Learn German (Deutsch) The German Alphabet is a vital part of the language, which is spoken by more than 130

million people in 38 countries of the world, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, and 33 other countries. The alphabet consists of the same 26 letters as English alphabet, plus some extra ones. German pronunciation of letters is in many places the same as English, as well as how to write them, however there are some unique letters and different ways of pronouncing some other letters.

German Alphabet Aa as in the word ask and never as in the word able Bb same as in English Cc usually in sch ch or ck rarely out of these letters. Dd same as in English Ee as in elevated Ff same as in English Gg like in the word "God", never pronounced as in the word gym. Hh same as in English. Ii as in the word ink never as in the word island Jj similar to the letter y in yacht Kk same as in English Ll same as in English Mm same as in English Nn same as in English, most of the German letters are just like English. Oo same as in English Old never as in Hot which is pronounced somehow like {hat} Pp same as in English Qq same as in English but rare. Rr same as in English but slightly like as in gh as in the French Merci Ss sounds like z. Tt same as in English but not as sharp. Uu sounds like oo or uu, never as in the word up or university Vv sounds like f Ww sounds like v Xx same as in English although rare. Yy same as in English although rare. Zz sounds like ts Additional German letters: /, / , / . (called scharfes s) / sounds more like e / sounds more like oe / sounds more like ue sounds like ss Compound letters: Sch: sounds like sh Ch: sounds sometimes like sh or like kh. St: sounds like sht at the beginning, and like st at the end of a word. German Cardinal Numbers German Numbers are easy to learn, cardinal numbers are a piece of cake if you understand the logic behind them, from 0 to 12 you will find unique words, that you just need to memorize as is. 13 to 19 are composed words meaning (3- 10) for 13 (dreizehn), (4-10) for 14 (fierzehn).(check the table below). For 16 and 17 (sechzehn instead of sechszehn) and (siebzehn instead of siebenzehen) So now you can easily count to 20.

The logic that numbers from 21 to 99 is the opposite of English, for example in English we say: twenty one for 21, in German we say one and twenty, note that its not only read the opposite way, but also there is an extra and which is in German und, and all numbers are connected (einundzwanzig). From 100 on, und is not used between numbers Its easy to master this your first day if you look at the table above and read the notes following it carefully.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

null eins zwei drei vier fnf sechs sieben acht neun zehn elf zwlf dreizehn vierzehn fnfzehn sechzehn siebzehn achtzehn neunzehn zwanzig

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 50

German Cardinal Numbers einundzwanzig 60 sechzig zweiundzwanzig 70 siebzig dreiundzwanzig 80 achtzig vierundzwanzig 90 neunzig fnfundzwanzig 100 einhundert sechsundzwanzig 101 einhunderteins siebenundzwanzig 102 einhundertzwei achtundzwanzig 113 einhundertdreizehn neunundzwanzig 200 zweihundert dreiig 500 fnfhundert einunddreiig 1000 eintausend zweiunddreiig 1.000.000 eine Million dreiunddreiig 2.000.000 zwei Millionen vierunddreiig fnfunddreiig sechsunddreiig siebenunddreiig achtunddreiig neununddreiig vierzig 2006 = Zweitausendsechs fnfzig

The table below contains: German phrases, expressions and words in German, conversation and idioms, greetings and survival phrases. Most of the sentences are used for the everyday life conversations, so they might come handy if you memorize them, if you dont know how to say something in German then check the alphabet page, to get some help. Blue font refers to the polite form that you need to use in German with people you don't know or respect a lot. Also you will notice I used the dash / in some places in the German phrases table when we have more than one possible expression, for example Good-bye can be expressed as Auf Wiedersehen! or Tsch! So you will find a dash between the two expressions.

German Phrases Greetings in German Hi! Good Morning! Good Evening! Welcome! (to greet someone) How Are You? I'm Fine, Thanks! And You? Good/ So-So. Thank You (Very Much)! You're Welcome! (answering "thank you") Hey! Friend! I Missed You So Much! What's New? Nothing Much Good Night! See You Later! Good Bye! Hallo! Guten Morgen! Guten Abend! Willkommen! Wie geht's dir/ Ihnen? Danke, mir geht's gut! Und dir/ Ihnen? Gut/ So la-la Danke (vielmals)!/ Vielen Dank! Gern gescheh'n!/ Keine Ursache!/ Kein Problem! Hey! Kumpel! (only for male people) Du hast/ Sie haben mir so gefehlt! Was gibt's Neues? Nicht viel. Gute Nacht! Bis spter! Auf Wiedersehen!/ Tsch!

