female); Kollege (colleague, male), Kollegin (colleague, female).
Also, the word for 'my' changes slightly to reflect the difference: mein
Freund but meine Freundin.
Знайомство з людьми
Грамматика уроку «Знайомство з людьми»
Як я можу представити когось німецькою?
Ви знаєте, як представитися, але як ви
представити когось ще німецькою?
Порівняйте наступне:
Addresses
Грамматика урока "Addresses"
Use dein(e) for your with people you would say du to.
Use Ihr(e) for your with people you would say Sie to.
1. Watch out! In English we ask people what is your address, but in German you ask,
literally: how is your address? Wie ist deine Adresse? This happens quite a lot when we
compare phrases in German and English, so be careful.
1. Watch out! Did you spot that, in German, the house number always comes after the street
name,
2. Адреси
3. Грамматика урока "Адреси"
4. Запитувати чиюсь адресу
5. Як відомо, те, як ви задаєте комусь запитання
німецькою, залежить від рівня формальності між
вами. Подивіться на два запитання нижче та
помітьте різницю:
6.
7. Wie ist deine Adresse? Яка ваша адреса?
(неформальний)
8.
9. Wie ist Ihre Adresse? Яка ваша адреса? (Офіційно)
10.
11.Використовуйте dein(e) для спілкування з
людьми, яким ви б сказали du.
12.Використовуйте Ihr(e) для спілкування з
людьми, яким ви б сказали Sie.
13.Стережись! Англійською ми запитуємо людей,
яка ваша адреса, але німецькою ви запитуєте
буквально: як ваша адреса? Wie ist deine Adresse?
Це трапляється досить часто, коли ми
порівнюємо фрази німецькою та англійською
мовами, тому будьте обережні.
14.
15.Вказати свою адресу німецькою мовою
16.Meine Adresse ist Goetheallee 15. Моя адреса —
вулиця Шекспіра, 15.
17.
18.Стережись! Ви помітили, що німецькою мовою
номер будинку завжди стоїть після назви вулиці,
Numbers 1-20
Грамматика урока "Numbers 1-20"
So, let's talk about German numbers. Up to 20, they’re very simple. Once you’ve
learned up to ten, you can go up to 20 by adding -zehn. Only eleven and twelve don't
follow the pattern.
1 - eins 11 - elf
2 - zwei 12 - zwölf
3 - drei 13 - dreizehn
4 - vier 14 - vierzehn
5 - fünf 15 - fünfzehn
6 - sechs 16 - sechszehn
7 - sieben 17 - siebzehn
8 - acht 18 - achtzehn
9 - neun 19 - neunzehn
10 - zehn 20 - zwanzig
1. Watch out! Did you spot that siebzehn gets shortened? Who knows, maybe *siebenzehn was
just too difficult to say!
Числа 1-20
Грамматика уроку "Числа 1-20"
Отже, поговоримо про німецькі цифри. До 20, вони
дуже прості. Коли ви вивчите до десяти, ви можете
збільшити їх до 20, додавши -zehn. Тільки
одинадцять і дванадцять не дотримуються
шаблону.
1 - eins 11 - elf
2 - zwei 12 - zwölf
3 - drei 13 - dreizehn
4 - vier 14 - vierzehn
5 - fünf 15 - fünfzehn
6 - sechs 16 - sechszehn
7 - sieben 17 - siebzehn
8 - acht 18 - achtzehn
9 - neun 19 - neunzehn
10 - zehn 20 - zwanzig
You might be wondering why the e in spreche changes to i in sprichst, but not
in sprechen. It’s not a silly question, so don’t be afraid to ask!
1. In German, there's a special category of verbs that have a vowel change (Vokalwechsel) in
the stem. The endings are perfectly regular, but the vowel in the stem changes in some forms.
We'll talk more about this in another lesson, but let's just learn this important verb now so that
you can talk about the languages you speak.
ich spreche
I speak
du sprichst
you speak
er/sie/es spricht
he/she/it speaks
wir sprechen
we speak
ihr sprecht
you (plural) speak
sie sprechen
they speak
Sie sprechen
you (formal) speak
1. Notice: the vowel only changes from e to i in the du form and in the er/sie/es form. Everything
else stays the same as normal.
Дієслово sprechen
Грамматика уроку "Дієслово sprechen"
Чому це «ich spreche», а «du sprichst»?
Коли ви кажете, якими мовами розмовляєте, ви
кажете Ich spreche (англійська, німецька...). Якщо
ви хочете запитати когось іншого, чи розмовляє
він якоюсь мовою, ви запитаєте Sprichst du…? чи
Sprechen Sie…?
du sprichst
you speak
er/sie/es spricht
he/she/it speaks
wir sprechen
we speak
ihr sprecht
you (plural) speak
sie sprechen
they speak
Sie sprechen
you (formal) speak
The same pattern applies to dein and deine (your, informal) and Ihr and Ihre (your,
formal).
