Basics 1

Mann, Frau, Junge, ich, bin, ein, eine

du, bist, Kind, Mädchen, und
Brot, er, sie, es, ist, trinkt, Wasser

Capitalizing nouns
In German, all nouns are capitalized. For example, "my name" is "mein Name," and
"the apple" is "der Apfel." This helps you identify which are the nouns in a sentence.

Three grammatical genders, three types of nouns

Nouns in German are either feminine, masculine or neuter. For example,
"Frau" (woman) is feminine, "Mann" (man) is masculine, and "Kind" (child) is neuter.
The grammatical gender may not match the biological gender: "Mädchen" (girl) is a
neuter noun.

It is very important to learn every noun along with its gender because parts of German
sentences change depending on the gender of their nouns.

Generally speaking, the definite article "die" (the) and the indefinite article "eine" (a/
an) are used for feminine nouns, "der" and "ein" for masculine nouns, and "das" and
"ein" for neuter nouns. For example, it is "die Frau," "der Mann," and "das Kind."
However, later you will see that this changes depending on something called the "case
of the noun."

masculine neuter feminine

indefinite (a/an) ein Mann ein Mädchen eine Frau
definite (the) der Mann das Mädchen die Frau

Conjugations of the verb sein (to be)

A few verbs like "sein" (to be) are completely irregular, and their conjugations simply
need to be memorized:

German English
ich bin I am
du bist you (singular informal) are
er/sie/es ist he/she/it is
wir sind we are
ihr seidyou (plural informal) are
sie sind they are
Sie sind you (formal) are

Conjugating regular verbs

Verb conjugation in German is more challenging than in English. To conjugate a
regular verb in the present tense, identify the invariant stem of the verb and add the
ending corresponding to any of the grammatical persons, which you can simply
memorize:

trinken (to drink)

English personending German example
I -e ich trinke
you (singular informal) -st du trinkst
he/she/it -t er/sie/es trinkt
we -en wir trinken
you (plural informal) -t ihr trinkt
you (formal) -en Sie trinken
they -en sie trinken
Notice that the 1st and the 3rd person plural have the same ending as "you (formal)."

Umlauts
Umlauts are letters (more specifically vowels) that have two dots above them and
appear in some German words like "Mädchen." Literally, "Umlaut" means "around
the sound," because its function is to change how the vowel sounds.
An umlaut can sometimes indicate the plural of a word. For example, the plural of
"Mutter" (mother) is "Mütter." It might even change the meaning of a word entirely.
That's why it's very important not to ignore those little dots.

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

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

When translating into English, how can I tell whether to use the simple (I drink) or the
continuous form (I am drinking)?

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

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

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

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

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

It gets more complicated when it comes to abstract nouns, but we'll see about that
later.

Basics 2

wir, ihr, sind, seid, Männer, Frauen

sie, das, die, sind, Jungen, Kinder

German plurals - the nominative Case

In English, making plurals out of singular nouns is typically as straightforward as
adding an "s" or an "es" at the end of the word. In German, the transformation is more
complex, and also the articles for each gender change. The following five suggestions
can help:
-e ending: most German one-syllable nouns will need -e in their plural form. For
example, in the nominative case, "das Brot" (the bread) becomes "die Brote," and
"das Spiel" (the game) becomes "die Spiele."
-er ending: most masculine or neuter nouns will need the -er ending, and there may be
umlaut changes. For example, in the nominative case "das Kind" (the child) becomes
"die Kinder," and "der Mann" (the man) becomes "die Männer."
-n/-en ending: most feminine nouns will take either -n or -en in all four grammatical
cases, with no umlaut changes. For example, "die Frau" (the woman) becomes "die
Frauen" and "die Kartoffel" becomes "die Kartoffeln."
-s ending: most foreign-origin nouns will take the -s ending for the plural, usually
with no umlaut changes. For example: "der Chef" (the boss) becomes "die Chefs."
There is no change for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of these in the
singular: -chen, -lein, -el, or -er. There may be umlaut changes. For example: "das
Mädchen" (the girl) becomes "die Mädchen," and "die Mutter" (the mother) becomes
"die Mütter."
Regardless of grammatical gender, all plural nouns take the definite article "die" (in
the nominative case). This does not make them feminine. The grammatical gender of
a word never changes. Like many other words, "die" is simply used for multiple
purposes.

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

ein Mann = a man
Männer = men

German feminine plurals - nouns ending in -in

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

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

Don't worry if you can't pick up on the difference at first. You may need some more
listening practice before you can tell them apart. Also, try using headphones instead of
speakers.

Even if this doesn't seem to help, knowing your conjugation tables will greatly reduce
the amount of ambiguity.

German English
ich bin I am
du bist you (singular informal) are
er/sie/es ist he/she/it is
wir sind we are
ihr seid you (plural informal) are
sie sind they are
Sie sind you (formal) are

You are can refer to one or more people

In your own dialect, you might prefer to use something like y'all or you guys when
addressing more than one person, but remember that, in Standard English, you are can
refer to one person or multiple people. When translating you are into German, you
need to decide whether to use du bist (informal, addressing one person) or ihr seid
(informal, addressing more than one person).

(There's also the formal you (Sie sind), which will be introduced later in the course.)

Common Phrases

hallo, tschüss, danke, bitte, ja, nein

Duo, guten morgen, guten tag, guten abend, willkommen, gern geschehen
bis bald, auf wiedersehen, bis später, bis morgen, gute nacht
Entschuldigung, es tut mir leid, genau, leider, in ordnung
wie geht's, mir geht's gut, keine ahnung, alles klar

SIMPLE GERMAN PRESENT TENSE

In English, the present tense can be simple or progressive (as in "I eat" or "I am
eating"). Both forms translate to just one German present tense form, because there is
no continuous tense in standard German. So, "she learns" and "she is learning" are
both "sie lernt."

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

WILLKOMMEN CAN BE A FALSE FRIEND

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

DUO
Duo is the name of Duolingo's mascot (the green owl).