Help & Directions in German I'm Lost Can I Help You? Can You Help Me? Where is the (bathroom/ pharmacy)? Go Straight! Then Turn Left/ Right! I'm Looking For John. One Moment Please! Hold On Please! (phone) How Much Is This? Excuse Me ...! ( to ask for something) Excuse Me! ( to pass by) Come With Me! Personal Info in German Do You Speak (English/ German)? Just a Little. What's Your Name? My Name Is . Mr.../ Mrs./ Miss Nice To Meet You! You're Very Kind! Where Are You From? I'm From (the U.S/ Germany) Im (American) Where Do You Live? I live in (the U.S/ Germany) Ich habe mich verlaufen! Kann ich dir/ Ihnen helfen? Kannst du/ Knnen Sie mir helfen? Wo ist (das Badezimmer/ die Apotheke?) Gehen Sie geradeaus! Dann links / rechts abbiegen! Ich suche John. Einen Augenblick, bitte! Bleiben Sie dran, bitte! Was kostet das?/ Wie teuer ist das? Entschuldigen Sie bitte...! Darf ich mal vorbei? Kommen Sie mit! Sprechen Sie (Englisch/ Deutsch)? Nur ein bichen. Wie heien Sie? Ich heie... / Mein Name ist... Herr/ Frau/ Frulein (not used anymore) Schn, Sie kennenzulernen! Du bist/ Sie sind sehr freundlich! Woher kommst du/ kommen Sie? Ich komme (aus den U.S.A./ aus Amerika / aus Deutschland) Ich bin (Amerikaner) Wo wohnst du/ wohnen Sie? Ich wohne (in den U.S.A./ in Amerika/ in Deutschland)

Did You Like It Here? Germany Is a Wonderful Country What Do You Do For A Living? I Work As A (Translator/ Businessman) I Like German I've Been Learning German For 1 Month Oh! That's Good! How Old Are You? I'm (twenty, thirty) Years Old. I Have To Go I Will Be Right Back! Wishes in German Good Luck! Happy Birthday! Happy New Year! Merry Christmas! Congratulations! Enjoy! (For meals) I'd Like To Visit Germany One Day Say Hi To John For me. Bless you (when sneezing) Good Night & Sweet Dreams!

Gefllt es dir/ Ihnen hier? Deutschland ist wunderschn. Was ist dein/ Ihr Beruf? Ich bin (bersetzer/Dolmetscher) / Geschftsmann Ich mag Deutsch Ich lerne seit einem Monat Deutsch Oh! Das ist toll! Wie alt bist du/ sind Sie? Ich bin (zwanzig, dreiig,...) Jahre (alt). Ich mu gehen/ los! Ich bin sofort wieder da! Viel Glck! Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Ein frohes neues Jahr! Frhliche Weihnachten! (Herzlichen) Glckwunsch! Guten Appetit! Ich mchte eines Tages (mal) nach Deutschland reisen Gr/ Gren Sie John von mir! Gesundheit! Gute Nacht und trum was schnes!

Misunderstanding in German I'm Sorry! (if you don't hear something) Sorry (for a mistake) No Problem! Can You Say It Again? Can You Speak Slowly? Write It Down Please! I Don't Understand! I Don't Know! I Have No Idea. What's That Called In German? What Does " gato" Mean In English? How Do You Say "Please" In German? What Is This? My German Is Bad. I need to practice my German Don't Worry! Expressions & Words in German Good/ Bad/ So-So. Big/ Small Today/ Now Tomorrow/ Yesterday Yes/ No Here You Go! (when giving something)

Entschuldigung, ich habe Sie nicht verstanden! Entschuldigung!/ Es tut mir leid! Kein Problem!/ Keine Ursache! Kannst du/ Knnen Sie das nochmal wiederholen? Kannst du/ Knnen Sie (etwas) langsamer sprechen? Schreib/ Schreiben Sie es bitte auf! Ich verstehe das/ dich/ Sie nicht! (das:that, dich:you, Sie:you polite) Ich wei (es) nicht! Ich habe keine Ahnung. Wie heit das auf deutsch? Was bedeutet "nacht" auf englisch? Wie sagt man "please" auf deutsch? Was ist das (hier)? Mein Deutsch ist schlecht. Ich mu (mein) Deutsch ben. (Nur) Keine Sorge! gut/ schlecht/ so la-la gro/ klein. heute/ jetzt morgen/ gestern ja/ nein Bitte sehr!/ Bitte schn!

Do You Like It? I Really Like It! I'm Hungry/ Thirsty. In The Morning/ Evening/ At Night. This/ That. Here/There Me/ You. Him/ Her. Really! Look! Hurry Up! What? Where? What Time Is It? It's 10 o'clock. 07:30pm. Give Me This! I Love You! I Feel Sick. I Need A Doctor One, Two, Three Four, Five, Six Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten

Gefllt's dir/ Ihnen? Mir gefllt es sehr gut! Ich habe Hunger/ Durst. am Morgen/ morgens/ am Abend/ abends/ in der Nacht dies(es/er/e)/ das. hier/ dort. Ich/ Du. Er/ sie Wirklich?!/ Echt?! Guck (mal)/ Schau (mal)! Beeil dich!/ beeilen Sie sich! was?/ wo? Wieviel Uhr ist es?/ Wie spt ist es? Es ist zehn Uhr. Sieben Uhr dreiig/ halb acht. Gib mir das! Ich liebe dich/ Sie! Ich fhle mich nicht wohl. Ich brauche einen Arzt. eins, zwei, drei vier, fnf, sechs sieben, acht, neun, zehn

German Articles If you dont know it yet articles in German change depending on the case used in the sentences. If youre not familiar with that then please check the German Cases page before proceeding to this page.