Haben
The verb haben (to have) is one of the most useful German words. It appears all the
time, whenever you want to talk about what you have or don't have, and in many
useful expressions.
ich habe
du hast
er/sie/es hat
wir haben
ihr habt
sie/Sie haben
Sein
Another super important verb is sein: to be.
ich bin
du bist
er/sie/es ist
wir sind
ihr seid
sie/Sie sind
Сейн
Ще одне надзвичайно важливе дієслово – sein: to be.
ich bin
du bist
er/sie/es ist
wir sind
ihr seid
sie/Sie sind
Some people say that this makes German confusing and difficult to read. But we think
it allows Germans – and learners of German – to understand long words better
because they are made up of shorter ones. You decide!
Only the first letter of the first word is capitalised, i.e. Milchkaffee (not MilchKaffee!)
The gender of the compound noun is always that of the last word: der Milchkaffee (because
it’s der Kaffee).
Складові іменники
Грамматика уроку "Складні іменники"
Milchkaffee одне слово чи два?
Як ви знаєте, німецька мова має репутацію
довгих слів. Основна причина полягає в тому, що
німецька мова має багато складних іменників,
тобто вона з’єднує два (або більше!) слова разом,
щоб утворити нові, без пробілів у середині. Хоча
спочатку ці слова виглядають трохи страхітливо,
вони набагато менш лякають, коли ви їх
розбираєте, і часто в них є чудова логіка. Ви
звикнете помічати їх під час:
Now we all know how important coffee is, especially first thing in the morning... So,
first things first.
Here’s a dialogue in a café between a barista and somebody who wants a coffee. That
somebody, of course, might be you.
Замовлення кави
Грамматика уроку "Замовлення кави"
Тепер ми всі знаємо, наскільки важлива кава,
особливо вранці... Отже, про перше.
You know that adjectives in German have endings which change according to
the gender and number of the noun they describe. That's why we say eine
rote Bluse but ein rotes Hemd: die Bluse is feminine, so the adjective ends in -e; das
Hemd is neuter, so the adjective ends in -es. Complicated, right?
However, you may also have noticed that adjectives don't always take these endings.
Look at this short dialogue (adjectives underlined) and see if you can understand
where adjectives are declined and where they do not take any endings.
Wie findest du meine neue Hose? What do you think of my new trousers?
Ist die Hose neu? Ich kenne sie noch nicht. They're new? I haven't seen them yet.
Ja, sie ist neu. Und schick, oder? Yes, they're new. And stylish, right?
Oja, so eine schicke Hose hätte ich auch gern! Oh yes! I'd love a stylish pair like that!
That's right! Adjectives take endings when they come before the noun they describe. If
they follow it, they don't.
Sie hat eine rote Bluse an. She's got a red blouse on.
Die Bluse ist rot. Her blouse is red.
So although endings can be complicated, knowing when to use them - and when not
to - is simple!
As you’ve found out, German numbers from 1 to 20 are pretty easy. From 20 onwards
it's also pretty straightforward.
Just add -zig to the base number to make 40, 50, etc.
20 - zwanzig
30 - dreißig
40 - vierzig
50 - fünfzig
60 - sechzig
70 - siebzig
80 - achtzig
90 - neunzig
100 - hundert
If you want to say the numbers in between, things get a little trickier, because German
puts the numers in a different order to most other languages:
Is it needlessly complicated? Maybe. But we suspect that in time you'll come to find it
quite charming.
Числа до 100
Грамматика уроку "Числа до 100"
Як ви з’ясували, німецькі числа від 1 до 20 досить
прості. Починаючи з 20 і далі, це також досить
просто.
Do you notice anything about the question words? You've got it, they all start with w-.
The Germans like to name things in logical ways, so it fits that these question words
are called...W-Fragen: W-questions.
Asking a question changes the word order of the sentence in German. The verb now
comes before the subject.
Statement word order: Ich bin Martina – first subject (ich), then verb (bin)
Question word order: Wer bist du? – first the question word (wer), then verb (bin),
then subject (du).
✘ Wer du bist? → ✓ Wer bist du?
As with other questions, the word order changes in ja/nein questions. The order of
the subject and the verb is inverted.
Statement word order: Du kommst aus Frankreich. Subject (du), verb (kommst)
Question word order: Kommst du aus Frankreich? Verb (Kommst), subject (du)
That's how you know that you are being asked a question, if the intonation doesn't
give it away.
Що таке Ja/Nein-Fragen?