Accusative Case

trinke, trinkst, trinkt, trinken, Milch

esse, isst, essen, esst, einen, Apfel
liest, eine, Zeitung
lese, lesen, ein, Buch, Bücher
hat, den, das, die
habe, hast, habt, haben

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

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

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

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

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Nominative der die das die
Accusative den die das die

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter

Nominative ein eine ein
Accusative einen eine ein

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

Conjugations of the verb sein (to be)

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

German English
ich bin I am
du bist you (singular informal) are
er/sie/es ist he/she/it is
wir sind we are
ihr seid you (plural informal) are
sie sind they are
Sie sind you (formal) are

Conjugations of the verb essen (to eat)

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

English person ending German example

I -e ich esse
you (singular informal) -st du isst
he/she/it -t er/sie/es isst
we -en wir essen
you (plural informal) -t ihr esst
you (formal) -en Sie essen
they -en sie essen

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

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

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

The verb haben (to have)

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

English personending German example

I -e ich habe
you (singular informal) -st du hast
he/she/it -t er/sie/es hat
we -en wir haben
you (plural informal) -t ihr habt
you (formal) -en Sie haben
they -en sie haben

Introduction

Hans, heiße, Julia, Karl

komme, aus, Deutschland, England
Deutsch, Englisch, spreche, versteht

Food 1

Essen, Hunger, Pizza, Suppe, Fisch, Eis, gut

Tee, Durst, schmeckt, Kaffee, Bier, Wein
Obst, Orange, Banane, Saft, Apfelsaft, Orangensaft
Ei, Käse, Fleisch, Gemüse, Kartoffel
süß, Schokolade, Zucker, Erdbeere, frisch, lecker
Salz, Nudeln, Reis, öle
The verb haben (to have)
In English, you can say "I'm having bread" when you really mean that you're eating or
about to eat bread. This does not work in German. The verb haben refers to
possession only. Hence, the sentence Ich habe Brot only translates to I have bread, not
I'm having bread. Of course, the same applies to drinks. Ich habe Wasser only
translates to I have water, not I'm having water.

Having said that, the verb haben is sometimes used to describe physical conditions,
emotional conditions, and states of being.

For instance, the German for I am hungry is Ich habe Hunger. You can think of it as
having the condition of being hungry.

Ich habe Hunger = I am hungry

Ich habe Durst = I am thirsty
Sie hat Recht = She is right
Er hat Angst = He is afraid

Mittagessen - lunch or dinner?

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

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

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

die Autobahn (das Auto + die Bahn)

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

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

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

Cute like sugar!

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

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

Die Katze ist süß. (The cat is cute.)
Does Gemüse mean vegetable or vegetables?
In German, "Gemüse" is used as a mass noun. That means it's grammatically singular
and takes a singular verb.
Animals 1

Tier, frisst, Katze, Hund, Maus, Bär

Haustier, Kuh, Pferd, Schwein, Vogel, Ente
Spinne, Insekt, Biene, Fliege, Käfer

Unlike English, German has two similar but different verbs for to eat: essen and
fressen. The latter is the standard way of expressing that an animal is eating
something. Be careful not to use fressen to refer to humans – this would be a serious
insult. Assuming you care about politeness, we will not accept your solutions if you
use fressen with human subjects.

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

Fortunately, both verbs are conjugated very similarly:

essen fressen (for animals)

ich esse ich fresse
du isst du frisst
er/sie/es isst er/sie/es frisst
wir essen wir fressen
ihr esst ihr fresst
sie/Sie essen sie/Sie fressen

Plurals

Kühe, Mäuse, Schwein, Fische, Tiere, Hunde, Pferde

Eier, Menschen, Bären, Insekt, Kartoffeln, Zeitungen
Orangen, Banane, Katzen, Erdbeeren, Enten, Tomaten, Spinne, Fliege
Äpfel, Vögel, Mädchen, Käfer

German plurals - the nominative Case

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

-e ending: most German one-syllable nouns will need -e in their plural form. For
example, in the nominative case, "das Brot" (the bread) becomes "die Brote," and
"das Spiel" (the game) becomes "die Spiele."
-er ending: most other masculine or neuter nouns will need the -er ending, and there
may be umlaut changes. For example, in the nominative case "das Kind" (the child)
becomes "die Kinder," and "der Mann" (the man) becomes "die Männer."
-n/-en ending: most feminine nouns will take either -n or -en in all four grammatical
cases, with no umlaut changes. For example, "die Frau" (the woman) becomes "die
Frauen" and "die Kartoffel" becomes "die Kartoffeln." All nouns ending in -e will
have an added -n, so "die Ente" becomes "die Enten".
-s ending: most foreign-origin nouns will take the -s ending for the plural, usually
with no umlaut changes. For example: "der Chef" (the boss) becomes "die Chefs."
There is no change for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of these in the
singular: -chen, -lein, -el, or -er. There may be umlaut changes. For example: "das
Mädchen" (the girl) becomes "die Mädchen," and "der Bruder" (the brother) becomes
"die Brüder."
German feminine plurals - nouns ending in -in
Feminine nouns that end in "-in" will need "-nen" in the plural. For example, "die
Köchin" (the female cook) becomes "die Köchinnen" in its plural form.

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

Don't worry if you can't pick up on the difference at first. You may need some more
listening practice before you can tell them apart. Also, try using headphones instead of
speakers.

Even if this doesn't seem to help, knowing your conjugation tables will greatly reduce
the amount of ambiguity.

German English
ich bin I am
du bist you (singular informal) are
er/sie/es ist he/she/it is
wir sind we are
ihr seidyou (plural informal) are
sie sind they are
Sie sind you (formal) are

Adjectives: Predicative 1

perfekt, schlecht, frei, toll, normal, leicht

laut, leise, lang, kurz, stark, schwach
klar, rund, ruhig, groß, klein

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

Der Mann ist groß.

Die Männer sind groß.
Die Frau ist groß.
Die Frauen sind groß.
Das Haus ist groß.
Die Häuser sind groß.

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

Negative and positive statements

nicht, traurig, gesund, einfach, lustig, fertig

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

Nicht
Use "nicht" in the following five situations:

Negating a noun that has a definite article like "der Raum" (the room) in "Der
Architekt mag den Raum nicht" (the architect does not like the room).
Negating a noun that has a possessive pronoun like "sein Glas" (his glass) in "Der
Autor sucht sein Glas nicht." (the writer is not looking for his glass).
Negating the verb: "Sie trinken nicht" (They/You do not drink).
Negating an adverb or adverbial phrase. For instance, "Mein Mann isst nicht
immer" (my husband does not eat at all times).
Negating an adjective that is used with "sein" (to be): "Du bist nicht hungrig" (you are
not hungry).
Position of Nicht
Adverbs go in different places in different languages. You cannot simply place the
German adverb "nicht" where you would put "not" in English.

The German "nicht" will precede adjectives and adverbs as in "Das Frühstück ist nicht
schlecht" (the breakfast is not bad) and "Das Hemd ist nicht ganz blau" (the shirt is
not entirely blue).

For verbs, "nicht" can either precede or follow the verb, depending the type of verb.
Typically, "nicht" comes after conjugated verbs as in "Die Maus isst nicht" (the mouse
does not eat). In conversational German, the perfect ("Ich habe gegessen" = "I have
eaten") is often used to express simple past occurrences ("I ate"). If such statements
are negated, "nicht" will come before the participle at the end of the sentence: "Ich
habe nicht gegessen" (I did not eat/I have not eaten).