German Definite Articles The definite articles in German refer to specific persons, objects, ideasetc. and they are : der, die, das, die (plural) they all mean the expression the in English, der is used for masculine nouns, die is used for feminine nouns, das is used for neuter nouns, and finally die used also for plural nouns.

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

German Definite Article der Mann (the man) die Frau (the woman) das Brot (the bread) die Mnner (the men), die Frauen (the women), die Brote (the breads)

Well, thats not all; the form we went through above is only for the nominative case. Now lets have a look at all the rest:

masculine

German Definite Articles feminine neuter plural

Nominative case Accusative case Dative case Genitive cases

der den dem des

die die der der

das das dem des

die die den der

the the to the of the

Here are some examples: Nominative: der Mann ist hier (the man is here) Accusative: Ich gre den Mann (I greet the man) Dative: Ich gebe dem Mann ein Buch (I give the book to the man) Genitive: Ich habe das Buch des Mannes (I have the book of the man)

You may have noticed how the definite article changes each time the case changes. So try to memorize the table above by heart, Im sure its not that hard. German Indefinite Articles The indefinite articles in German refer to unspecified persons, objects, ideasetc. and they are: ein, eine, ein, they all mean the indefinite article a, an in English, ein is used for masculine nouns, eine is used for feminine nouns, ein is used for neuter nouns, and there is no plural for the indefinite article.

German Indefinite Article Masculine Feminine Neuter ein Mann (a man) eine Frau (the woman) ein Brot (a bread)

Again, thats not all; the form we went through above is only for the nominative case. Now lets have a look at all the rest:

Nominative case Accusative case Dative case Genitive cases

German Indefinite Articles masculine feminine ein eine einen eine einem einer eines einer

neuter ein ein einem eines

a, an a, an to a, to an of a, of an

Here are some examples: Nominative: ein Mann ist hier (a man is here)

Accusative: Ich gre einen Mann (I greet a man) Dative: Ich gebe einem Mann ein Buch (I give the book to a man) Genitive: Ich habe das Buch eines Mannes (I have the book of a man)

So the same thing happens to the indefinite article, it changes each time the case changes. So try to memorize the table above by heart as well. Good luck! German cases are four: the nominative case (subject of the sentence); the accusative case (the direct object); the dative case (the indirect object), and the genitive case (possessive). Cases are not something strange to English, pronouns for example use a certain kind of cases, for example we say he speaks, and give him and not give he, did you see how he became him in the second example, well the same thing happens in German, the only difference is that in German its much more widely used, not only in pronouns, even nouns/ adjectives/ articles use the same thing. The German case indicates the role of an element in a sentence.

German Nominative The nominative is the easiest case in German and also the one dictionaries use as the standard form of nouns, adjectives, articlesand refers to the subject of the sentence. The teacher went to school, The teacher is the subject of the sentence, and therefore The teacher is nominative. So it will take the nominative form in German, which is Der Lehrer. Below is a table of some forms of Nominative, you will only know the difference when you will go through the 3 other cases (accusative, Dative, Genitive).

Definite Articles Der, die, das, die (they all means the)

German Nominative Case Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Ein, Eine, Ein Ich, du, er, sie, (they all mean a, an) wir, ihr, sie. (I, you, he, she...)

Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter, plural) Weier, weie, weies, weie (all these forms mean white)

These are just some examples to show the nominative form of some elements such as articles, pronouns, adjectives. Note that the nominative case can be used in a much wider scope such as in Nouns, interrogative pronounswhat comes next will help you notice the difference between Nominative and what the other 3 German cases.

German Accusative Now we will learn the second case in German which is the accusative, the good news is that apart from the masculine, the other 2 genders + the plural (feminine, neuter and plural) look just like the Nominative. Now lets learn what the accusative really is. The accusative case is considered the direct object. I see the teacher, the teacher is the direct object of the sentence, and therefore would take the accusative form, and since the

teacher is masculine it will become in German den Lehrer and not der Lehrer as in the nominative case. I see the teacher = Ich sehe den Lehrer.

Definite Articles Den, die, das, die (they all means the)

German Accusative Case Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Einen, Eine, Ein mich, dich, ihn, sie, (they all mean a, an) uns, euch, sie. (me, you, him, her...)

Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter, plural) Weien, weie, weies, weie (all these forms mean white)

Lets get adjectives involved as well. I see the young teacher = ich sehe den jungen Lehrer. Young in German is jung, but since were using the accusative case, then the adjective should copy the article it follows, which is den/ the = masculine, so den jungen. If you look at the table above you will understand why we added en after the adjective jung. Now lets get personal pronouns involved. I see him = ich sehe ihn. Easy, isnt it! German Dative Now things will get serious because the dative case is very important in German, and it also changes in all the 3 genders + the plural (masculine, feminine, neuter and plural). But first lets learn what the Dative means. The Dative in German is just like the indirect object in English, or in other words, its like the receiver of the direct object. So for example: I give the book to him, I is the subject of the sentence, the book is the direct object, and him is the receiver, therefore also called the indirect object, in which were interested when it comes to the dative case.