Деякі запитання починаються не з питального слова,
а з дієслова:
Bist du der Kellner? Ви офіціант?
Ist das dein Hund? Це твоя собака?
Kommst du aus der Schweiz? Ви родом зі Швейцарії?
Wohnst du hier? Ви тут живете?
Möchtest du ein Stück Kuchen? Хочеш шматочок
торта?
Відповідь на всі ці запитання може починатися лише
з одного з двох слів: ja (так) або nein (ні). Звичайно,
ви можете додати більше інформації пізніше, але
ваша відповідь має починатися з ja/nein. Тому ми
називаємо ці типи запитань (природно) Ja-Nein-
Fragen.
Як і в інших питаннях, порядок слів змінюється в
запитаннях ja/nein. Зворотний порядок підмета і
дієслова.
Порядок слів у заяві: Du kommst aus Frankreich.
Підмет (du), дієслово (kommst)
Питальний порядок слів: Kommst du aus Frankreich?
Дієслово (Kommst), підмет (du)
Ось як ви знаєте, що вам задають питання, якщо
інтонація цього не видає.
Глава 6
Job titles and work
Грамматика урока "Job titles and work"
A couple of job titles have a more radically different male and female form. These just
need to be learned.
Here's an overview:
There are several options for giving your job title. Just remember to pick the
appropriate form of the job title.
1. Watch out: In English, you say I'm a doctor or I work as a waitress. But German omits
the articles altogether. Literally, you just say I am doctor: Ich bin Ärztin.
ich -e arbeite
du -st arbeitest
er/sie/es -t arbeitet
-
wir arbeiten
en
ihr -t arbeitet
-
sie/Sie arbeiten
en
It's fun!
Грамматика урока "It's fun!"
As you may have noticed, German has quite a different way of talking about fun:
Wie ist...?
How is...?
To make the question friendlier and more informal, you can add a so on the end:
When you answer, you will need to use an adjective. Adjectives are words used
to describe nouns, i.e. things, people, places. Here are a few common ones which are
useful for giving your opinion:
schlecht
Es ist... bad
It's...
interessant
interesting
Mein Chef / meine Chefin ist...
international
international
kreativ
creative
schön
nice
nett
nice
jung
young
alt
old
Sprechen: the endings are regular, but in the du and er/sie/es forms the e turns into
an i: ich spreche, du sprichst, er/sie/es spricht.
There's a whole category of these verbs. Because it's the vowel that's shifting, they are
called verbs with a vowel change, a Vokalwechsel. There are three possibilities:
a → ä: e.g. laufen (to run), fahren (to drive), schlafen (to sleep), waschen (to wash)
e → i: e.g. sprechen (to speak), treffen (to meet), geben (to give), nehmen (to take)
e → ie: e.g. sehen (to see), lesen (to read), empfehlen (to recommend)
The only forms which have the vowel change are the du and er/sie/es forms.
Everything else keeps the original vowel.
Quick Overview
geben sehen
wohnen laufen
to live to give to see to run
(regular) ( e → ie) (a → ä)
(e → i)
1. Top tip: Verbs only ever have a vowel change in the du and er/sie/es forms. So
whenever you learn a new verb, learn the du-form with it immediately: then you’ll
know if it has a vowel change: ich lese - du liest.
Глава 7
You'll hear Germans asking Wie spät ist es?. Word for word, this translates as How late
is it? Now, we know the Germans have a reputation for being punctual, but that's not
what they mean here. They're just asking what the time is!
Note that the 24-hour clock is used so frequently that it doesn’t sound overly formal or
official. So friends will happily ask and tell each other the time with it, or use it to
arrange to meet for coffee, lunch or dinner.
Wann treffen wir uns morgen? What time are we meeting tomorrow?
Um 09:00 Uhr. At 9am.
Um 21:00 Uhr. At 9pm.
1. Watch out: Remember you can’t use 12-hour clock features like vor/nach (to/past)
with the 24 hour clock.
Separable verbs
Грамматика урока "Separable verbs"
Wann fängt der Film an? What time does the film begin?
Der Bus kommt um 10:19 Uhr an. The bus arrives at 10:19.
Der Bus fährt um 11:23 Uhr ab. The bus departs at 11:23.
You will notice that there are short words at the end of each sentence: an and ab.
These belong to the verbs being used: anfangen (to begin), ankommen (to
arrive), abfahren (to depart). These short prefixes modify the verb and give it a
slightly (or sometimes completely) different meaning. Because the main verb and the
prefixes get separated when we use them in a sentence, we call them separable
verbs (trennbare Verben).
If you want to look up the meaning in a dictionary, though, you need to look for the
verb with its prefix attached!