Finally, "nicht" also tends to come at the end of sentences (after direct objects like
"mir" = "me,"" or after yes/no questions if there is just one conjugated verb). For
example, "Die Lehrerin hilft mir nicht" (The teacher does not help me) and "Hat er
den Ball nicht?" (Does he not have the ball?)

Kein
Simply put, "kein" is composed of "k + ein" and placed where the indefinite article
would be in a sentence. For instance, look at the positive and negative statement about
each noun: "ein Mann" (a man) versus "kein Mann" (not a/not one man), and "eine
Frau" versus "keine Frau."
"Kein" is also used for negating nouns that have no article: "Man hat Brot" (one has
bread) versus "Man hat kein Brot" (one has no bread).

Nicht versus Nichts

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

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

This skill contains both negative and positive statements.

Questions and statements

neu, schnell, langsam, schön, wichtig, teuer, weit

müde, kalt, schwer, richtig, alt, jung
schmutzig, sauber, hoch, tief, warm

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

This skill contains both questions and statements.

Verbs: Present 1

wollen, mache, spielt, laufen, geht, schläft

mag, lernt, liest, schreiben, sehe, hört
kennst, bringe, fahre, rennt, denkt, schwimmen
beginnen, bezahle, reicht, wäschst, brauchen

CONJUGATING REGULAR VERBS

Verb conjugation in German is more challenging than in English. To conjugate a
regular verb in the present tense, identify the invariant stem of the verb and add the
ending corresponding to any of the grammatical persons, which you can simply
memorize:

machen (to do/make):

English personending German example
I -e ich mache
you (singular informal) -st du machst
he/she/it -t er/sie/es macht
we -en wir machen
you (plural informal) -t ihr macht
you (formal) -en Sie machen
they -en sie machen
Notice that the 1st and the 3rd person plural have the same ending as "you (formal)."

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

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

When translating into English, how can I tell whether to use the simple (I drink) or the
continuous form (I am drinking)?

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

HOW DO YOU LIKE THINGS IN GERMAN?

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

mögen is used for things, animals, and people:

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

mögen is conjugated irregularly:

I like ich mag
you (singular informal) like du magst
he/she/it likes er/sie/es mag
we likewir mögen
you (plural informal) like ihr mögt
you (formal) like Sie mögen
they like sie mögen

gern(e) is used for verbs/activities:

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

mögen cannot be followed by another verb.

(The subjunctive form (möchten) can be followed by a verb, but Ich möchte Fußball
spielen translates as I would like to play soccer, not I like playing soccer.)

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

tragen, Kleid, Rock, Hut, Schuhe

Kleidung, Hosen, Hemd, Mantel, Jacken
Tasche, Knopf, Schmuck, Kosmetik, Ring, passt, Fleck

Kleider - dresses or clothes?

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

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

Nature 1

Natur, Erde, Berg, Bäume, Wind

Feuer, Blumen, Luft, meere, monds
Himmel, Sonne, Stern, fällt, leben

Lakes and seas - false friends ahoy

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

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

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

singular der See (masculine - the lake)die See (feminine - the sea)
nominative der Seedie See
accusative den See die See
dative dem See der See
genitive des Sees der See
The plural forms are identical.

plural die Seen (masculine - the lakes) die Seen (feminine - the seas)
nominative die Seen die Seen
accusative die Seen die Seen
dative den Seen den Seen
genitive der Seen der Seen

Possessive Pronouns
mein, meine, dein, deine
seins, unser, ihr, euerer

Personal Pronouns in the Nominative Case

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

Demonstrative Pronouns in the Nominative Case

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

Nominative Pronouns

beiden, dies, jedes, manche, viele, alle, alles

viel, niemand, jemand, etwas, paar

EIN PAAR VS EIN PAAR

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

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

Negatives

nicht, kein, keine, keinen

keiner, nie, niemals, nichts

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

Nicht
Use "nicht" in the following five situations:

Negating a noun that has a definite article like "der Raum" (the room) in "Der
Architekt mag den Raum nicht" (the architect does not like the room).
Negating a noun that has a possessive pronoun like "sein Glas" (his glass) in "Der
Autor sucht sein Glas nicht." (the writer is not looking for his glass).
Negating the verb: "Sie trinken nicht" (They/You do not drink).
Negating an adverb or adverbial phrase. For instance, "Mein Mann isst nicht
immer" (my husband does not eat at all times).
Negating an adjective that is used with "sein" (to be): "Du bist nicht hungrig" (you are
not hungry).
Position of Nicht
Adverbs go in different places in different languages. You cannot simply place the
German adverb "nicht" where you would put "not" in English.

The German "nicht" will precede adjectives and adverbs as in "Das Frühstück ist nicht
schlecht" (the breakfast is not bad) and "Das Hemd ist nicht ganz blau" (the shirt is
not entirely blue).

For verbs, "nicht" can either precede or follow the verb, depending the type of verb.
Typically, "nicht" comes after conjugated verbs as in "Die Maus isst nicht" (the mouse
does not eat). In conversational German, the perfect ("Ich habe gegessen" = "I have
eaten") is often used to express simple past occurrences ("I ate"). If such statements
are negated, "nicht" will come before the participle at the end of the sentence: "Ich
habe nicht gegessen" (I did not eat/I have not eaten).

Finally, "nicht" also tends to come at the end of sentences (after direct objects like
"mir" = "me,"" or after yes/no questions if there is just one conjugated verb). For
example, "Die Lehrerin hilft mir nicht" (The teacher does not help me) and "Hat er
den Ball nicht?" (Does he not have the ball?)

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

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

Nicht versus Nichts

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

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

This skill contains both negative and positive statements.

Adverbs

auch, so, gerne, gern, wirklich, heiße

noch, nur, schon, immer, genug, zu
zusammen, dran, vielleicht, wieder, alleine
HOW DO YOU LIKE THINGS IN GERMAN?
Use the verb mögen to express that you like something or someone, and use the
adverb gern(e) to express that you like doing something.

mögen is used for things, animals, and people:

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

gern(e) is used for verbs/activities:

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

mögen cannot be followed by another verb.

(The subjunctive form (möchten) can be followed by a verb, but Ich möchte Fußball
spielen translates as I would like to play soccer, not I like playing soccer.)

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

Places 1

Gebäude, Häuser, märkte, Schule, Gärten, Ecke

Bahnhöfe, Restaurants, Bibliothek, Schloss, Bank, hotels, Straße
bauen, länder, Stadt, Dorf, Brücke, Parks, Zimmer

Stuff

Zeug, Fahrzeug, Flugzeug, Feuerzeug, Werkzeug, spielzeugs

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

Accusative Pronouns

mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch

meine, deine, seines, ihre, unsere, eure, diese
alle, anderes, jedes, viele, das

Personal Pronouns in the Accusative Case

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

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

Nominative Accusative
ich (I) mich (me)
du (you singular informal) dich (you singular informal)
er (he) sie (she) es (it) ihn (him) sie (her) es (it)
wir (we) uns (us)
ihr (you plural informal) euch (you plural informal)
sie (they) sie (them)
Sie (you formal) Sie (you formal)
Demonstrative Pronouns in the Accusative Case
Similarly, only the masculine gender shows the change in the demonstrative
pronouns: "der" (for "that one") changes to "den," but "die" and "das" (for "that one")
remain the same.

