Basic course IGerman words

*Meine Familie!* German families are generally small - typically, parents will have one or two children. Let's learn some new vocabulary so you can describe your own family in German!

*You are a German student!* You are your profession! In English, we say *I am an actor*, but in German, we just say *I am actor*. For example: "Ich bin Lehrerin." Remember that all professions in German have a male and a female version. The female ones end with *-in*! "der Kellner" "die Kellnerin" "der Schauspieler" "die Schauspielerin"

*Eins, zwei, drei, let's go!* How many days are in a week? How many people are in your family? How many apples are in your kitchen? 1 "eins" 2 "zwei" 3 "drei" 4 "vier" 5 "fünf" 6 "sechs" 7 "sieben" 8 "acht" 9 "neun" 10 "zehn"

*Wie ist das Wetter?* Like in English, use "es" to talk about the weather. For example: "Es ist warm." No matter the weather, *verbs* in a statement stay in second position. But words about *when* something happens can go at the beginning, the end, or right after the verb! "Heute ist es kalt." "Es ist heute warm." "Es ist sonnig heute."

*Akkusativ AKA der vierte Fall* German has four cases. Let's take a look at the *accusative!* In English, we say *He* likes me, but I like *him*. *He* becomes *him* because of the role it plays. German does the same thing with words like "ein" and "mein"! "Ich habe einen Bruder." When something is on the receiving end of an action - being loved, being seen, etc. - the word is put in the accusative case. "Ich liebe meinen Mann." *The good news* is that in the accusative, only *masculine* words change form. Others stay the same! "Ich sehe meine Mutter im Laden." "Er wäscht sein Auto regelmäßig."

*Lernen oder studieren?* In English, you can study a language, study for an exam, or study at a university. In German, use the verb "lernen" to express the first two meanings. When you use the verb "studieren", it means *to be a university student*.

*Living in the present* In German you use the same *verb* form for things you do habitually and things you're doing right now. "Ich lerne viel." - I learn a lot. "Ich lerne jetzt." - I'm learning now. Use the word "jetzt" to describe that something is happening right now.

*Would you like a cup of tea?* Be polite and use the verb "möchten" to ask someone what he or she would like or to describe what you would like to do. The second verb always comes at the end! "Ich möchte heute ins Kino gehen." "Möchtest du etwas zum Trinken?"

*Wo or Wohin?* Let's learn some local prepositions! With countries and cities, you only need to know three prepositions: "in", "aus" and "nach". Plus, you don't need any article! Well, except for a few countries. When you want to answer a *Wo-question*, use the preposition "in". "Wo bist du heute?" - "Ich bin heute in Prag." "Wo arbeitest du?" - "Ich arbeite in Berlin." When you want to answer a *Wohin-question*, use the preposition "nach". "Wohin reist du morgen?" - "Ich reise morgen nach Prag." When you want to answer a *Woher-question*, use the prepositio "aus". "Woher kommst du?" - "Ich komme aus England."

*Countries + definite articles* Some countries take on *definite articles* when talking or writing about them. *DIE*: "die Schweiz", "die Türkei", "die Slowakei" *DER*: "der Iran", "der Irak", "der Libanon", "der Sudan" *PLURAL*: "die Vereinigten Staaten", "die Niederlande" Note, that the definite article changes depending on the question. "Wo wohnst du?" - "Ich wohne in der Schweiz." (dative) "Wohin reist du?" - "Ich reise in die Schweiz." (accusative) "Woher kommst du?" - "Ich komme aus der Schweiz." (dative)

*Umlauts are back!* In German, some verbs with *a or* *au*, such as "laufen" and "fahren", are given an *umlaut* when they are combined with "du" or "er", "sie". "Wir fahren morgen nach München, aber er fährt schon heute." Note that the verb "laufen" can be translated both as *run* and as *walk*. A: "Ich fahre mit dem Auto zur Arbeit." B: "Ich nicht, ich laufe lieber."

*Do you usually go by car?* No matter what means of transport you decide to use, in German, you always need the preposition "mit". Note that "mit" goes always *with the Dative!* "Ich fahre heute mit dem Auto." "Fährst du lieber mit dem Zug?"

