A 1.
1 Grammatik
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INHALTSVERZEICHNIS
[ Table Of Contents ]
Articles & Cases 03
Sentence Structure 04
Personal Pronouns & Possessive Articles 05
Present Tense & Verb Conjugation 06
Formal VS Informal 07
Separable Verbs 08
Prepositions & Adverbs 09
Modal Verbs 10
Present Perfect Tense 11
The Past Participle ( Partizip II ) 12
Tips & Tricks 13
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Die deutschen Artikel & Fälle
[ German Articles & Cases ]
1 German Cases Overview 2 German Articles
The German language has 4 cases. Dativ will A table with all definite and indefinite
be explained in A1.2. Genitiv comes later. articles in all different cases with example
sentences.
3 Nominative Case 4 Accusative Case
The nominative case is the first case you The accusative is the second case you will
learn. Only the subject in the sentence uses learn. The direct object is in accusative.
the nominative case.
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Satzbau im Präsens & Perfekt
[ Sentence Structure in Present & Perfect Tense ]
1 German Cases Overview
The German sentence structure can be
quite flexible. The normal one is the
SVO (subject, verb, object).
1 Important Rule:
The conjugated verb comes always
in the 2nd position in a main clause.
Only in Yes/No questions you
start directly with the
conjugated verb.
2 Sentence Structure in Perfect Tense
In the present perfect tense, the
conjugated verb (haben or sein),
still stands in the 2nd position
(except for Yes/No questions).
At the end of the sentence, in the
last position, comes the past
participle (Partizip II). Always!
Subject comes right
in front or after the
conjugated verb.
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Personalpronomen & Possessivartikel
[ Personal Pronouns & Possessive Articles ]
1 Personal Pronouns
A personal pronoun replaces a person
OR also an object. In German, each
noun is classified by gender, so it’s
important to study each noun and its
gender at the same time.
der Tisch = "male" = er
die Tasche = "female" = sie
In English it’s just it, but in German we use
he, she, him and so on, also for things.
Nominativ: Subject
Akkusativ: Direct Object
Dativ: Indirect Object
2 Possessive Articles
Possessive articles can only be used
together with a noun. Like „normal“
articles, they also change according to
the gender of the noun they refer to,
and indicate a possession.
In A1.1 you only need to
memorize the first two
lines: mein / dein
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Das Präsens & die Verbkonjugation
[ Present Tense & Verb Conjugation ]
1 Present Tense
Don’t forget:
The present tense can also be used for
the future tense, as with English, when
using a time marker like for example
“tomorrow” or “next week”.
Also:
There is no "–ing" form in German
that is used like in English.
I am going …
In German it's just: Ich gehe … (I go)
2 Verb Conjugation
There are regular verbs (most verbs)
and irregular verbs.
For regular verbs:
Drop the –en of the infinitive (original
form) of the verb and add the endings.
And just memorize these endings!
Irregular verbs are mostly only irregular
in the 2nd and 3rd person singular.
Write your own list for all
irregular verbs! Very useful!
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Formell VS Informell
[ Formal VS Informal ]
1 Formal vs Informal
Like in most other languages, there is a
formal and informal way to talk to a
person.
Informell:
friends, family, kids
Formell:
business, shopping, Restaurant...
and people you don't know
2 Conjugation
The conjugation for the informal way:
2nd person singular (du wohnst)
The conjugation for the formal way:
3rd person plural (Sie wohnen)
When using formal, the „S“ in
„Sie“ is ALWAYS capitalized.
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Trennbare Verben
[ Separable Verbs ]
1 Separable Verbs Explanation 2 Conjugation of Separable Verbs
Separable verbs consist of a prefix and a When conjugated the prefix needs to be
verb. Every prefix changes the meaning of separated from the verb. The verb has the
the verb. same conjugation as in “normal usage”.
3 Prefixes 4 Sentence Structure
Some prefixes do not separate the verb When used in a sentence the verb stands
when conjugated. They are treated like still in position 2. The prefix is always in the
normal verbs (10 prefixes for non-separable). last position, at the end.
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Präpositionen und Adverbien
[ Prepositions and Adverbs ]
1 Time Prepositions
A1.1 level has only these time
prepositions you see on this table.
Other prepositions will follow in A1.2
level.
The most important and commonly
used ones are:
um + Uhrzeit
am + Tag / Tageszeit
2 Adverbs of Frequency
Commonly used adverbs of frequency
from 0% (never) to 100% (always).
“Immer” is rarely used alone. In most
situations we would add the “fast”.
Ich trinke fast jeden Tag zwei Liter
Wasser.
The adverb stands usually right
after verb / subject in 3rd position.
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Modalverben
[ Modal Verbs ]
1 Definition & Usage 2 Können - Can
You always need to conjugate the modal „Können“ and its meanings / usage.
verb. The main verb (Vollverb) stands in the
last position in the infinitive (orginial form).
3 Mögen - Like 4 Wollen - Want
„Mögen“ and its meanings / usage. „Wollen“ and its meanings / usage.
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Präpositionen und Adverbien
[ Prepositions and Adverbs ]
1 Present Perfect Tense
The German present perfect tense is
the most important past tense. It’s
used in daily conversation; spoken
German.
As in English, we use an auxiliary verb
(Hilfsverb) for the Perfect Tense.
However, German has 2 present perfect
“helper verbs”:
haben ( to have )
sein ( to be )
2 Perfect Tense with HABEN & SEIN
Just like in English and other languages,
to build the perfect tense you need to
know the past participle (Partizip II).
For regular verbs you can form it by
yourself (more info about this on the
next page). PP’s of irregular verbs need
to be memorized.
Start from the beginning
creating your own verb list
for irregular verbs! And also
add the past participle.
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Das Partizip II
[ The Past Participle ]
1 Partizip II for REGULAR Verbs 2 Partizip II for IRREGULAR Verbs
Please keep in mind that there are some Please keep in mind that there are some
exceptions, but in the beginning, just follow exceptions, but in the beginning, just follow
these rules. these rules.
3 When to use which auxiliar verb 4 SEIN as the auxiliar verb
Most verbs have “haben” as an auxiliary The most common and used verbs with
verb. But the 20% with “sein” are very “sein” are verbs with a movement involved
commonly used and important! (e.g. gehen, fahren, kommen).
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Tipps & Tricks
[ Tips & Tricks ]
1 German Genders
The German genders are built
according to the ending of the noun. In
this table you see the most important
"rules" for each gender.
der = maskulin ( male )
die = feminin ( female )
das = neutral ( neuter )
die = Plural ( plural )
Throughout our textbook and
videos, we will use these
colors to indicate the gender.
2 German Plural
The German plural has lots of rules. On
this table you find the 7 most important
tendencies you can learn / memorize to
get most plural forms, right from the
beginning.
At first focus on rules 1-4 in
the beginning - these are the
most important ones.
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