German Dative Case Definite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Dem, der, dem, den Einem, Einer, Einem mir, dir, ihm, ihr, (they all means to (they all mean to a, to the) an) uns, euch, ihnen. (to me, to you, to him, to her...)

Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter) Weien, weien, weien, weien (all these forms mean to white)

Usually the equivalent of the dative case in English would include to, like our example above, I give the book to him, I send it to him, I show it to him but in German that to is usually included in the expression used, for example to him = ihm to the = dem so its not that complicated after all.

German Genitive Finally we will learn the genitive in German. Its not used as often as the other cases, but still has its own importance, because the genitive in German means possession, or in other words it means the expression of or s. The book of my teacher = das Buch meines Lehrers.

Definite Articles Des, der, des, der (they all means of the)

German Genitive Case Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Eines, Einer, Eines mir, dir, ihm, ihr, (they all mean of a, of an) uns, euch, ihnen. (to me, to you, to him, to her...)

Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter) Weien, weien, weien, weie (all these forms mean white)

Note that nouns in the masculine and neuter take an s at the end, as in our example: The book of my teacher = das Buch meines Lehrers. Feminine and plural nouns dont take any s at the end. More detailed information would be in the German Nouns page. Also you can check out the adjectives and articles page to see how they form in different cases with some examples. Good luck! A pronoun in German as well as in English is like a shortcut to refer to a noun, a word that stands for or represents a noun or noun phrase, a pronoun is identified only in the context of the sentence in which it is used. So you must have a prior idea about who "he or she" "er or sie" is. In English we find "I, her, what, that, his", In German pronouns use is governed by cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), number and gender. All these three factors can affect the pronoun. Types of pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative (connect parts of sentences), reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb's subject), demonstrative, and interrogative pronouns.

German Personal Pronouns The personal (subject) pronouns in German are (ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, Sie, sie.), and make the equivalent of (I, you, he, she, it, we, you people, you all, they) in English, usually they take the nominative form, since theyre the subject of the sentence. Theyre very important and therefore they must be memorized by heart. I have a pen = Ich habe einen Kugelschreiber.

Personal Pronouns in German Singular I ich you (familiar) du you (formal) Sie he, she, it er, sie, es Plural we wir you (familiar) ihr you (formal) Sie they sie

German Object Pronouns Object pronouns replace the object of a sentence; direct object pronouns take the place of the direct object nouns, lets take this example I see a man, a man can be replaced in English by the direct object pronoun him and not he, so it would be I see him, the same thing happens in German: Ich sehe einen Mann becomes Ich sehe ihn. Note that the direct object pronoun in German is associated with the accusative case:

Direct Object Pronouns in German Singular me mich you (familiar) dich you (formal) Sie him, her, it ihn, sie, es Plural us uns you (familiar) euch you (formal) Sie them sie

The indirect object pronouns (IOP) are used to replace nouns (people or things) in a sentence to which the action of the verb occurs. In English usually it is preceded by a preposition, I give the book to Katja, the name Katja is an indirect object noun, to replace it with a pronoun we would say in English her, in German we would say ihr, note that since the IOP is associated with the dative, the preposition to that we would usually use in English is not used in German, or rather we would say that its mixed with the pronoun (look at the table below to understand the concept better), for example to her in German will become one word ihr.

Indirect Object Pronouns in German Singular to me mir to you (familiar) dir to you (familiar) Ihnen to him, to her, to it ihm, ihr, ihm Plural to us uns to you (familiar) euch to you (formal) Ihnen to them ihnen

German Possessive Pronouns The possessive is another aspect that you need to master in German, the possessive pronouns indicate ownership and they replace a noun just like in English, example: it is my house becomes it is mine. but while in English you can use mine to the singular and feminine, in German you have to add an e to for the feminine,

Possessive Pronouns in German Singular mein/e mine mein/e yours Ihr/e yours (formal) sein/e his, hers, its Plural unser/e our eur/e yours (familiar) Ihr/e yours (formal) ihr/e theirs

Now we will look at possessive adjectives, which are used more than the pronouns weve seen above. And since were talking about adjectives it means that they will take different forms in different cases. For example lets have a look at my and our in German:

Possessive Adjectives in German Nominative Accusative Dative Masculine mein meinen meinem Feminine meine meine meiner Neuter mein mein meinem Plural meine meine meinen

Genitive meines meiner meines meiner

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Nominative unser uns(e)re unser uns(e)re

Accusative uns(e)ren uns(e)re unser uns(e)re

Dative uns(e)rem uns(e)rer uns(e)rem uns(e)ren

Genitive uns(e)res uns(e)rer uns(e)res uns(e)rer

Note that we add an e when we deal with the feminine, either in the singular or the plural; I put it between parentheses above.

As we have learned in the verbs section, reflexive verbs express an action that acts upon the subject, and with the reflexive verbs you will find reflexive pronouns, which are placed after of the conjugated verb, for example: Ich washe mich (I wash myself). Ich stelle mir vor (I imagine myself). Note that these pronouns have two forms, one with the accusative and another with the dative. When to use each one of them will depend on the verb, some reflexive verbs are associated with the accusative, and some others are associated with the dative, you can check the verbs page to learn more.

