A 1.

1 Grammatik

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INHALTSVERZEICHNIS
[ Table Of Contents ]

Articles & Cases 03

Sentence Structure 04

Personal Pronouns & Possessive Articles 05

Present Tense & Verb Conjugation 06

Formal VS Informal 07

Separable Verbs 08

Prepositions & Adverbs 09

Modal Verbs 10

Present Perfect Tense 11

The Past Participle ( Partizip II ) 12

Tips & Tricks 13

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Die deutschen Artikel & Fälle
[ German Articles & Cases ]

1 German Cases Overview 2 German Articles

The German language has 4 cases. Dativ will A table with all definite and indefinite
be explained in A1.2. Genitiv comes later. articles in all different cases with example
sentences.

3 Nominative Case 4 Accusative Case

The nominative case is the first case you The accusative is the second case you will
learn. Only the subject in the sentence uses learn. The direct object is in accusative.
the nominative case.

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Satzbau im Präsens & Perfekt
[ Sentence Structure in Present & Perfect Tense ]

1 German Cases Overview

The German sentence structure can be

quite flexible. The normal one is the
SVO (subject, verb, object).

1 Important Rule:
The conjugated verb comes always
in the 2nd position in a main clause.

Only in Yes/No questions you

start directly with the
conjugated verb.

2 Sentence Structure in Perfect Tense

In the present perfect tense, the

conjugated verb (haben or sein),
still stands in the 2nd position
(except for Yes/No questions).

At the end of the sentence, in the

last position, comes the past
participle (Partizip II). Always!

Subject comes right

in front or after the
conjugated verb.

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Personalpronomen & Possessivartikel
[ Personal Pronouns & Possessive Articles ]

1 Personal Pronouns

A personal pronoun replaces a person

OR also an object. In German, each
noun is classified by gender, so it’s
important to study each noun and its
gender at the same time.

der Tisch = "male" = er

die Tasche = "female" = sie

In English it’s just it, but in German we use

he, she, him and so on, also for things.

Nominativ: Subject
Akkusativ: Direct Object
Dativ: Indirect Object

2 Possessive Articles

Possessive articles can only be used

together with a noun. Like „normal“
articles, they also change according to
the gender of the noun they refer to,
and indicate a possession.

In A1.1 you only need to

memorize the first two
lines: mein / dein

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Das Präsens & die Verbkonjugation
[ Present Tense & Verb Conjugation ]

1 Present Tense

Don’t forget:
The present tense can also be used for
the future tense, as with English, when
using a time marker like for example
“tomorrow” or “next week”.

Also:
There is no "–ing" form in German
that is used like in English.
I am going …
In German it's just: Ich gehe … (I go)

2 Verb Conjugation

There are regular verbs (most verbs)

and irregular verbs.
For regular verbs:
Drop the –en of the infinitive (original
form) of the verb and add the endings.
And just memorize these endings!
Irregular verbs are mostly only irregular
in the 2nd and 3rd person singular.

Write your own list for all

irregular verbs! Very useful!

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Formell VS Informell
[ Formal VS Informal ]

1 Formal vs Informal

Like in most other languages, there is a

formal and informal way to talk to a
person.

Informell:
friends, family, kids

Formell:
business, shopping, Restaurant...
and people you don't know

2 Conjugation

The conjugation for the informal way:

2nd person singular (du wohnst)

The conjugation for the formal way:

3rd person plural (Sie wohnen)

When using formal, the „S“ in

„Sie“ is ALWAYS capitalized.

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Trennbare Verben
[ Separable Verbs ]

1 Separable Verbs Explanation 2 Conjugation of Separable Verbs

Separable verbs consist of a prefix and a When conjugated the prefix needs to be
verb. Every prefix changes the meaning of separated from the verb. The verb has the
the verb. same conjugation as in “normal usage”.

3 Prefixes 4 Sentence Structure

Some prefixes do not separate the verb When used in a sentence the verb stands
when conjugated. They are treated like still in position 2. The prefix is always in the
normal verbs (10 prefixes for non-separable). last position, at the end.

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Präpositionen und Adverbien
[ Prepositions and Adverbs ]

1 Time Prepositions

A1.1 level has only these time

prepositions you see on this table.
Other prepositions will follow in A1.2
level.

The most important and commonly

used ones are:

um + Uhrzeit
am + Tag / Tageszeit

2 Adverbs of Frequency

Commonly used adverbs of frequency

from 0% (never) to 100% (always).

“Immer” is rarely used alone. In most

situations we would add the “fast”.
Ich trinke fast jeden Tag zwei Liter
Wasser.

The adverb stands usually right

after verb / subject in 3rd position.

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Modalverben
[ Modal Verbs ]

1 Definition & Usage 2 Können - Can

You always need to conjugate the modal „Können“ and its meanings / usage.
verb. The main verb (Vollverb) stands in the
last position in the infinitive (orginial form).

3 Mögen - Like 4 Wollen - Want

„Mögen“ and its meanings / usage. „Wollen“ and its meanings / usage.

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Präpositionen und Adverbien
[ Prepositions and Adverbs ]

1 Present Perfect Tense

The German present perfect tense is

the most important past tense. It’s
used in daily conversation; spoken
German.

As in English, we use an auxiliary verb

(Hilfsverb) for the Perfect Tense.

However, German has 2 present perfect

“helper verbs”:

haben ( to have )
sein ( to be )

2 Perfect Tense with HABEN & SEIN

Just like in English and other languages,

to build the perfect tense you need to
know the past participle (Partizip II).

For regular verbs you can form it by

yourself (more info about this on the
next page). PP’s of irregular verbs need
to be memorized.

Start from the beginning

creating your own verb list
for irregular verbs! And also
add the past participle.

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Das Partizip II
[ The Past Participle ]

1 Partizip II for REGULAR Verbs 2 Partizip II for IRREGULAR Verbs

Please keep in mind that there are some Please keep in mind that there are some
exceptions, but in the beginning, just follow exceptions, but in the beginning, just follow
these rules. these rules.

3 When to use which auxiliar verb 4 SEIN as the auxiliar verb

Most verbs have “haben” as an auxiliary The most common and used verbs with
verb. But the 20% with “sein” are very “sein” are verbs with a movement involved
commonly used and important! (e.g. gehen, fahren, kommen).

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Tipps & Tricks
[ Tips & Tricks ]

1 German Genders

The German genders are built

according to the ending of the noun. In
this table you see the most important
"rules" for each gender.

der = maskulin ( male )

die = feminin ( female )
das = neutral ( neuter )

die = Plural ( plural )

Throughout our textbook and

videos, we will use these
colors to indicate the gender.

2 German Plural

The German plural has lots of rules. On

this table you find the 7 most important
tendencies you can learn / memorize to
get most plural forms, right from the
beginning.

At first focus on rules 1-4 in

the beginning - these are the
most important ones.

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