Was habe ich schon gelernt? GERMAN GRAMMAR?!?!? UGH!!!!!! Was habe ich schon gelernt?

What do you know about the parts of a sentence? Last year the rich gentleman bought his wife a beautiful house at the beach.

What do we need to know about nouns? They have a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) They sometimes change in the plural Their articles (and sometimes the noun itself) change depending on the case CASE?!?!?!? What do we mean by ‘case’?

German Cases Nominativ – the case of the subject The boy is 14 years old. (Der Junge ist 14 Jahre alt.) Akkusativ – the case of the direct object He has a brother and a sister. (Er hat einen Bruder und eine Schwester.) Dativ – the case of the indirect object He gave his mother flowers for her birthday. (Er hat seiner Mutter Blumen zu ihrem Geburtstag gegeben.) Genitiv – the case of possession His mother’s name is Erika. (Der Name seiner Mutter ist Erika.)

In German, there are other times when a certain case is needed… Nominativ Akkusativ Dativ Genitiv -case of the subject -case of the direct object -following “es gibt” -following Accusative prepositions -case of the indirect object -following Dative verbs (like gefallen, helfen, danken, gehören, and antworten) -following Dative prepositions -case of possession -following Genitive prepositions

Prepositions little words… big trouble-makers Two-Way an auf hinter in neben über unter vor zwischen These prepositions take Accusative when motion is indicated and Dative when location (stationary position) is indicated. Akkusativ durch für gegen ohne um Dativ aus außer bei mit nach seit von zu

How do the articles (definite and indefinite) change in the four cases? The definite article “der” and all of the “der-words” are declined like this: “der-words” dies- (this) jen- (that) jed- (each) manch- (some) solch- (such) welch- (which) alle- (all) Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural N der die das A den D dem den (+n) G des (+s/es)

The indefinite article and all of the “ein-words” are declined like this: kein – no,not a mein - my dein – your sein/ihr/sein – his/her/its unser - our euer - your ihr - their Ihr - your Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural N ein eine (k)eine A einen D einem einer (k)einen (+n) G eines (+s/es) (k)einer

Pronouns take the place of nouns Pronouns take the place of nouns. So that means they change in the different cases too! Personal Pronouns: Nominativ Akkusativ Dativ 1st pers. sg. ich – I mich – me mir - me 2nd pers. sg. du - you dich - you dir - you 3rd pers. sg. er/sie/es –he/she/it ihn/sie/es – him/her/it ihm/ihr/ihm – him/her/it 1st pers. pl. wir – we uns – us uns - us 2nd pers. pl. ihr – y’all euch – y’all 3rd pers. pl. sie - they sie - them ihnen - them Formal (sg. and pl.) Sie - you Ihnen - you

What about the Interrogative Pronouns … Nominativ Akkusativ Dativ Genitiv People Wer? (Who?) Wen? (Whom?) Wem? (Whom?) Wessen? (Whose?) Things Was? (What?) ---- Other Interrogatives (question words) are: Wie? - how Wann? - when Warum? - why Was für ein? – what kind of Wo? - where Wohin? – to where Woher? – from where Wieviel? – how much Wie viele? – how many

…and the Reflexive Pronouns? Akkusativ Dativ 1st pers. sg. mich mir 2nd pers. sg. dich dir 3rd pers. sg. sich 1st pers. pl uns 2nd pers. pl. euch 3rd pers. pl. Formal (sg./pl.)

The Dreaded Adjective Ending In German, attributive adjectives (that means adjectives that stand before nouns) take endings that will change depending upon: gender, number, case, and whether they are preceded by a “der-word”, an “ein-word” or neither

Unpreceded Adjective Endings If the adjective is not preceded by a “der-word” or “ein-word”, it will take the following endings: Unpreceded Adjective Endings Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural N -er -e -es A -en D -em G

Adjective Endings Preceded by “der-words” N -e -en A D G If the adjective is preceded by a “der-word” it will take the following endings: Adjective Endings Preceded by “der-words” Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural N -e -en A D G

If the adjective is preceded by an “ein-word” it will take the following endings: Adjective Endings Preceded by “ein-words” Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural N -er -e -es -en A D G

VERBS!!!!! the unconjugated form of the verb is called the verb infinitive. in a sentence, verbs must be conjugated to agree with their subjects. The two most important verbs in German are: haben – to have ich habe du hast er/sie/es hat wir haben ihr habt sie haben Sie haben sein – to be ich bin du bist er/sie/es ist wir sind ihr seid sie sind Sie sind

Another useful group of verbs are the Modal Verbs Modal verbs are very easy to use, though their conjugations are irregular in the singular. They are conjugated to agree with the subject and are used in conjunction with a verb infinitive like this: Ich will heute abend ins Kino gehen. The Modal Verbs you already know are… dürfen – to be allowed to können – to be able to müssen – to have to sollen – to be supposed to wollen – to want to mögen – to like möchten – would like (the subjunctive form of mögen)

dürfen können müssen sollen wollen mögen möchten darf kann muss soll will mag möchte darfst kannst musst sollst willst magst möchtest dürft könnt müsst sollt wollt mögt möchtet

Special groups of verbs include: Stem-vowel changing verbs (z.B. essen, lesen) 2. Separable prefix verbs (z.B. aufmachen, mitkommen) Inseparable prefix verbs the inseparable prefixes are: be- emp- ent- er- ge- ver- zer-

When we talk about verbs, we speak of: Tense: Present, Simple (or narrative) Past, Conversational Past, Past Perfect, Future, and Future Perfect Voice: Active or Passive Mood: Indicative or Subjunctive

The tenses you have learned so far are: Present: verb stem or -e -en changed verb stem + -(e)st -(e)t -(e)t -en -en Future: conjugated form of the verb werden + another verb infinitive Conversational Past: conjugated form + past participle of haben or sein (these must be memorized)

Simple (or Narrative) Past Regular Verbs: -(e)te -(e)ten Verb stem + -(e)test -(e)tet -(e)te -(e)ten Irregular Verbs: Changed stem + - -en -(e)st -(e)t - -en Mixed Verbs: Changed stem + -te -ten -test -tet -te -ten

That crazy German Word Order “Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.” - Mark Twain, American writer and journalist, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court In statements, the verb must always be in the 2nd position! As long as the verb remains the second sentence element, other elements in the sentence can be moved around. Wir spielen heute Fußball. Heute spielen wir Fußball Fußball spielen wir heute.

Types of German Word Order Normal: Subject - Verb Der Junge hat eine Schwester. Inverted: Verb – Subject Hat der Junge eine Schwester? Transposed: Verb at the end of the clause Ich weiß nicht, ob der Junge eine Schwester hat. TMP: When there are several descriptive expressions in a sentence, they will be arranged in the order: Time, Manner, Place

Conjunctions determine word order in a clause! Coordinating Conjunctions - do NOT affect word order. They include: aber, denn, oder, und, sondern z.B. Ich kann am Wochenende nicht ins Kino gehen, denn ich habe kein Geld. Subordinating Conjunctions – bump the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. They include: als, als ob, bis, damit, daß, bevor, indem, ob, obwohl, seitdem, während, weil, wenn z.B. Ich kann am Wochenende nicht ins Kino gehen, weil ich kein Geld habe.

What do we still need to learn? Subjunctive Mood Passive Voice Relative Clauses