German Reflexive Pronouns Accusative myself mich yourself (familiar) dich

yourself (formal) himself, herself, itself ourselves yourselves (familiar) yourselves (formal) themselves

sich sich uns euch sich sich

myself yourself (familiar) yourself (formal) himself, herself, itself ourselves yourselves (familiar) yourselves (formal) themselves

Dative mir dir sich sich uns euch sich sich

A brief summery of the pronouns weve learned so far:

1st singular 2nd singular 3rd singular feminine 3rd singular masculine 3rd singular neuter 1st plural 2nd plural 3rd plural formal (singular and plural)

German Pronouns nominative ich du sie er es wir ihr sie Sie

accusative mich dich sie ihn es uns euch sie Sie

dative mir dir ihr ihm ihm uns euch ihnen Ihnen

genitive meindeinihrseinseinunsereurihrIhr-

German Demonstrative Pronouns Demonstratives usually refer to a previously mentioned noun in a sentence, just like adjectives they must agree with the gender and number of the noun. The equivalent to them in English would be this/these. German Demonstratives feminine neuter diese dieses diese dieses dieser diesem dieser dieses

Nominative case Accusative case Dative case Genitive cases

masculine dieser diesen diesem dieses

plural diese diese diesen dieser

this/ these this/ these to this/ these of this/ these

Other Pronouns:

Relative Pronouns: in German they are der, die, das (who, that, which), wer, was (who, that) and welcher (who, that). The gender, number, and case of the relative pronoun should agree with its antecedent. Interrogative Pronouns: the most important in German are: wer (who), wen (whom), wem (to whom), wessen (whose), was (what), welcher (which). Indefinite pronouns are: all- (all), ander- (other), einig- (one), etwas (some), jed- (each), kein- (no), nichts (nothing), man (we, one), niemand (no one). Gender in German Nouns in German are quite different than in English; the gender is not an issue in English because all nouns have the same gender, well except humans and some animals... for example a spoon and a fork have the same gender, but in German its a little bit more diverse, for some reason the spoon is masculine (der Lffel), the fork is feminine (die Gabel), and the knife is neuter (das Messer). This may sound weird but well even in English in some rare cases we do the same thing, for example you may hear in rare occasions she is a nice car, as if a car is feminine, or when talking about a baby we use it instead of he/she. In German this happens all the time with all nouns, so the best thing to do is: when you memorize new words try to memorize them with their definite article, for example the word book in German is das Buch, note that I added the definite articles das to it, which tells me that the book is neuter in German. If you get used to doing that way you would know if nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter, the good news is that in may occasions you can guess the gender of nouns given some hints, either thanks to a suffix or to a rule:

German Gender: Masuline Suffix: Most nouns ending in -en, -el, -ling, -ner, -ismus, -ig, -ich, or -er are masculine: der Boden (ground), der Vogel (bird), der Frhling (spring), der Vater (father). Rules: Days, months, and seasons, weather (rain, snow) are usually masculine in German. der Sonntag (Sunday), der Winter (winter), der Februar (February, der Regen (rain), der Schnee (snow), but das Wetter (the weather). Note that these suffixes and rules can only assist you in increasing your chance of guessing what the gender would be, but its still guessing, because there are some exceptions that can be found time to time.

German Gender: Feminine Suffix: Nouns ending in -heit, -ie, -ik, -age, -ei ,-ion, -itis, -keit, -ur, -schaft, -tt, and -ung are feminine: die Freiheit (freedom), die Garage (garage), die Operation (operation), die Mglichkeit (possibility), die Natur (nature), die Freundschaft (friendship), die Qualitt (quality), die Ehrung, (honor). Rules: Trees, flowers, fruit, and cardinal numbers are most of the time feminine: die Fhre (pine tree), die Rose (rose), die Orange (Orange), die Sieben (the seven).

German Gender: Neuter Suffix: Nouns ending in -ett, -chen, -lein, -il, -ium, -ma, -ment, -nis, -tel, -tum, -um and -o are neuter: das Bett (bed), das Kaninchen (Rabbit), das Stadium (stage), das Klima (climat), das Geheimnis (secret), das Viertel (quarter), das Album (album), das Frulein (young lady). Rules: Names of towns, countries, colors, infinitives used as nouns, and the diminutives that weve seen above ending in -chen or -lein, theyre all usually neuter: das Berlin (Berlin), das Deutschland (Germany), das Rot (Red), das Schwimmen (swimming), das Hndchen (little dog), das Kindlein (little child).