1. Note that not all prefixes can be combined with all verbs. This is a complicated area of
German: there are a lot of potential combinations and sometimes the meaning isn't
obvious. But don't worry, you will quickly get a feel for what certain prefixes often do.
You’ll see that nach/vor work like past/to in English – with one very important
exception:
1. Watch out: In English, half past ten means 10:30. But in German halb zehn means half
way to ten o'clock i.e 09:30! If you’re ever in doubt, the easiest way to check is to simply
say the time another way: neun Uhr dreißig is just like the English nine thirty.
When Germans need to clarify a 12-hour-clock time, they often say it back using the
24-hour version. They can also ask Morgens oder abends? (In the morning or in the
evening?). In general, though, widespread use of the 24-hour clock means there is little
doubt.
What time is ‘fünf vor/nach halb’?
If you ask a German the time and it’s twenty-five past or twenty-five to, you might get the
following answers:
Es ist fünf vor halb (zehn). It's twenty-five past nine. [Literally: it's five before half past.]
Es ist fünf nach halb (zehn). It's twenty-five to ten. [Literally: it's five after half past.]
Prepositions of time
Грамматика урока "Prepositions of time"
We’ve mentioned prepositions before: these are words which describe position and
location – both in space (on the table, under the chair), but also in time (at the
weekend, on Monday).
Just like English, German uses a variety of different prepositions to talk about time.
These are all little words - but they are super important, so pay attention!
am Er kommt am Nachmittag.
in (the) He's coming in the afternoon.
bis Er bleibt bis 18:00 Uhr.
until He's staying until 6pm.
There is no exact definition, but most speakers consider der Morgen to finish at
around 10 am, when der Vormittag starts.
If you like a lie-in, plan to meet your friends am Vormittag rather than am Morgen!
What's the difference between am Morgen and
morgens?
When we add an -s to the part of day, it changes the meaning a little bit.
Ich gehe am Nachmittag zum Fitnessstudio. I'm going to the gym in the afternoon
[just today].
Ich gehe nachmittags zum Fitnessstudio. I go to the gym in the afternoons
[regularly].
am
der Nachmittag nachmittags
Nachmittag
Глава 8
Days of the week
Грамматика урока "Days of the week"
The days of the week are very straightforward in German. Just keep these rules in
mind:
Montag to Sonntag: all of the days end on -tag, which of course means day. This is similar to
English (but different to many other languages).
The days of the week are nouns, so they are always written with a capital letter.
The days of the week are masculine, so they have the article der.
Add an -s onto the end of all days to talk about things that regularly or usually happen
on that day of the week: e.g. ‘every Monday’ (montags) or ‘usually on a
Tuesday’ (dienstags). In this case, drop the capital letter.
The German abbreviations for the days of the week have two letters, never three, and
a full stop after those letters. So Montag → Mo. etc.
The final rule about the days of the week - which will quickly become very important to
you if you live in a German-speaking country - is that all shops are closed on a Sunday!
Yes, even the supermarkets. So don't forget to get your groceries beforehand!
Quick Overview
1. NB: Sonnabend is a variant for Samstag which is still in use in northern Germany, especially in
official contexts (e.g. Hamburg and Berlin public transport announcements!).
4.
6.
7. If ‘morgen’ means ‘tomorrow’, how do I say
‘tomorrow morning’?
8. That's a good question! In German, der Morgen – as a noun with a capital letter
– means ‘the morning’ (i.e. the first part of the day) and morgen – as an adverb
without a capital letter – means ‘tomorrow’.
9. So how do you say ‘tomorrow morning’? It can’t be 'morgen am Morgen', can it?
No, clearly that would be crazy! German avoids repetition by
adding früh to morgen to make morgen früh – literally: ‘tomorrow early’. It’s
important to understand that morgen früh is a fixed expression. If you
hear früh and der Morgen in other combinations, it’s to do with early mornings,
not tomorrow.
10.To see how this works, compare these two sentences:
11.Der Briefträger kommt früh am Morgen.
The postman comes early in the morning.
Der Briefträger kommt morgen früh.
The postman is coming tomorrow morning.
12.
13.Saying ‘tomorrow afternoon’ or ‘tomorrow evening’ works as you would expect:
there is no repetition, so you can simply combine morgen with the other times
of day: e.g. morgen Nachmittag, morgen Abend.
morgen früh
tomorrow morning
morgen Vormittag
tomorrow morning (later)
morgen Mittag
around midday tomorrow
morgen Nachmittag
tomorrow afternoon
morgen Abend
tomorrow evening
morgen Nacht
tomorrow night
Arranging to meet
Грамматика урока "Arranging to meet"
Treffen is a key verb here. It means to meet someone, or to meet up. There is also the
noun das Treffen, which means a meet-up, a get-together, or simply when two people
see each other.