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

Household 1

öffnet, Wand, Decke, Fenster, Tür, Zaun, Treppe

Wohnung, Dach, Balkon, Keller, Schlüssel, Küche
Wohnzimmer, Tisch, Stuhl, Schrank, Sofa, Möbel
Schlafzimmer, Bett, Teppich, Lampe, Licht, Steckdose, Ladegerät

Conjunctions

entweder, oder, aber, denn, doch

wenn, weil, dass
da, obwohl, solange, sobald
sondern

German Conjunctions
A conjunction like "wenn" (when) or "und" (and) connects two parts of a sentence
together.

Coordinating conjunctions form a group of coordinators (like "und" = and; "aber" =

but), which combine two items of equal importance; here, each clause can stand on its
own and the word order does not change.

Examples: und, oder, aber, denn

Subordinating conjunctions combine an independent clause with a dependent clause;

the dependent clause cannot stand on its own and its word order will be different than
if it did. For instance, in "Er ist hungrig, weil er nichts aß" (he is hungry, because he
ate nothing), the clause starting with "weil" is the dependent clause, which would be
ordered as "er aß nichts" (he ate nothing) if it stood by itself.

Examples: weil, wenn, dass, obwohl

Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join sentence parts of equal importance. For
instance, "entweder...oder" (either...or) is such a pair and can be used like this: "Der
Schuh ist entweder blau oder rot" (this shoe is either blue or red).

In German, conjunctions do not change with the case (i.e. they are not declinable).

People 1

Person, Freunde, freundinnen, Name, Vornamen, Babys

Menschen, Leute, Herr, Damen, Erwachsene, Bürger
Publikum, Gruppe, Gäste, Vegetarier, Gegner, Geschlecht, Türke
Mitglied, Anfänger, Besucher, Fans, Feind, Nachbar

Questions 2

fragen, was, wo, wohin, woher, wann

wessen, Antwort, worüber, wofür, warum, wieso, womit
welche, wie, wie viele, wie viel, antwortet, wie bitte

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

Asking a Question in German With a W-Word

Seven W-questions - "Wer" (Who), "Was" (What), "Welche/Welcher/
Welches" (Which), "Wo" (Where), "Wann" (When), "Warum" (Why), and
"Wie" (How) - can be asked in German to elicit more than yes/no answers. Three of
the seven adverbs are declineable (i.e. change with the case), whereas four are not.

wer (who)
"Wer" is declinable and needs to adjust to the four cases. The adjustment depends on
what the question is targeting.
If you ask for the subject of a sentence (i.e. the nominative object), "wer" (who)
remains as is: "Wer sitzt da?" (Who is sitting there?).
If you ask for the direct (accusative) object in a sentence, "wer" changes to
"wen" (who/whom). As a mnemonic, notice how "wen" sounds similar to "den" in
"den Apfel." "Wen siehst du?" (Whom do you see?) - "Ich sehe den Sohn" (I see the
son).
If you ask for the indirect object, "wer" changes to "wem" (who/to whom) and adjusts
to the dative case. You could ask "Wem hast du den Apfel gegeben?" (To whom did
you give the apple?) and the answer could be "Dem Mann" (the man). Notice again
how the declined form of "wer" ("wem") sounds like the definite article of all
masculine and neuter nouns in the dative case (like "dem Mann" or "dem Kind").
Lastly, asking about ownership (genitive case), changes "wer" to "wessen" (whose).
"Wessen Schuhe sind das?" (Whose shoes are these?) - "Das sind die Schuhe des
Jungen" (These are the boy’s shoes). And notice once again how "wessen" (of the)
and "des" (of the) include a lot of s-sounds.
was (what)
Similar to the changes made to "wer," "was" will decline depending on the four cases.

For both the nominative and accusative cases, "was" remains the same. It is common
to ask "Wer oder was?" (who or what?), if you want to know more about the
nominative object and do not know if it is a person (who) or a thing (what). You ask
"Wen oder was?" (who/whom or what?), if you want to know more about the
accusative object.
"Was" changes to "wessen" for questions about the genitive object as in "Wessen ist
sie schuldig?" (What is she guilty of?).
For the dative, "was" changes to a compound of "wo(r)" + preposition. For instance, if
the verb takes the German preposition "an" (on/about) as in "an etwas denken," you
would ask "Woran denkt er?" (About what is he thinking?). Likewise, "hingehen" is a
verb composed of "gehen" + "hin" (go + to) and you would ask "Wohin geht sie?" (To
where is she going?).
welche/welcher/welches (which)
"Welch-" words are used to ask about for a specific item out of a group of items, such
as "which car is yours?".

This declines not only for case, but also for gender, in a way very similar to
adjectives.

wo (where)
In German, you can inquire about locations in several ways. "Wo" (where) is the
general question word, but if you are asking for a direction in which someone or
something is moving, you may use "wohin" (where to). Look at: "Wo ist mein
Schuh?" (Where is my shoe?) and "Wohin kommt dieser Wein?" (Where does this
wine go?). Furthermore, "Wohin" is separable into "Wo" + "hin." For example, "Wo
ist mein Schuh hin?" (Where did my shoe go?).

Note that the sound of "Wer" is similar to "Where" and that of "Wo" to "Who," but
they must not be confused. In other words: the two German questions words
"Wer" (Who) and "Wo" (Where) are false cognates to English. They mean the
opposite of what an English speaker would think.

wann (when)
"Wann" (when) does not change depending on the case. "Wann" can be used with
conjunctions such as "seit" (since) or "bis" (till): "Seit wann haben Sie für Herrn
Müller gearbeitet?" (Since when have you been working for Mr. Müller?) and "Bis
wann geht der Film?" (Till when does the movie last?).

warum (why)
"Warum" (why) is also not declinable. "Wieso", "Weshalb", and "Weswegen" can be
used instead of "Warum." There's no difference in meaning. For example, take
"Warum ist das Auto so alt?" = "Wieso ist das Auto so alt?" = "Weshalb ist das Auto
so alt?" = "Weswegen ist das Auto so alt?" (Why is the car so old?).

wie viel vs wie viele

"wie viel" is used with uncountable or countable nouns (how much/how many), and
"wie viele" is only used with countable nouns (how many). Some people think that
"wie viel" can only be used with uncountable nouns, but that is not true.