Note that you should check the other pages of German Cases and Articles to have a better idea on how nouns can change depending on the case, and what articles they take in each case. The Plural in German German is more diverse in its plural than in English, to express the plural in English we simply add s or es to the end of the noun, well in German its not the case. Some nouns add e to their end: der Freund (friend) becomes die Freunde (friends), der Schuh (a shoe) becomes die Schuhe (shoes). Other nouns add en to their end: der Student (student) becomes die Studenten (students), die Zeit (time) becomes die Zeiten (times). The other forms of plural in German are: (-n) for example: die Schule becomes die Schulen (schools). (no diffrence) for example: das Fenster (window) stays die Fenster (windows). (-) for example: der Bruder becomes die Brder (brothers). (-er or -er) for example: das Haus becomes die Huser (houses), or das Kind becomes die Kinder (childen). (-s) for example: das Radio becomes die Radios (this form can be used usually with foreign words) das Baby becomes die Babys

Tips: Note that most nouns ending in the suffixes (-heit, -ie, -ik, -age, -ei ,-ion, -itis, -keit, -ur, -schaft, -tt, and -ung) add -en in the plural. Feminine nouns ending in (-in) add -nen to form their plural. Note that most German plurals add an extra -n or -en to the plural form in the dative case. Finally note that while English takes capital letter only in countries names or days in German all nouns take a capital letter as you may have noticed in this lesson. Verbs in German are more diverse than in English; in this page we will learn their categories, and the most used tenses in German, note that this page is including only the important information you should know about in German verbs, and it doesnt include details about each category or each tense.

German Verbs In German verbs are categorized into three categories: weak verbs, strong, and mixed verbs. Weak verbs (schwache Verben) do not change the stem vowel in the past tense and the past participle and theyre considered like regular verbs in English, examples: arbeiten (to work), spielen (to play). Strong verbs (starke Verben) do change the stem vowel in both the past tense and the past participle, examples: sprechen (to speak), fahren (to drive, go) Mixed verbs contain parts of both weak and strong verbs. Theyre used very often and therefore they should not be overlooked, examples: bringen (to bring), senden (to send)

Some verbs in the 3 categories above may contain separable (trennbar) or inseparable (untrennbar) prefixes. The point of using these prefixes is to create new meanings from the original verb. This concept is not strange to English, lets look at the verb to stand if we add the prefix under it will give us a whole new verb to understand, the same thing in German, stehen means to stand, verstehen means to understand. Easy, right! Well not exactly, because German uses these prefixes more often. And some prefixes can be detached from the original verb and take a specific spot in the sentences, sometimes even far from the verb.

Separable prefixes (trennbar) are (ab, bei, ein, vor, an, auf, mit, weg, etc.) can stand independently as words, or can stay connected to the verb, Kann ich mitkommen? (Can I come with you?), kommen Sie mit ans Meer? (are you coming with to the sea), here the verb is mitkommen, see how in the first example it was connected, and in the second example the prefix mit was placed after Sie. The meaning of mitkommen is to accompany or come with.

The inseparable prefixes (untrennbar) are (be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ver-, zer-). These kind of prefixes cannot be removed from their verbs, The most common inseparable prefix verbs are: verkaufen (to sell), bekommen (to get), empfangen (to receive), empfehlen (to recommend), entdecken (to discover), verstehen (to understand), versagen (to fail), zerstren (to destroy).

German Tenses Below you will find the most used tenses in German, with the verb endings in each tense, as well as some examples, try to master them if you can, that would help you a lot and makes you feel comfortable expressing yourself in German, we will start with the present tense, which is a very important and a must to learn tense:

Present Tense in German Its the first tense we will learn, weak German verbs take the following Weak verb endings to form the present tense: spielen (to play) ich -e, du -st, er (sie, es) -t, wir -en, ihr -t, Sie -en, sie -en. ich spiele These endings can help you a lot, because with them you can conjugate most of weak verbs into the present tense, you only need the stem of the du spielst (familiar) verb, for example the stem of spielen (to play) is spiel. er, sie, es spielt wir spielen Strong verbs change in the singular second person familiar and third person forms, for example the verb nehmen to take, look at the side ihr spielt (familiar) of the table. Usually strong verbs changes are regular and predictable: a becomes , e becomes ie or i, au becomes u, o becomes . Note that Sie spielen (formal) the plural form is regular. sie spielen Mixed verbs are irregular and are best learnt by heart, because theyre unpredictable. The good news is that te most common conjugation is the

Strong verb nehmen (to take) ich nehme du nimmst (familiar) er, sie, es nimmt wir nehmen ihr nehmt (familiar) Sie nehmen (formal) sie nehmen

one for the weak verb. But like any other language there are some exceptions for all three types of verbs.

Now we will have a look at the past tense, also called the imperfect, another very important fact in knowing how to conjugate verbs in German:

German Past Tense (Imperfect) In German as well as in English the simple past tense (imperfect) is used to describe past events, more literal than conversational, regularly used when writing about the past. The endings for the weak verb are: ich -te, du -test, Sie -ten, er (sie, es, man) -te, wir -ten, ihr -tet, Sie -ten, sie -ten.