You’ve come across verbs with a vowel change by now, so if we tell you
that treffen follows the same pattern as sprechen, you’ll probably know what to do.
But just in case, here’s how to conjugate treffen:
ich treffe
du triffst
er/sie/es trifft
wir treffen
ihr trefft
sie treffen
Sie treffen
1. Note that treffen sometimes comes with another little word: uns (us, each other). We'll explain
more later, but for now just learn the set phrases!
Dates in German
Грамматика урока "Dates in German"
Cardinal numbers: these are the ordinary numbers we use to count: one, two, three –
or eins, zwei, drei.
Ordinal numbers – are used to put things in order: first, second, third –
or erste, zweite, dritte.
There are only three exceptions: erste (first), dritte (third) and siebte (seventh).
1 - eins 1. - erste
2 - zwei 2. - zweite
3 - drei 3. - dritte
4 - vier 4. - vierte
5 - fünf 5. - fünfte
6 - sechs 6. - sechste
7 - sieben 7. - siebte
8 - acht 8. - achte
9 - neun 9. - neunte
In writing, German uses a full stop after the number to show that it is a date:
There’s a difference between “der 21.” and “am 21.” which we notice if we say these
sentences out loud.
der + te/ste
am + ten/sten
You say the century first, in full - e.g. neunzehnhundert (1900) or zweitausend (2000).
Then you add the specific year, like neunundneuzig (99) or neun (9).
Then you put the two together as one long word: neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig (1999)
or zweitausendneun (2009).
1850 achtzehnhundertfünfzig
1900 neunzehnhundert
1901 neunzehnhunderteins
1910 neunzehnhundertzehn
1984 neunzehnhundertvierundachtzig
1999 neunzehnhundertneunundneunzig
2000 zweitausend
2001 zweitausendeins
2010 zweitausendzehn
2020 zweitausendzwanzig
Note that you can’t say in for the year something happened in German. You just say
the year.
Глава 9
More about separable verbs
Грамматика урока "More about separable verbs"
Ich sehe am Wochenende oft fern. I often watch television at the weekend.
Ich stehe morgens um 07:00 Uhr auf. I get up at 7 am in the morning.
In these examples, the prefix gets separated from the root verb and sent to the end of
the sentence.
The most important thing is to understand whether you are dealing with
the infinitive or if you need to conjugate the verb. The infinitive is the basic form of
the verb: eg. spielen, kommen, aufstehen. A verb is conjugated when it is put into a
sentence with a subject: ich spiele, du kommst, er steht auf.
With separable verbs, the prefix remains attached as long as the verb is not
conjugated. But as soon as the verb needs to match a subject, the prefix goes to the
end of the sentence: so it’s aufstehen and anfangen in the dictionary, but Ich stehe
auf and Du fängst an.
When separated, the prefix goes all the way to the end of the sentence, with
everything else in the middle, no matter how many extra details you add in.
Germans call this the Satzklammer: the sentence bracket.
If there is another conjugated verb in the sentence (a verb that has an ending), then
the separable verb stays 'stuck together' (ie. in its infinitive form) - and it goes to the
end of the sentence:
Ich gehe einkaufen. I’m going shopping.
Ich gehe jede Woche dienstags einkaufen. I go shopping every Tuesday.
Quick Overview
INFINITIVE EXAMPLE
fernsehen (to watch TV) Mein Mann und ich sehen abends manchmal fern.
abholen (to pick up) Wann holst du die Kinder von der Kita ab?
anrufen (to call) Meine Mutter ruft einmal die Woche an.
aufräumen (to tidy up) Meine Mitbewohnerin räumt die Küche nie auf.
INFINITIVE EXAMPLE
We can begin the sentence with the adverb of frequency if we want to emphasise that
piece of information:
Manchmal gehe ich im Park spazieren. I sometimes go for a walk in the park.
If you're forming a closed question (a Ja-Nein-Frage) then the verb comes first and the
adverb of frequency comes straight after the subject.
Don't worry about why this changes for now, let's begin by learning these simple - and
super useful - combinations:
Minute
jede Stunde
each/every Nacht
Woche
Tag
Morgen
jeden Nachmittag
each/every
Abend
Monat
jedes
Jahr
each/every
Have a look at these examples. Note that the combination with jeder goes in the same
position as the adverbs of frequency:
Ich arbeite jeden Tag im Büro. I work in the office office every day.
Mein Bruder ruft jede Woche an. My brother rings up every week.
