Thursday, Sept. 29 th 2011 Summary of contents covered in class: Nouns, Nouns Gender, definite and indefinite articles, Pronouns as “stand- ins”, Possessive Pronouns, comparative

1. German Nouns and Grammatical Gender

German Nouns… Are capitalized!!! Have grammatical gender There is no logic behind why the Noun for coat is masculine, but the noun for blouse feminine and the noun for shirt neuter. Thus, you always have memorize the article with the noun! masculinefeminineneuter DERDIEDAS BruderSchwesterBaby Mantel (Coat) Bluse (blouse) Hemd (shirt) Pullover (sweater) Hose (pants) T-Shirt (T-Shirt) EINEINEEIN => definite article = the => indefinite article = a See page 7

There’s hope… on page 9 => help to predict the gender of a noun BUT: These are only hints, you still have to learn the gender! What’s the gender of these nouns? – Onkel – Tante – Sommer – Sektor – Revolution – Liebchen – Manager – Elektrizität – Demokratie – Schätzelein See page 9

Donau­dampfschiffahrts­elektrizitäten­ haupt­betriebs­werkbau­unterbeamten­ gesellschaft => Longest German Noun ever published = Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services  Compound nouns (e.g. coffeepot) die Stadt + das Zentrum = das Stadtzentrum der Sport + die Mannschaft = die Sportmannschaft die Natur + das Museum = das Naturmuseum Gender of these? Rule? – gender of compound nouns is determined by the gender of the last noun See page 9

Nouns and their plural forms English: one book – two books German: varied! no changeder Winterdie Winter Umlaut “der Vaterdie Väter eder Filmdie Filme Umlaut + eder Sohnedie Söhne... sorry, but again: MEMORIZE definite article for plurals is always...? DIE See page 8

Pronouns: Stand-ins for nouns in English, we use the pronouns he, she, it as a stand-in for nouns: The mother is old. She is old. The father is young. He is young. The t-Shirt is blue. It is blue. The jacket is green. It is green. See page 10

Pronouns: Stand-ins for nouns in German, the gender of a noun (der, die, das) also determines which pronoun will be used in reference to that noun Der Vater ist hier. => Er ist hier. Die Mutter ist hier. => Sie ist hier. Das T-Shirt ist blau. => Es ist blau. See page 10

Pronouns: Stand-ins for nouns BUT because of grammatical gender (see the remark on logic on slide 3) the pronoun agrees to the gender of the noun article even when the noun is not a person or an animal and has no natural gender (sex). See page 10

How to remember this? definite article pronoun der er die sie das es die sie singular plural See page 10

Some Practice Die Großmutter heißt Helga. ______ heißt Helga. Das Kind heißt Lisa. ______ heißt Lisa. Bart ist 10 Jahre alt. ______ ist 10. Die Hose ist rot. _____ ist rot. Das Hemd ist blau. _____ ist blau. Der Pullover ist grün. _____ ist grün. See page 10

How do you say my brother again? mein/emy dein/eyour (informal) Ihr/eyour (formal) sein/ehis ihr/e her PLURAL: like the female forms of these => Possessive Pronouns Mark a possessive relationship, something belonging to something/someone make sure to agree these with the noun following! => mein Bruder BUT meine Schwester

Possessive Pronouns (singular)  Possessive Pronouns: Mark a possessive relationship, something belonging to something/someone make sure to agree them with the noun following! => mein Bruder BUT meine Schwester der Vater->mein Vatermy father die Mutter->meine Muttermy mother das Haus ->mein Hausmy house dein Vateryour father (informal) deine Mutteryour mother (informal) dein Hausyour house (informal) Ihr Vateryour father (formal) Ihre Mutteryour mother (formal) Ihr Hausyour house (formal) sein Vaterhis father seine Mutterhis father sein Haushis house ihr Vaterher father ihre Mutterher mother ihr Hausher house PLURAL: like the female forms of these, since the article for all plurals is DIE (see slide 6)

Possessive Pronouns (plural) We didn’t cover these in class, but to complete this overview: unser Vaterour father unsere Mutterour mother unser Hausour house euer Vateryour father (plural, informal) eure Mutteryour mother (plural, informal) euer Hausyour house (plural, informal) ihr Vatertheir father ihre Muttertheir mother ihr Haustheir house your formal like in the singular

Worksheet: The Simpsons

German adjectives and the comparative adjectives indicate qualities or characteristics How is something? Mein Bruder ist klein. My brother is small. Mein Vater ist alt. My father is old Mein Bruder ist kleiner als ich. My brother is smaller than me. Mein Vater ist älter als ich. My father is older than me. this is called the positive form this is called the comparative form See page 10

How to build the comparative form adjective + er klein-> kleiner small smaller intelligent-> intelligenter intelligent more intelligent groß-> größer big bigger alt-> älter old older irregular: gut -> besser good better + als = than

When things are equal… Mein Bruder ist so alt wie ich. => use the positive form put it in between so … wie = as … as

Exercise Material, page 4