Strong verb kommen (to come) ich kam

Irregular verb wissen (to know) ich wusste du wusstest (familiar) Sie wussten (formal) er, sie, es wusste wir wussten ihr wusstet (familiar) Sie wussten (formal) sie wussten

du kamst (familiar) So just take any weak verb stem and add it to the endings above, for example our previous verb spielen (to play), its stem is spiel, plus the endings above Sie kamen (formal) we will get: ich spielte, du spieltest, er spielte, wir spielten, ihr spieltet, Sie, sie spielten er, sie, es kam wir kamen To form the past tense with strong verbs, the trickiest part is knowing the stem, for example in English, you dont say I comed, but you say I came to refer to the past of the verb to come, strong verbs in German change their stem vowels and add the following endings: ich (-nothing added to the stem), du -st, Sie -en, er, sie, es (-nothing added to the stem), wir -en, ihr -t, Sie -en, sie -en. (look at the example on the side) ihr kamt (familiar) Sie kamen (formal) sie kamen

For the irregular verbs, theyre tricky too in forming their stem, sometimes the stem doesnt look like the original verb at all, just like I go and I went, but these German irregular verbs change the vowel in the stem and, in addition, they take weak verb endings in the past tense.

Now we will learn the future tense, which is considered the easiest, because you only need to learn the conjugated form of werden plus the infinitive of the verbs you want to conjugate:

Future Tense in German There are two ways to express the German future. The easiest and most common method is to use the present tense with an appropriate time marker; Wir gehen morgen nach Berlin (were going to Berlin tomorrow). The other method is to use the appropriate present tense form of werden with the infinitive of the main verb, note that the main verb in this method comes at the end of the sentence, relatively far from the future verb werden. Wir werden Schach und Kreuzwortrtsel spielen (we will play chess and cross

ich werde spielen du wirst spielen

puzzels). Did you see how the verb spielen was kicked to the end of the sentence, its like youre saying in English: we will chess and cross puzzles play. Remember this structure, because this is how you will be forming verbs in the future if you use the verb werden with it. Note that if you choose to use the first method, which is present tense you have to mention the time marker such as morgen/ tomorrow, nchstes Jahr/ next yearnot using them will make people think that youre talking about the present and not the future tense.

er, sie, es wird spielen wir werden spielen ihr werdet spielen sie werden spielen Sie werden spielen

Adjectives in German as well as in English describe or modify nouns, but in German they should agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Adjectives forms vary depending on the case (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive). Note how adjectives take an extra e when theyre placed before nouns and a definite article is placed before them in the nominative: German Adjectives Masculine: (schnell/ fast): der schnelle Tiger (the fast tiger). Feminine: (jung/ young): die junge Dame (the young lady). Neuter: (klug/ smart): das kluge Kind (the smart child). Plural: (gut/ good): sie sind gute Bcher (theyre good books).

For all the rest of the cases (accusative, dative and genitive) adjectives ending take en in the masculine, and e in the feminine and neuter. Accusative: Ich habe den schnellen Tiger gesehen (I have seen the fast tiger), Ich habe die junge Dame gesehen. (I have seen the young lady). The same thing happens with dative and genitive where the adjective take en in the masculine, and e in the feminine/ neuter/plural. Remember that this happens only when we add a definite article der, die, das (the) or the pronouns dieser (this), jener (that), solcher (such), jeder (each), welcher (which). The plural ending for these weak adjectives is en in ALL cases (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive), which is good news. Ich habe die schnellen Katzen gesehen (I have seen the fast cats). Ich habe die jungen Damen gesehen (I have seen the young ladies). Adjectives proceeded by the indefinite articles (ein/ eine/ ein) or the pronouns such as mein (my, mine), sein (his) kein (no) have an irregular declension: Adjetives in German feminine eine schne Rose

singular nominative

masculine ein guter Mann

neuter ein altes Buch

accusative dative genitive

einen guten Mann einem guten Mann eines guten Mannes

eine schne Rose einer schnen Rose einer schnen Rose

ein altes Buch einem alten Buch eines alten Buches

The plural endings for strong adjectives are the same for all three genders: Plural adjectives keine guten Mnner keine guten Mnner keinen guten Mnnern keiner guten Mnner

nominative accusative dative genitive

Below is a list of some common adjectives in German, theyre in their original form, so theyre not yet influenced by any other cases like (accusative, dative, and genitive), so take that into consideration when you put these adjectives in a non nominative case. For example: Er ist schnell (he is fast). (but) Er ist ein schneller Mann.(note how in the first setences the adjective schnell wasnt influenced by anything and therefore stayed in its original form, but in the second example ein made it take er at the end). The same thing may occur to the adjectives below:

ambitious American annoying bad beautiful big, large blonde boring brave careless cautious certain charming cheerful Chinese conceited conventional coward crazy, nuts cruel difficult disagreeable dull, boring easy English fake fat few, a little French frequent friendly

List of German Adjectives ehrgeizig Amerikaner rgerlich schlecht schn gro blondine langweilig tapfer unbesonnen vorsichtig bestimmt charmant frhlich Chinesisch eingebildet herkmmlich feigling verrckt, Nsse grausam schwierig unangenehm dumm, langweilig leicht Englisch unecht Fett wenige, ein wenig Franzsisch hufig freundlich

fun, amusing funny general generous German good handsome hard-working high, tall honest intelligent interesting kind laid-back lazy little, small low, short mean modest moody naive narrow-minded new nice (person) old perfect personal pious polite poor possible pretty proud rapid, fast realistic recent reliable rich sad selfish sensitive shy silly, dumb skinny slender, slim slow small Spanish strict strong stubborn talkative trustworthy ugly