Wie viel Milch trinkst du? = How much milk do you drink?
Wie viel(e) Tiere siehst du? = How many animals do you see

Family 1

Mutter, Vater, Schwester, Brüder, Tochter, Sohn

Familie, Eltern, Geschwister, Partner, Beziehung
Großeltern, Großvater, Großmutter, Enkel, Enkelin
Mama, Papa, Oma, Opa

Informal and formal words for family members

Just like in English, there are informal and formal words for "mother", "father",
"grandmother", and "grandfather". Note that in German, the difference between
formal and informal is a lot more pronounced than in English. The informal terms are
pretty much only used within your own family.

formal informal
die Mutter (the mother) die Mama (the mom)
der Vater (the father) der Papa (the dad)
die Großmutter (the grandmother) die Oma (the grandma)
der Großvater (the grandfather) der Opa (the grandpa)
Alternative words for family members
There are countless alternative words for certain family members. A lot of them are
regionalisms or influenced by your own family's heritage. Some of them are
ambiguous as well. For instance, some people call their father "papa", and some
people call their grandfather "papa". We can't accept all these terms, and since
translations used in the German course for English speakers may also pop up in the
English course for German speakers, we don't want to confuse German speakers with
these words. Please understand that we're not going to add more alternatives. In your
own interest, stick to the ones suggested by Duolingo (see above).

Accusative Prepositions
ohne, um, gegen, durch, für, entlang

DATIVE PREPOSITIONS
Dative prepositions always trigger the dative case.

Here they are: aus, außer, bei, gegenüber, mit, nach, seit, von, zu

ACCUSATIVE PREPOSITIONS
Accusative prepositions always trigger the accusative case.

Here they are: bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, um

TWO-WAY PREPOSITIONS
Two-way prepositions take the dative case or the accusative case depending on the
context.

If there's movement from one place to another, use the accusative case.

If there's no movement or if there's movement within a certain place, use the dative
case.

Here they are: an, auf, entlang, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen

No movement -> dative:

Ich bin in einem Haus (I am in a house)

Movement within a certain place -> dative:

Ich laufe in einem Wald (I am running in [within] a forest)

Movement from one place to another -> accusative:

Ich gehe in ein Haus (I am walking into a house)

CONTRACTIONS
Some prepositions and articles can be contracted.

preposition + article contraction

an + das ans
an + dem am
auf + das aufs
bei + dem beim
in + das ins
in + dem im
hinter + das hinters
über + das übers
unter + das unters
von + dem vom
vor + das vors
zu + dem zum
zu + der zur

ZU HAUSE AND NACH HAUSE

zu Hause means at home, and nach Hause means home (homewards, not at home).
The -e at the end of zu Hause and nach Hause is an archaic dative ending, which is no
longer used in modern German, but survived in certain fixed expressions.

Ich bin zu Hause (I am at home)

Ich gehe nach Hause (I am walking home)

Numbers 1

Nummer, es gibt, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf

sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn, elf, zwölf
dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn, sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn
Zahl, zählen, Summe, Hälfte, Dutzend, telefonnummer

Food 2

Frühstück, frühstückt, Nüsse, Honig, Butter, Marmelade, Müsli, Milch

Mittagessen, zu mittag, salzig, Rezept, Tomate, Pilze, Hähnchen
schmeckt, kocht, sauer, Zitrone, Getränke, Speisekarte, Bohnen
Vorspeise, Haupt+gericht, Knoblauch, Zwiebel, scharf, Senf, Salat
Nachtisch, Abendessen, zu abend, Löffel, Gabel, Messer,

Dative Case

gibt, Frau, Mann, einem, einer

zeigt, Kind, einem
sagt, dem, der, den

The Dative Case

The indirect object in a sentence is called the dative object. The indirect object is the
receiver of the direct (accusative) object. For example, "Frau" is the indirect (dative)
object in "Das Mädchen gibt einer Frau den Apfel." (A girl gives the apple to a
woman).

The dative is also used for certain dative verbs such as "danken" (to thank) and
"antworten" (to answer) and with dative prepositions such as "von" (by/of) and
"mit" (with). For example, "Ich danke dem Koch" (I thank the cook) or "Wir spielen
mit der Katze" (We play with the cat).

This case is known as the "Wem-Fall" (with whom-case), because to identify the word
in the dative case, you have to ask "With/to whom ...?"

Note that the dative changes all articles for the words, the plural and pronouns. For
example, even though "Frau" is a feminine noun, it will take the masculine article
here to indicate the dative: "Ich danke der Frau" (I thank the woman).

Case Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Nominative der die das die
Accusative den die das die
Dative dem der dem den
Case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative ein eine ein
Accusative einen eine ein
Dative einem einer einem
Some masculine nouns add an -en or -n ending in the dative and in all other cases
besides the nominative. For example in the dative, it is "dem Jungen" (the boy).

German Plurals: The Dative Case

There are some exceptions when it comes to pluralizing nouns in the dative case.

As mentioned before, for most German one-syllable nouns, the -e ending will be
needed in their plural form. However, in the dative case, the noun always adds an -en
ending (and there may be umlaut changes). For "the hands," in the dative case it is
"den Händen" and for "the dogs" it is "den Hunden."
For most German masculine or neuter nouns, the plural will end in -er with the
exception of the dative case: they will end in -ern in the dative case. There may also
be umlaut changes. For example, for "the books" it is "den Büchern." An example
sentence would be "Der Junge lernt mit den Büchern." (The boy is learning with the
books). Or for "the children," this would mean "den Kindern."
Whereas most neuter or masculine nouns ending in -chen, -lein, -el, or -er, require no
change of the noun in the plural, they end in -n in the dative case. There may be
umlaut changes. For example, for "the windows" it is "den Fenstern" for the dative
plural. An example sentence would be: "Es funktioniert mit den Fenstern." (It works
with the windows). For "the mothers," it is "den Müttern" as in: "Ich spreche mit den
Müttern." (I talk with the mothers).

Money

gelder, kostet, Euro, Cent, kaufen, Preis

gewinnt, Dollar, reich, besitzt, Geldautomat, überweist, schweizer franken

Euro or Euros?
In German, the singular is Euro and the plural is usually Euro as well. As a rule of
thumb, use Euro when talking about a specific amount, e.g. 200 Euro. In some
contexts, the form Euros is used as well. For instance, you can say Euros to refer to
individual euro coins, an unquantified amount of euros, or euros as opposed to a
different currency, e.g. Ich habe hundert Schweizer Franken, aber keine Euros (I have
a hundred Swiss francs but no euros). At the end of the day, many native speakers use
either plural form regardless of context.

In English, either plural form is perfectly fine. The plural form euro tends to be
preferred in the Republic of Ireland, and the plural form euros tends to preferred
pretty much anywhere else. Originally, the plural form euro was supposed to be used
in official EU documents, but that's no longer the case.