*The dog is he!* In English, we say *he* or *she* for people, but use *it* for objects. But in German, everything (both living and nonliving) is described as "er", "sie", or "es"! The *pronoun* you use depends on the *gender* of the noun. "Der Tisch ist braun." - "Er ist braun." "Die Katze ist klein." - "Sie ist klein." *It's time to learn some new verbs!* In German, some verbs consist of two parts. In the *infinitive*, the two parts stay together as one word, but usually, you have to separate them, that's why they're called "trennbare" verbs.

*What does your typical day look like?* In German, we use the word "Tagesablauf" to talk about our daily routines. Let's learn some temporal adverbs, so you can say, what you usually/often/sometimes or never do!

*Can you do that?* It's time to learn some modal verbs! Modal verbs are usually accompanied by another verb that expresses the action. In the present and simple past tenses, this other verb is an infinitive at the end of the sentence. "Ich kann gut singen." The present tense conjugation of modal verbs is irregular. "können" "ich kann" "du kannst" "er/sie/es kann" "wir können" "ihr könnt" "sie/Sie können" "müssen" "ich muss" "du musst" "er/sie/es muss" "wir müssen" "ihr müsst" "sie/Sie müssen"

"Magst du mich nicht mehr?" Another modal verb is "mögen". It's the only modal verb, that is regularly used *without an additional infinitive*. Remember, we use the word "gern" to say that we like *to do something*? "Mögen" is used to say that one likes something or someone, rather than liking *to do something*, so it doesn’t require a second verb to complete its meaning. e. g. "Ich singe gern." "Ich mag den Film." "ich mag" "du magst" "er/sie/es mag" "wir mögen" "ihr mögt" "sie/Sie mögen"

*Will is not the future Will?!* In English we use the word *will* to describe the future, but in German it is just a form of another modal verb! The infinitive form is "wollen". "ich will" "du willst" "er/sie/es will" "wir wollen" "ihr wollt" "sie/Sie wollen" Note that the 1st and 3rd forms of modal *verbs* are always *the same*!

*When do we meet?* Temporal prepositions are related to time and answer questions like "Wann?" and "Wie lange?". Use "um" to talk about a precise time. e. g. "Ich komme um fünf (Uhr)." Use "am" to indicate days of the week and times of the day. *But* "in der Nacht" e. g. "Ich arbeite auch am Samstag." "Wir kommen am Abend." Use "von" / "bis" if you are talking about a period of time. e. g. "Ich arbeite von acht bis vier."

*Prepositions + Dative* In English, all prepositions are … just prepositions. But in German there are *4 categories of prepositions* and one of those is *dative prepositions.* These prepositions require nouns in the dative case. "aus" (from, out of) "außer" (except for, besides) "bei" (at, near, by) "mit" (with, by means of) "nach" (after, to, according to) "seit" (since, for) "von" (from, by, of, about) "zu" (to) "gegenüber" (across from) Here is how the definite article changes in dative: *die* changes to *der* *der* changes to *dem* *das* changes to *dem*

*Perfekt* German has two past tenses: *Perfekt* and *Präteritum*. In spoken German, the *perfect tense* is often used so let's take a look at how it works. All *regular German verbs* have a basic past participle form based on the *third person singular form.* For example, the third person form of the verb "spielen" is (er) "spielt". Add the *ge-* prefix to that and you get the past participle: "gespielt." All regular verbs follow this same pattern. To form the present perfect tense, you take the *past participle* and use it with an *auxiliary or helping verb* (usually a form of "haben", sometimes "sein"). "Ich habe gespielt." - I played. "Wer hat es gesagt?" - Who said that? "Wir haben gestern Pizza gemacht." - Yesterday, we made pizza.

*Irregular verbs* Some verbs in German don't follow this simple pattern and you need to learn their past participle forms by heart. Let's start with the most used verbs! "gehen" - "ist gegangen" "fahren" - "ist gefahren" "verstehen" - "hat verstanden" "sehen" - "hat gesehen" "essen" - "hat gegessen" Have you noticed that we use the verb "sein" with the verbs that express *movement?* If you want to learn more about the past tense, take a look at the *Past tense course*.

*What did you do yesterday?* When the verb has a separable prefix, the *-ge* goes between the prefix and the stem of the verb. "aufstehen" - "ist aufgestanden" "anrufen" - "hat angerufen" "abholen" - "hat abgeholt" "mitnehmen" - "hat mitgenommen" "einladen" - "hat eingeladen"