German Noun Declension

http://www.lrz.de/~hr/lang/de-decln.html#weakhttp://www.lrz.de/~hr/lang/de-decln.htmlGerman Noun Declension

by Helmut Richter

The declension of most German nouns underlies one of several patterns which are described in this article. There is also a companion article describing the declension of other parts of speech in German.

In this article, the term class is used to mean combination of gender and number. The classes are abbreviated m (masculine singular), f (feminine singular), n (neuter singular), and p (common plural). The cases are abbreviated N (nominative), G (genitive), D (dative), and A (accusative). For more on genders, numbers, cases, and classes see the pertinent section in the article on German declension in general.

At the end of this article, there is a large collection of fully declined examples.

Formation of Plurals

Along with each German noun, one has to learn its gender and its plural. When these two are known, the remaining cases can nearly always be inferred, except for masculine nouns with an -en plural, most but not all of which are subject to a special declension pattern called weak declension. By the following rules one can get a feeling which formations are frequent, infrequent, or impossible, but they cannot save the labour of learning at least the genders and the plurals of the words.

Most words of German origin end with the word stem, with a schwa ending (that is, -e, -el, -en, or -er; each with an unstressed -e- realised as schwa) or with one of a handful of other endings, such as -ung (f), -heit (f), -keit (f), -schaft (f), -in (f), -nis (n or f), -tum (n, seldom m), -sal (n or f), -lein (n), -chen (n, at the same time a schwa ending), -ling (m), or -ig (m). For words of all these shapes there are a handful of plural endings, typically -e, -n, -er or no ending. These formations are called German-style plural in this article; they will be discussed in the two sections following this one.

German words that do not fit in this pattern mostly get a plural ending -s, in particular words ending with full vowels -a, -i, -o, -u (but not -ai, -ei, -au, -u, -eu, -ee, -ie), also acronyms and abbreviations. Low German loan words in High German can also have a plural -s ending; this Low German -s ending is also becoming more and more popular for words like Mdel (gal) or Kumpel (buddy) which have also a standard plural formation without -s.

Foreign words often have German-style plurals when they have been loaned into German for a longer time and when they can be fitted to the above shapes. There is no hard rule, and quite similar-looking words may have dissimilar plural forms. Thus the following observations can only give the trend:

Words of Latin, Greek, or French origin which are stressed on the last syllable (stem or ending) and are ending with a consonant or with the f endings -ie or -ei have always German-style plurals.

Foreign words with unstressed -e and -er endings will be treated like German words with such endings. For -e, this is not true for silent English -e (Single); it is often true for half-silent French -e (Garage f (other than in French), Soe = Sauce), but not always (Creme).

Only relatively few Latin or Greek words, in particular terms of academic language, have their plural forms loaned from the original language, e.g.Papyrus (-i), Genus (-era), Minimum (-a), Antibiotikum (-a), Praktikum (-a), Visum (-a), Lexikon (-a), Lemma (-ata or -as), Schema (-ata). When talking about music, Italian terms mostly get their original plurals (Cello (-i), Tempo (-i)), in other contexts, usage is varying.

Many other words with unstressed Latin or Greek endings build their plurals by replacing their endings with the German plural ending -en, e.g.Forum, Kriterium, Spektrum, Radius, Organismus, Virus, Firma, Mythos, Dogma, Drama, Thema. For n words with -um, this happens on a fairly regular basis (see the preceding item for a handful of exceptions) whereas for the other endings, this is only one of several possible formations. Some words have lost the Latin singular ending -ium in German (Indiz, Prinzip, Privileg) but do have the plural ending -ien. For other words as well, this is the most common plural ending when a Latin plural form with -ia has been loaned into German (Material, Reptil, Utensil).

Foreign words not fitting under any of the items above, in particular words with a full vowel at the end (Gorilla, Sauna, Komitee, Dementi, Baby, Essay, Bro, Niveau, Knguru, Milieu, Men), as well as most English loans except those with -er ending form their plural with -s, which can be regarded as the default case for words that do not quite fit into the German phonology.

A number of exceptional or remarkable plural forms are listed in Ralph Babel's FAQL.

German-Style Plural Forms

The formation of plurals called German-style in the last section consists in two changes to the word, of which none, one, or both take place:

appending an ending -e, -n, or -er. The -n ending is directly attached to a schwa ending (Boten, Deichseln, Schwestern) or to other final -e (Seen, Drogerien), otherwise it becomes -en (Strahlen, Frauen). An -s or -n at the word end after a short vowel is doubled before appending an -e or -en ending (e.g.Busse, Hindernisse, Kniginnen)

change of the vowel of the stressed stem syllable to become an umlaut: -a- to --, -o- to --, -u- to --, -au- to -u-. The umlaut is only possible when the stem is either last syllable prior to appending the plural ending or when only a schwa ending follows.