Dative Pronouns

mir, dir, ihr, uns, euch, ihnen, ihm, Trinkgeld

meinem, hilft, danke, meiner, meinen, gehört
deinem, seinem, ihrem, unseren, folgt, eurem
beiden, diesen, vielen, welchem

Personal Pronouns in the Dative Case

Many words change in the dative case. For the third person pronouns, the following
are different from the nominative case: the masculine pronoun is "ihm" (to him), the
feminine is "ihr" (to her), the neuter is "ihm" (to it), and the plural is "ihnen" (to
them).

Nominative Accusative Dative

ich (I) mich (me) mir (to me)
du (you singular informal) dich (you singular informal) dir (to you singular
informal)
er (he) sie (she) es (it) ihn (him) sie (her) es (it) ihm (to him) ihr (to her) ihm (to
it)
wir (we) uns (us) uns (to us)
ihr (you plural informal) euch (you plural informal) euch (to you plural
informal)
sie (they) sie (them) ihnen (to them)
Sie (you formal) Sie (you formal) Ihnen (you formal)
This explains why when thanking a female person it is only correct to say "Ich danke
ihr" (I thank her) and not "Ich danke sie" (I thank she).

Demonstrative Pronouns in the Dative Case

All four instances of demonstrative pronouns (the three genders and the plural)
change in the dative case. For the masculine, the pronoun is "dem" (to/with that), for
the feminine it is "der" (to/with that) and for the neuter it is "dem" (to/with that); for
the plural it is "denen" (to/with them).

Family 2

Tante, Onkel, Nichten, Neffen, Verwandte

Cousin, Cousine, Zwillinge, Urenkel, Urgroßmutter
Partnerschaft, Hochzeit, schwanger, Halbbruder, Halbschwester, verheiratet

DIE FRAU KENNT SEINEN ONKEL - WHY NOT IHREN ONKEL?

Both Die Frau kennt ihren Onkel and Die Frau kennt seinen Onkel are grammatically
correct, but they don't have the same meaning. When you say Die Frau kennt ihren
Onkel, you're either talking about the woman's own uncle, another female person's
uncle, or the uncle of multiple people. When you say Die Frau kennt seinen Onkel,
you're talking about another person's uncle, and that person is male. People can know
other people's relatives.

TALL AND SHORT PEOPLE

Tall people are groß, not hoch, and short people are klein, not kurz.

Dative Prepositions

seit, von, mit

bei, nach, zu
vom, beim, zum, zur

DATIVE PREPOSITIONS
Dative prepositions always trigger the dative case.

Here they are: aus, außer, bei, gegenüber, mit, nach, seit, von, zu

ACCUSATIVE PREPOSITIONS
Accusative prepositions always trigger the accusative case.

Here they are: bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, um

TWO-WAY PREPOSITIONS
Two-way prepositions take the dative case or the accusative case depending on the
context.

If there's movement from one place to another, use the accusative case.

If there's no movement or if there's movement within a certain place, use the dative
case.

Here they are: an, auf, entlang, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen

No movement -> dative:

Ich bin in einem Haus (I am in a house)

Movement within a certain place -> dative:

Ich laufe in einem Wald (I am running in [within] a forest)

Movement from one place to another -> accusative:

Ich gehe in ein Haus (I am walking into a house)

CONTRACTIONS
Some prepositions and articles can be contracted.

preposition + article contraction

an + das ans
an + dem am
auf + das aufs
bei + dem beim
in + das ins
in + dem im
hinter + das hinters
über + das übers
unter + das unters
von + dem vom
vor + das vors
zu + dem zum
zu + der zur

ZU HAUSE AND NACH HAUSE

zu Hause means at home, and nach Hause means home (homewards, not at home).
The -e at the end of zu Hause and nach Hause is an archaic dative ending, which is no
longer used in modern German, but survived in certain fixed expressions.

Ich bin zu Hause (I am at home)

Ich gehe nach Hause (I am walking home)

Body 1

Körper, Köpfe, Haare, Auge, Ohr, Nase

drücken, Mund, Zähne, halse, Arme, Hände, Finger
Schultern, Rücken, Brust, Magen, Herzen
Beine, Haut, Füße, blut, gesichts

Formal you

sie, ihnen

German You: du, ihr, Sie

There are three ways of saying "you" in German. In English, however, "you" can be
either singular or plural and no distinction is made between formal and informal.

In German, if you are familiar with someone, you use "du" (which is called "duzen").
For example, if you talk to your mother, you would say: "Hast du jetzt Zeit,
Mama?" (Do you have time now, Mommy?). But if you are not familiar with someone
or still wish to stay formal and express respect, you use "Sie" (so-called "siezen"). For
example, you would always address your professor like this: "Haben Sie jetzt Zeit,
Herr Smith?" (Do you have time now, Mr. Smith?) The person who is addressed with
a "Sie" has to offer you a "du" before you can use it.

How do you know if "sie" means "she", "they", or "you"?

You can distinguish the formal "Sie" from the plural "sie" (they) because the formal
"Sie" will always be capitalized, but it will remain ambiguous at the beginning of
written sentences. For instance, "Sie sind schön." can either refer to a beautiful
individual or a beautiful group of people. The verbs for "sie" (they) and "Sie" (you)
are conjugated the same. On Duolingo, either should be accepted unless the context
suggests otherwise. In real life, there's always context. Don't worry about
misunderstandings.

Fortunately, the verb for "sie" (she) is different. "Sie ist schön." only translates to
"She is beautiful." There's no ambiguity.

"ihr"
Lastly, the German "ihr" is the informal plural of "you," like in "Tom und Sam, habt
ihr Zeit?" (Tom and Sam, do you have time?). Duolingo accepts"you all" and "you
guys" for "ihr" but not for the more formal "Sie".

You will encounter the informal you in this skill as well

As some of the sentences in this skill are shared among multiple skills, you will
encounter the informal you in this skill as well. For technical reasons, this cannot be
changed at this point. Please do not send a report regarding this issue.

Some-
irgendwas, irgendwer, irgendwo, irgendwie, irgendwann

Shopping

einkaufen, Bäckerei, Marktplatz, Läden, geschäfts

verkauft, Kunde, Kundin, Supermarkt, einkaufeswägen, Kasse, Tüte
Gutscheine, Einkaufszentrum, Apotheke, Sonder+angebot, billig, gratis

Travel

Auto, Urlaub, Fahrrad, Züge, Bus, Österreich, Bayern, Wien

Ferien, Afrika, Frankreich, Hamburg, Reise, Pass, zölle, Visum
Spanien, städteplane, Sehenswürdigkeiten, Reiseführer, Tourismus, Weg, Flug, Taxi
Schweizer, Schweiz, mietwagen, Strecke, Verkehr, Motorräder, Fahrt
Italien, Großbritannien, Bahn, Boote, Abenteuer, Tour, wandern
Schweden, Bushaltestelle, Besuch, fliegen, Fähre, Verspätung, bucht

The word Sehenswürdigkeit (=sight as in sightseeing) is made up of several

meaningful parts: sehen + s + würdig + keit.