Ich sehe jeden Abend ein bisschen fern. I watch a bit of TV every evening.
einmal once
zweimal twice
dreimal three times/thrice
To give even more information, you can combine einmal, zweimal etc. with a time
frame: e.g. once a day, twice a week, three times a month:
die Stunde an
hour
am Tag a day
im Jahr a year
Ich gehe einmal im Jahr zum Arzt. I go to the doctor once a year.
Ich mache zweimal die Woche Sport. I do sport twice a week.
The first example is a Ja-Nein-Frage, with the verb in the first position.
In the other two examples, the verb (geht) stays in the second position. The other elements of
the sentence have to fit in around it. Notice how the subject, er, moves from the first position
in the first example to the third position, after the verb, in the second example, to allow the
verb to keep its slot in the second position.
Er geht jeden Tag um 16:00 Uhr joggen. He goes jogging every day at 4 pm.
Jeden Tag um 16:00 Uhr geht er joggen. At 4 pm every day he goes jogging.
As you can see, in the last variant, the verb (geht) is actually the sixth word in the
sentence. It is still in the second position, though, because jeden Tag um 16:00 Uhr is
grouped as one element: all those words together give us a single piece of
information: when does he go jogging?
German can take almost any element and put it at the beginning of a sentence for
emphasis – as long as the verb stays in second position!
The Satzklammer
Грамматика урока "The Satzklammer"
1. You only need to conjugate the second verb (gehen). The first one
(wandern, spazieren, schwimmen) stays in the infinitive.
Look at these sentences with schwimmen gehen to get a feel for how this works.
Глава 10
These verbs have basically regular endings but the stem changes a little.
The wir and Sie forms just add an -n to the stem, not -en.
Verbs ending in -eln drop the e from the stem in the ich form.
WANDERN
INFINITIVE REGULAR ENDING BASTELN
Why does this happen? Well, like most of these little irregularities, the changes make
the words easier to say. It's just easier to get your tongue around ich bastle than ✘ ich
bastele ✘. So really, we should be grateful for these little adjustments!
Gern
You’ll hear Germans say gern and gerne a lot: it means that they are happy or willing
to do something, or that they enjoy doing it. There isn't a direct equivalent in English.
It's an adverb, which means it modifies a noun. The closest equivalent would
be something like gladly or with pleasure - though these would sound a bit weird in a
translated English sentence.
As you can see, gern(e) has a range of functions and can be translated into English in
slightly different ways depending on the context. But it always has a positive
association and conveys than an activity is done with enjoyment.
You may well be wondering what the difference is between gern and gerne. Unlike
with mein and meine, there's actually no difference at all between gern and gerne. It’s
like how people pronounce ‘either’ in English: a matter of personal choice with no
effect on meaning. So feel free to pick whichever version you like best - or to mix and
match between the two!
Mögen
You may have already heard sentences with mag and mögen. Here are some
examples:
These are all forms of the verb mögen, which means to like and is very irregular:
ICH mag
DU magst
ER/SIE/ES mag
WIR mögen
IHR mögt
SIE mögen
SIE mögen
The key difference is that gern is used with verbs, and mögen is used with nouns.
The two examples look very similar, but in the first example, gern is associated with
the verb hören (to hear/listen) and is saying that you enjoy the act of listening to music.
In the second example, mögen is associated with the noun Musik (music) and is saying
that you like 'music' in general.
That means that you can’t always use mögen to translate like. When talking about
whether you like doing something or not, you need to use gern(e).
1. Watch out: A common mistake is to combine nicht and ein but because kein is the negated
version of ein, you should always use kein instead of nicht ein.
Kein follows the same pattern as ein and mein, and agrees with the word it negates.
Here's the pattern for the nominative:
ein kein
masculine der
(accusative: einen) (accusative: keinen)
Глава 11
Conjunctions are words which join two parts of a sentence (clauses) and tell us how
they are related. The conjunction weil tells us that one clause is the cause of the other.
In English, we do this with the conjunction 'because'.
Let's look at how this works by comparing two examples, one with the
conjunction weil and one without.
As you can see, these two facts make more sense when they are joined by a
conjunction. So weil is a useful word in German.
Subordinate clauses
Using weil requires a grasp of grammar, however! It is a subordinating conjunction,
meaning that it makes the clause which follows it a subordinate clause, i.e. a clause
which doesn't make any sense without the main clause.
This fragment would only make sense as an answer to a question containing the main
clause.
To see how this works, compare these two examples with and without weil. The verbs
are underlined.
v
su ob compl conju su ob compl v
e
bje je emen nctio bje je emen er
r
ct ct t n ct ct t b
b
h h
gern gern
a a
Ich es vielfäl weil ich es vielfäl
b b
tig. tig
e e.
