Tiscali: German Phrase Finder - Grammar
Phrases
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GRAMMAR nouns In German all nouns begin with a capital letter. The plural forms vary from noun to noun &endash; there is no universal plural as in English (cat &endash; cats, dog &endash; dogs):
(In the dictionary, plural forms appear where they may be useful.) German nouns are masculine (m), feminine (f) or neuter (nt), and this is shown by the words for the and a(n) used before them:
The plural for the for all forms is die: die Männer die Frauen die Lichter There is no plural for the ein form. The plural noun is used on its own. From the phrases in this book you will see that the endings for the word for the vary according to what part the noun plays in the sentence: If the noun is the subject of the sentence, i.e. carrying out the action, then it is in the nominative case (the one found in dictionaries), e.g. der Mann steht auf (the man stands up). The subject der Mann comes before the verb. If the noun is the direct object of the sentence, i.e. the action of the verb is being carried on the noun, then the noun is in the accusative case, e.g. ich sehe den Mann (I see the man). Note how the ending of der has changed to den. The same applies to ein, e.g. ich sehe einen Mann (I see a man). If you see in front of the English noun &endash; of, 's, or s', then the noun is in the genitive case (i.e. it belongs to someone or something), e.g. das Haus der Frau (the woman's house). Note how the ending of die (Frau) has changed to der. The same applies to ein, e.g. das Haus einer Frau (a woman's house). If you see to the or to a in front of the English noun, then the noun is in the dative case, e.g. ich gebe es der Frau (I give it to the woman). Note how the ending of die (Frau) has changed to der. The same applies to ein, e.g. ich gebe es einer Frau (I give it to a woman). Several other words used before nouns have similar endings to der and ein. Those like der are: dieser this ; jener that ; jeder each ; welcher which Those like ein are: mein my ; dein your (familiar sing.) ; Ihr your (polite sing. and plural) ; sein his ; ihr her ; unser our ; euer your (familiar plural); ihr their Here are the cases for der:
Here are the cases for ein:
The word kein (no, not any) also has the same endings as for ein, except that it can be used in the plural:
adjectives When adjectives are used before a noun, their endings vary like the words for der and ein, depending on the gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) and whether the noun is plural, and how the noun is used in the sentence (whether it is the subject, object, etc.). Here are examples using the adjective klug &endash; clever
When the adjective follows the verb, then there is no agreement: der Mann ist klug die Frau ist klug das Kind ist klug my, your, his, her These words all take the same endings as for ein and they agree with the noun they accompany, i.e. whether masculine, feminine, neuter, plural and according to the function of the noun (nominative, accusative, etc.): mein Mann kommt my husband is coming (nom.) ich liebe meinen Mann I love my husband (acc.) das Auto meines Mannes my husband's car (gen.) ich gebe es meinem Mann I give it to my husband (dat.) meine Kinder kommen my children are coming (nom. pl.) ich liebe meine Kinder I love my children (acc. pl.) die Spielsachen meiner Kinder my children's toys (gen. pl.) ich gebe es meinen Kindern I give it to my children (dat. pl.) Other words which take these endings are: dein your (familiar sing.) ; sein his ; ihr her ; unser our ; euer your (familiar plural) ; Ihr your (polite sing. and plural) ; ihr their pronouns
Indirect object pronouns are: to me mir ; to you (familiar sing.) dir ; to him/it ihm ; to her/it ihr ; to it (neuter) ihm ; to us uns ; to you (familiar plural) euch ; to you (polite sing. and plural) Ihnen ; to them ihnen you There are two ways of addressing people in German: the familiar form &endash; du (when talking to just one person you know well), ihr (when talking to more than one person you know well), and the polite form &endash; Sie (always written with a capital letter), which can be used for one or more people. verbs There are two main types of verb in German &endash; weak verbs (which are regular) and strong verbs (which are irregular).
Other examples of strong verbs are:
To make a verb negative, add nicht:
past tense Here are a number of useful past tenses:
Another past form corresponds to the English have ...ed and uses the verb haben to have:
In German the present tense is very often used where we would use the future tense in English:
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