Let's look at each part and its meaning.

Part Meaning
sehen to see
-s- connecting element
würdig to be worthy
-keit noun suffix

Literally Sehenswürdigkeit means something which is worthy to see.

The connecting element -s- is used to link words together.

The ending -keit turns an adjective into a noun.

Often the ending of a compound noun is a good indicator for the gender of the noun.
For example, if a noun ends in -keit, chances are high that it is feminine (die).

Numbers 2
zwanzig, dreißig, vierzig, fünfzig, sechzig, siebzig, achtzig, neunzig
einundzwanzig, dreiundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig, vierundzwanzig, zweiundvierzig,
achtundzwanzig, zweiundachtzig
hundert, tausend, hundertdreiundzwanzig, Meter, Prozent
Liter, Milliarden, Millionen

Colors

Farbe, rot, grün, blau, gelb, schwarz, weiß

blauen, rote, rotes, schwarze, schwarzes
weißen, weißer, grüne, grünen, rote, schwarze, Rot
braun, braune, grau, grauen, bunt, bunte, buntes, pink

Adjectives are only inflected when they come before a noun.

Der Käse ist alt.

Das ist ein alter Käse.

There are three declension classes.

STRONG INFLECTION
Strong inflection is used:
When no article is used

When a quantity is indicated by

etwas (some; somewhat), mehr (more)
wenig- (few), viel- (much; many), mehrer- (several; many), einig- (some)
a number (greater than one, i.e. with no endings)
non inflectable phrases: ein paar (a couple; a few), ein bisschen (a bit; a little bit)

The adjective endings are the same as the definite article endings, apart from the
adjectival ending "-en" in the masculine and neuter genitive singular.

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

Nominative alter altes alte alte
Accusative alten altes alte alte
Dative altem altem alter alten
Genitive alten alten alter alter
MIXED INFLECTION
Mixed inflection is used after:
indefinite articles ein-, kein-
possessive determiners mein-, dein-, sein- etc.

Nominative and accusative singular endings follow the definite article; all other forms
end with "-en".

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

Nominative alter altes alte alten
Accusative alten altes alte alten
Dative alten alten alten alten
Genitive alten alten alten alten

WEAK INFLECTION
Weak inflection is used after:

definite articles (der, die, das, etc)

derselb- (the same), derjenig- (the one)
dies- (this/that), jen- (that), jeglich- (any), jed- (every), which decline like the definite
article.
manch- (some), solch- (such), welch- (which), which decline like the definite article.
alle (all)

Five endings in the nominative and accusative cases end with -e, all others with -en.

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

Nominative alte alte alte alten
Accusative alten alte alte alten
Dative alten alten alten alten
Genitive alten alten alten alten

Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, "German adjectives," Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=German_adjectives&oldid=604800767 (accessed June 27, 2014).

Verbs Imperative

trink, lies, iss, nimm, gib

handelt, lass, geht, sei, ruf, bleib

The imperative mood is used to express commands.

There are three different forms.

The first one is used to address one person informally. It is formed by dropping the
infinitive ending -en and adding -e. More often than not, this -e ending is dropped,
especially in spoken German. This form of the imperative does not include a personal
pronoun.

The second one is used to address more than one person informally. It uses the same
conjugation as the regular ihr form of the present tense. This form of the imperative
does not include a personal pronoun.

The third one is used to address one or more people formally. It uses the same
conjugation as the regular Sie form of the present tense. The formal imperative is the
only form to include the personal pronoun (Sie). Note that the word order is reversed.
The verb always precedes the pronoun. It essentially looks like a question.

Trink(e) es! = Drink it! (informal, addressing one person)

Trinkt es! = Drink it! (informal, addressing more than one person)
Trinken Sie es! = Drink it! (formal, addressing one or more people)

Some verbs have irregular imperative forms.

infinitive infml. sg. infml. pl. formal

lesen (to read) lies lest lesen Sie
geben (to give) gib gebt geben Sie
nehmen (to take) nimm nehmt nehmen Sie
sein (to be) sei seid seien Sie

Occupation 1
Beruf, Arzt, Ärztin, Bäcker, Bäckerin, Koch, Köchin
Student, Studentin, Lehrers, Lehrerin, Schüler, Schülerin, professore, Professorin
Geschäftsführer, Arbeitgeber, Arbeitgeberin, Arbeitnehmer, Mitarbeiter, Mitarbeiterin,
Arbeit
Händler, Meister, Bürgermeister, Senior, Autor, Trainer, Chef, Chefin
Architekten, Verkäufer, Bedienung, Fahrer, Feuerwehr, Bauer

Student or Schüler?
A Student is a university student and a Schüler is a pupil/student at a primary,
secondary or high school. Students attending other types of schools such as language
or dancing schools may also be called Schüler.

Dropping articles
When talking about your or someone else's profession in sentences such as I'm a
teacher or She's a judge, German speakers usually drop the indefinite article (ein/
eine). It sounds more natural to say Ich bin Lehrer and Sie ist Richterin than Ich bin
ein Lehrer and Sie ist eine Richterin. This rule also applies to students.

If you add an adjective, you can't drop the article. Er ist ein schlechter Arzt (He's a
bad doctor) is correct, but Er ist schlechter Arzt is not.

Also note that you can't drop the definite article (der/die/das).

Male and female variants

The grammatical gender usually matches the biological sex of the person you're
referring to, i.e. the word that refers to a male baker is grammatically masculine, and
the word that refers to a female baker is grammatically feminine. In the vast majority
of cases, the female variant is formed by simply adding the suffix -in to the male
variant, e.g. der Bäcker becomes die Bäckerin and der Schüler (the pupil) becomes
die Schülerin.

The plural of the female variant is formed by adding the suffing -innen to the singular
of the male variant, e.g. "die Bäckerinnen" and "die Schülerinnen".

Keep in mind that, in some cases, the plural comes with an umlauted stem vowel.
This applies to the female variant as well, e.g. "der Koch" becomes "die Köche" and
"die Köchin" becomes "die Köchinnen".

Prepositions

legen, sitzt, in, im, auf, aufs

über, unter, zwischen, ins
vor, hinter, neben, ab, während
am, an, ums
wegen, einschließlich, außer

Materials

Glas, Sand, steinen, Wolle, Beton, Plastik

Pappe, Papier, Leder, hölzer, Mauer, Baumwolle
Metall, Gold, Silber, Kupfer, stahl, Eisen

Numbers 3

erste, erster, zweiten, zweite, dritte

vierte, fünfte, sechste, siebte, ähnlich, Mathematik

ORDINAL NUMBERS
German ordinal numbers are pretty regular. The general rule is:

number range ending

1-19 -te
> 19 -ste
Irregular forms
1. erste
3. dritte
7. siebte
8. achte

Ordinal numbers behave like adjectives, so their endings will change accordingly:

Er kennt den ersten Sänger.