Also, when a sentence has two verbs, e.g. a conjugated modal verb
like müssen or wollen and an infinitive, it's always the conjugated verb which goes to
the end. The infinitive is never at the end.
Ich fahre nächste Woche in den Urlaub, weil ich meine Urlaubstage vor Jahresende
nehmen muss.
I'm going on holiday next week because I have to take my annual leave before the end of the
year.
Plurals
Грамматика урока "Plurals"
Well, that is what all plurals in German are like! Instead of just adding s like the
majority of English nouns (or, indeed, like in French and Spanish), German nouns take
various endings in the plural or, in some cases, none at all. Some of them also change
the sound of the stem.
Although they look difficult, German plurals do follow patterns. You may have already
noticed some. The most important piece of information for forming the plural is
the gender of the noun: masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns each have typical
ways of forming the plural (with some exceptions ;) )
Quick Overview
Feminine nouns have the easiest plurals: most of them add -en or, if they end on -e,
just -n.
die Erdbeere; die Erdbeeren
die Kartoffel; die Kartoffeln
die Uhr; die Uhren
Feminine nouns describing people or job titles which end in -in go to -innen.
Masculine nouns have more varied plural forms. Many just add -e.
Neuter nouns, too, have more varied plural forms than their feminine counterparts.
Compare:
Essen is one of those verbs with a vowel change. Because it's such a useful verb, let's
look at the full conjugation in the present tense:
ICH esse
DU isst
ER/SIE/ES isst
WIR essen
IHR esst
SIE/SIE essen
Good news - the verb trinken (to drink) is regular: ich trinke, du trinkst....
Like with a lot of other things in German, offering someone help depends on whether
you are using the informal du or formal Sie with them. Take a look at these two ways
of saying ‘Can I help you?’
In the first example, you are talking to someone you know well enough to use du with: dir is
the indirect form of du.
In the second example, you are offering help to a stranger or someone you are on formal
terms with, and would address with Sie. Ihnen is the indirect object form of Sie.
So when you say Kann ich dir helfen? or Kann ich Ihnen helfen? you are literally asking: Can I
help to you?
Takes a moment to get your head round, but that's just how German works!
You might have noticed that the articles for masculine nouns seem to change. If
you've been wondering this, it's because they do!
Der Käse ist lecker. The cheese is delicious.
Ich möchte den Käse da. I'd like that cheese there.
Das ist ein Computer. That's a computer.
Ich habe einen Computer. I have a computer.
There’s a reason for this – and it has to do with cases. Unlike English, German is a
language with different grammatical cases. We'll explain more about this as we go on.
The nominative case is for the subject of the sentence. The subject = the person or
thing that the sentence is about the subject is 'doing' the action of the verb.
The verb sein (to be) always goes with the nominative.
1. The verbs haben, möchten, and brauchen are always followed by the accusative.
The expression Ich hätte gern (I'd like...) also always has the accusative afterwards.
The good news is, feminine, neuter and plural nouns have the same articles in
the nominative and the accusative.
Quick Overview
Глава 12
Recap: you already know that German nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. You
also know that nouns are in the accusative case if they are the direct object of a verb.
The masculine article changes in the accusative from der → den and from ein → einen.
The verb nehmen (to take) is always followed by the accusative. Der Bus is masculine: that's
why you say ich nehme den Bus in the example above.
Here's a review of the verb nehmen. Watch out for the vowel change!
NEHMEN (INFINITIVE)
ICH nehme
DU nimmst
ER/SIE/ES nimmt
NEHMEN (INFINITIVE)
WIR nehmen
IHR nehmt
SIE/SIE nehmen
If you want to say how you travel around using a means of transport, just
combine nehmen with a means of transport in the accusative.
Ich gehe
zu Fuß (by foot)
I go
The imperative
Грамматика урока "The imperative"
If you’re worried by the words ‘special form’, don’t be. The imperative is easy enough if
you’re using the polite Sie-form with someone - and that's what you'll probably be
using if a stranger stops you in the street!
What makes it so easy? It's exactly the same as the Sie-form of the verb you already
know. The only difference is that the verb goes at the beginning of the sentence.
- Entschuldigung! Wie komme ich am besten zum Bahnhof? Excuse me! What's the
best way to get to the station?
- Gehen Sie einfach geradeaus und dann nach links. Just go straight ahead and
then turn left.
- Ist es weit? Ich bin schon zu spät! Is it far? I'm already late!
- Achso! Nehmen Sie dann ein Taxi! I see! In that case, take a taxi!
As you can see, for the imperative, the verb comes before the subject – just like in
questions:
einsteigen: to get on
aussteigen: to get off
umsteigen: to change [transport]
Remember that, when conjugated, the prefix of separable verbs goes to the end of
the sentence. This doesn't happen in formal instructions, like above, or after a modal
verb (e.g. müssen, können).