lustig, amsant komisch, komisch General grozgig Deutsch gut hbsch fleiig hoch, hoch ehrlich intelligent interessant Art entspannend faul wenig, klein niedrig, kurz niedrig bescheiden launisch naiv engstirnig neu nett alt vollkommen Persnlicher fromm hflich schlecht mglich ziemlich stolz schnell, schnell realistisch neu zuverlssig reich jmmerlich egoistisch empfindlich schchtern dumm, stumm dnn schlank langsam klein Spanisch streng stark strrisch gesprchig vertrauenswrdig hsslich

various weak weird white young

verschieden schwach unheimlich wei jung

Vocabulary These German expressions are commonly used in the everyday life of Germans, so they might help you a lot if you understand them and memorize them, we will add more expressions soon, so please check for updates later. German is a deep sea, but if you focus mainly on the things you might need most in your daily life, then you will be able to take part in daily life conversations with little effort, and below is an example of the smart learning strategy, which exists throughout our website. Enjoy!

Wie heien Sie? (What's your name?), Ich heie Speak7 , Mein Name ist Speak7 (my name is Speak7 ), Wie bitte? (I'm sorry, literally: how please?), Wie gehts? (How is it going? how are things going with you?), Es geht, und Ihnen? (things are going okay, how about you? It's the answer to "Wie geht's") Danke, gut! Good, thanks (literally: Thanks, good) Tsch (bye) Woher kommen Sie? (Where are you from?) Ich komme aus Marokko. (I'm from Morocco) Wo wohnen Sie? (Where do you live?) Wo ist das? (Where is that?) Ich verstehe nicht (I don't understand) Oh, Entschuldigung! (Oh sorry) Macht nichts (don't worry about it, .or., it's okay) Danke schn (Thanks a lot)

Es tut mir leid (I'm sorry) Was machen Sie? (What do you do?) Was sind Sie von Beruf? (What do you do for a living?) Ich bin ... (I'm a "your job") Ich meine. (I mean.) Wirklich? (Really?) Ich bin in Frankfurt geboren (I was born in Frankfurt) Ich bin verheiratet (I.m married) Ich bin solo (I'm single) Ja, richtig (yes that's true, or that's correct) Das stimmt! (exactly!) Das stimmt nicht (that's not true) Ich spreche mit einem Akzent (I speak with an accent) Was ist das? (What is that?) Sie sprechen zu schnell fr mich (you.re speaking too fast for me) Was ist los? (What is going on?) Gar nichts (nothing at all) Warum nicht? (Why not?) Wie spt ist es? (What time is it?) Zehn vor sieben (6:50), zwanzig nach fnf (5:20), viertel vor zehn (9:45) Kommst du mit? (Are you coming along?) Kann ich Sie duzen? (Can I use the informal form used in German with you?) Hier kann man viel Geld ausgeben (you can spend a lot of money here; note that "man" here means "people, you, one...")

Ich schlage vor, wir gehen ins Kino (I suggest, we go to the movies/ cinema) Wie lange leben Sie schon hier? (How long have you been living here?) Wie finden Sie Amerika? (How do you like the U.S?) Ich habe in Amerika Deutsch gelernt (I learned German in the U.S) Er hat Sie verstanden (he understood you). Wie gro ist es? (How big is it?) Wie viel kostet das? (How much is it?) Das ist sehr wichtig (it's very important) Haben Sie Geschwister/ Kinder? (Do you have sisters/ kids?) Knnen Sie mir helfen? (Can you help me?) Haben Sie eine Nachricht? (Do you have a message for me?) Legen Sie nicht auf (don't hang up! "On the phone") Was kann ich fr Sie tun? (What can I do for you?) Sag mal! (Tell me!) Jeden Tag studiere ich Deutsch (every day I study German) Um wie viel Uhr...? (At what time ...?) Bis wann? (Till what time?) Morgen, Nachmittag, Abend (morning, afternoon, evening) Wann kommen Sie heute? (When are you coming today?) Von neun bis sechs (from nine to six) Das wei ich nicht (I don't know about that) Noch nicht (not yet) Also, bis dann! (So, see you!) Toll! (Wow, "or" Awesome!)

Mach schnell! (Hurry up!) Was haben Sie heute Abend vor? (Do you have any plans for this evening?) Ich kann Deutsch nur lesen und schreiben, aber nicht sprechen (I can only read and write German, but cannot speak it) Darf ich hereinkommen? (Can I come in?) Ja, natrlich, kommen Sie bitte! (Of course, come in please!) Nehmen Sie doch bitte Platz! Mgen Sie etwas trinken? (Have a seat, would you like to drink something?) Nein, danke, ich will nicht lange bleiben (no, thanks, I will not stay for long) Darf ich etwas fragen? (Can I ask you something?) Morgen habe ich wieder Freizeit (tomorrow I have free time again) Was fehlt Ihnen? (What's wrong? are you okay?) Auf keinen Fall (by no means) Auf jeden Fall (by all means) Viel Erfolg (good luck!)

Please note that the translation provided next to each of German expressions is not a literal translation but the whole meaning of the expression, for example Was fehlt Ihnen literally means whats missing you but usually used to express whats wrong or are you okay.