Er ist am sechsten August geboren.
Ich bin seine tausendste Lehrerin.
Comparisons

Größen, große, großen, kleinen, großer

als, höher, kleiner, größer, schöner, stärker, wichtiger, länger, teurer
langsamer, schneller, leichter, besser, größere, Schnecke, schnelle

Qualifiers

guter, gute, guten, ganz, sehr, ziemlich, super

bessere, beste, besten, eher, gewöhnlich, normalerweise

EIN PAAR VS EIN PAAR

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

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

Household 2

Haushaltsgeräte, Heizung, Reinigung, umzüge, geräte, Schlaf, Haushalt

Zahnbürste, Zahnpasta, Räume, Gläser, Leiter, Batterie, voll, leer
Toilette, Tasse, tore, Schüssel, Teller, Kühlschrank, Karton, Rucksack
Flasche, Rasierer, Bad, Seife, Spiegel, duscht
Duschgel, Dusche, Hand+tuch, Shampoo

DAS HANDTUCH = THE TOWEL; DAS TUCH = THE CLOTH

A Handtuch is a towel, not a hand towel. Of course, a towel can be a hand towel, but
this does not mean that the two words are interchangeable. A pet can be a dog, but this
does not mean that the words pet and dog are interchangeable.

Dates 1

Tag, montage, dienstag, mittwoch, donnerstages, freitagen

Woche, wöchentlich, Wochenenden, Werktag, Samstage, Sonntage, bis
Zukunft, täglich, alltages, Vergangenheit, Anfang, Ende
bald, danach, spätestens, endlich, inzwischen

Adjectives: Predicative 2

komplett, fit, regional, plötzlich, automatisch, hilfreich

aktiv, relativ, allgemein, extrem, tatsächlich, original, seltsam
wert, falsch, beliebt, echt, privat, sinnvoll, knapp
verantwortlich, bereit, egal, offen, gemeinsam, ausgezeichnet
zuständig, komisch, genau, fest, weich, hart, kaputt

Location

hier, dort, da, drüben

oben, unten, vorne, hinten, nebenan
drinnen, draußen, innen, außen, überall

When talking about locations in English, you can use here, there, this, and that to
express that something is close or far away. In German the word da is commonly used
when talking about locations. The good thing about da is, you don't have to worry
about the distance! It can mean anything close or far away.

Let's look at a few examples:

Wir sind da. (We are here/there.)

Da ist ein Apfel. (Here/There is an apple.)
With hier (here) and dort (there) you can be more specific about the distance.

hier (here)
da (here/there)
dort (there)
In colloquial language...
you can combine all of them with articles, and use them similar to this and that !

das hier (this)

das da (this/that)
das dort (that)
Many people use this with the other articles as well. Note that while all of the
following constructs are commonly used in spoken language, they are not appropriate
for written, formal language.

der/die/das hier (this)

der/die/das da (this/that)
der/die/das dort (that)
To refer to one specific thing, you can put a noun between the article and hier/da/dort.

For example:

Der Apfel da ist groß. (That apple is big.)

Die Katzen da sind süß. (Those cats are cute.)
Some people might add drüben. This translates to over there.

Der Apfel da drüben ist groß. (That apple over there is big.)
Die Katzen dort drüben sind süß. (Those cats over there are cute.)

Adjectives: Predicative 3

notwendig, selbstverständlich, eindeutig, begeistert, verfügbar, zufrieden

sichtbar, unsichtbar, abhängig, unabhängig, bekannt, unbekannt
nützlich, möglich, unmöglich, praktisch, persönlich, positiv
individuell, international, verpflichtet, kostenlos, wahrscheinlich, deutlich

Places 2

wohnt, Ort, Kneipe, Platz, Pension, Unterkunft, Bereich

Flughafen, Bundesland, Region, Bezirk, Standort, gegenüber, Grund
Grundstück, Zentrale, Zentrum, Halle, Fläche, Hof, Innenstadt
Innere, Umgebung, Ausland, Europa, Ferienhaus, Heimat, Insel, Hauptstadt

Medical

krank, Patienten, blutet, Medikamente, Pflaster, Rollstuhl

Praxis, Gesundheit, Untersuchung, Formular, Krankheit
Medizin, Krankenhaus, Krankenwagen, Krankenversicherung
Unfall, Notfall, Opfer, Zahnarzt, Zahnärztin, schlechte
Klinik, Therapie, Alkohol, Diät, Ernährung

WHAT IS A PFLASTER?
A Pflaster (neuter) is a small adhesive bandage.
Depending on where you live, you may call it Band-Aid, plaster or Elastoplast in
English.
The German word Pflaster does not refer to a plaster cast. The German for plaster cast
is Gips(verband) (masculine).

Verbs: Present 2

schwimmen, arbeitet, singen, hoffe, weiß, hält

nimmt, kannst, gehen, suche, gefallen, findest, bleiben, ändert
treffen, glaubt, warten, liegt, scheint, stellt, steht
ersetzt, erkennt, benutzt, erweitern, erlauben, verpassen, bestelle, übernimmt, schließt
passiert, akzeptieren, abonnieren, spazieren, funktioniert
prüft, sammeln, meint, schauen, steigt, fehlt, stiehlt

Dates 2

Monate, monatlich, Frühling, März, april, mai, Spargel

Jahre, jährlich, quartal, Sommer, junis, Juli, august, heiß
Daten, Kalender, Jahreszeit, herbst, september, Oktober, november, kühl
Winter, Saison, letzte, Weihnachten, Dezember, Februar, januar
Schluss, Alter, Geburtstag, Phase, Jahrhundert, endet, vorbei

People 2
Gemeinde, Vereine, Öffentlichkeit, Verbindung, verhältnisse, Nutzer
Bevölkerung, Jugend, Einwohner, Paar, besuche, man

Verbs Future 1

wird, essen, gehen, reden, warten

bleiben, vergessen, lieben, kosten, wissen, folgen
testen, rufen, lösen, sprechen, handeln, zählen
beraten, schützen, bieten, merken, erklären

The future tense consists of a conjugated form of werden in the present tense and an
infinitive (the base form of the verb).

German English
ich werde spielen I will play
du wirst spielen you will play
er/sie/es wird spielen he/she/it will play
wir werden spielen we will play
ihr werdet spielen you will play
sie werden spielen they will play
Sie werden spielen you will play

Depending on the context, "ich werde spielen" translates to "I will play" or "I am
going to play". In German, there is no distinction between "will" and "going to".

German normally uses the present tense to indicate the future. For example, "ich gehe
morgen ins Kino" translates to "I will go to the movies tomorrow".