Ich fahre nach Chemnitz. Ich steige in Berlin ein. In Leipzig steige ich um. Und in
Chemnitz steige ich aus.
We've already talked about the nominative and accusative cases. We're now going to
discuss another one: the dative.
Before we go into the details of when to use the dative, here's what it does
to articles and nouns:
die Züge
den Zugen Züge Zügen
die U-
PLURAL den U-Bahnen U-Bahnen U-Bahnen
Bahnen
den Autos Autos Autos
die Autos
1. Note that in the plural, the noun takes an -n in the dative, except for international words
like Auto.
aus
Ich komme aus der Türkei. I come from Turkey.
from, out of
bei
Ich warte bei der Post. I'm waiting at the post office.
by, at, with, for, at the
Ich arbeite bei einer deutschen Firma. I work for a German company.
home of
nach Ich lerne Deutsch nach der Arbeit. I learn German after work.
after, to
Der Zug fährt nach Wien. The train is travelling to Vienna.
mit
Ich fahre mit dem Bus. I travel by bus [literally: with the bus]
with
von
Ich komme direkt von der Arbeit. I'm coming straight from work.
from
zu
Der Zug fährt zum Bahnhof. The train is travelling to the station.
to
1. Watch out: You often can't find a single translation for these prepositions - it depends on the
context!
Some countries have articles - these articles change to the dative form after aus.
zu + dem = zum
zu + der = zur
1. Watch out: You'll notice that English has more options for expressing obligation than
German: I must, I've got to, I have to... In German, we'd translate all of these sentences
with müssen:
Conjugation
The verb müssen is very irregular:
ICH muss
DU musst
ER/SIE/ES muss
WIR müssen
IHR müsst
SIE müssen
SIE müssen
The second verb stays in the infinitive, and goes at the end of the sentence
(Satzklammer). Everything else goes in the middle.
Mein Bruder muss eine neue Wohnung suchen. My brother has to look for a new flat.
Müssen Sie noch ihre Adresse anmelden? Do you still have to register your address?
However you feel about the humble to-do list, the good news is that writing them in
German isn't that tricky.
Just take the infinitive of the verb and, if it’s used with a noun, put the noun first:
Concrete nouns. These are the easiest to spot; these are things you can see or touch e.g. der
Tisch (the table), der Hund (the dog), or das Handy (the mobile phone).
Abstract nouns. These are nouns that refer to an idea, concept or state rather than a
concrete thing e.g. der Tag (the day), das Jahr (the year), das Glück (happiness), das Wetter (the
weather). A tip to identify them is to imagine if you could put a definite article (the in English
or der/die/das in German) in front of the word. If you can, then it's a noun.
Nouns formed from verbs. In German, you can turn nouns into verbs by writing the verb
with a capital letter and adding the article das e.g. das Schwimmen (swimming), das
Reisen (travelling) or das Lernen (learning).
The words Sie and Ihnen when they are polite forms of address, wherever they come in the
sentence, e.g. Wie geht es Ihnen? (How are you?) or Wie heißen Sie? (What are you called?)
We've talked about compound nouns before - Komposita - but this lesson contains
some really good ones.
German can make a compound noun out of more than just two words. Let's look at
that scary-looking Steueridentifikationsnummer again and see if we can make friends
with it.
It's made up of three words: die Steuer (tax) + die Identifikation (identification) + die
Nummer (number) Put them together and we get: tax identification number.
When the words are written separately, each of the nouns has its own article and begins with
its own capital letter, like all nouns. When we put them together, we only keep the capital
letter at the beginning of the word. We also only have one article for the word - and it comes
from the article of the last word in the compound. In this case, the last word is Nummer, which
is feminine, so the whole long word ends up being feminine, too.
Maybe you noticed the extra -s in the middle: Steueridentifikationsnummer. That's a Fugen-
s. It's a bit like grease in the machine which keeps long compound nouns running. It makes
the words easier to say. Don't worry too much about it just yet!
Müssen, können and sollen are all examples of those special kinds of verbs
called modal verbs. They always go with a second verb.
KÖNNE MÜSSE
SOLLEN
N N
Müssen
Expresses obligation: things you must do, have to do or have got to do.
Können
Expresses ability, possibility or permission: things you can do, or are able to do.
Mein Mann kann sehr gut kochen. My husband can cook very well.
Du kannst ein Fahrrad auf dem Flohmarkt kaufen. You can buy a bicycle at the flea
market.
Kann ich mit Karte zahlen? Can I pay by card?
Sollen
Is used for advice: things you should do...