Which of these two changes apply for a given word depends on its gender and its shape:

1. Words ending with the word stem or with a non-schwa ending mostly get an -e ending when masculine or neuter, and an -n ending when feminine.

2. A small number of frequent monosyllabic words of German origin get a different ending: -er when masculine or neuter, and -e when feminine.

3. Words with a schwa ending get no plural ending when masculine or neuter, and an extra -n ending when feminine.

4. In addition, masculine words can get an -n ending; most of them underlying weak declension as described in the next section.

5. A vowel -a-, -o-, -u-, -au- in the word stem changes to umlaut always in case 2of this list, never with an -n ending, and mainly for masculine words in the remaining cases.

These rules are summarised in the following table (u stands for umlaut, w stands for weak declension). The green fields represent the combinations that adhere to the above rules. The red fields are exceptional combinations the given examples are meant as more or less exhaustive. Not contained are plural formations which do not exactly follow the rules in this section; for instance, many foreign words losing their original ending when acquiring the plural ending -en behave like the words the group of exceptions marked k.

-nw-n-eu-e-eru-u-Exceptions

mstem or non-schwa endingabca:Typ), Papagei, Psalm, -or;b:General), Kanal, Palast, Tenor);c:Irrtum, Reichtum;d:Dorn), Pfau, Schmerz, See, Staat, Strahl, Zins;e:Kse; f:Bauer), Bayer;g:Muskel, Pantoffel, Stachel, Vetter; h:Charakter

monosyllabic Germand

ending -ee

ending -el, -en, -erfgh

fstem or non-schwa endingii:-nis, -sal;j:Mutter), Tochter

monosyllabic German

ending -e, -el, -erj

nstem or non-schwa endingklmk:Leid, Insekt, Juwel, Verb;l:Regiment), -tum; m:-lein; n:Herz;o:Bett, Hemd, Ohr; p:Flo;q:Auge, Ende, Interesse; r:Abwasser, Kloster

monosyllabic Germannop

ending -e, -el, -en, -erqr

) These words have more than one declension, see section on polysemes. ) Tenor (stressed on second syllable, high male voice) and General have also plurals without umlaut, with no difference in meaning.

Weak Declension

With the exception of Herz, all nouns subject to weak declension are masculine. Among the m nouns, the following are subject to weak declension:

1. many monosyllablic nouns of German origin denoting persons or animals, e.g.Mensch, Frst, Held, Br but other m words meeting these criteria are not weakly declined, e.g.Mann, Freund, Wirt, Hund2. all nouns ending with -e denoting persons or animals, e.g.Bote, Kunde, Dne, Franzose, Lwe, Rabe; also Bauer, Nachbar (=Nah-Bauer), Bayer but no other words with -er3. all other nouns ending with -e (except Kse), e.g.Friede, Glaube, Gedanke, also Herz (n) and Fels4. all nouns with one of the stressed endings -ant, -ist, -and, -end, -et, -graph, -graf, -soph, -lith, -path, -nom irrespective of whether they denote persons, animals, or anything else but no nouns with one of the stressed endings -al, -ar, -eur5. nouns with one of the stressed endings -at, -it, -ent when they denote persons or animals, e.g.Soldat, Bandit, Referent6. some other words with those endings, e.g.Automat, Satellit, Koeffizient, Quotient but not for instance Apparat, Profit, Akzent, Kontinent.

In weak declension, the words take an -n ending not only in the plural but in all cases except m-N (Herz, being n, in all cases except n-NA). The form Herren is only used in p-NGDA whereas in m-GDA it is irregular Herrn.

The words of item 3in the list get an additional -s in the mn-G case: m-N Funke, m-G Funkens, m-DA and p-NGDA Funken. Note that this declension differs from a standard declension of Funken only in the m-N case; the declension with the -ens genitive is thus a mixture of the declensions of Funke and Funken which both exist and are synonyms. In fact, most of these words exist with two m-N forms with and without final -n. With Friede(n), Fels(en), Funke(n), Gedanke(n), Glaube(n), Name(n), Wille(n), the shorter form is the normal one but the longer one is also in use; with Gefalle(n), Haufe(n), Same(n), Schade(n), the shorter form is obsolescent or obsolete. A special case is Drache(n) where the shorter form conveys the original meaning dragon whereas the longer form is used for figurative meanings. With other words (e.g.Kragen or Kuchen), the ancient m-N forms without -n have entirely disappeared and are no longer considered correct.

Remaining Cases

Up to now, we have studied the formation of the p-N case for all words and of all cases for words underlying weak declension. The remaining cases for non-weak declension are:

mn-G case where nearly always an -s or -es ending is appended as discussed below

mn-D case where some words can but need not take an -e ending as discussed below

p-D case where all words with German-style plural (that is, neither plural -s nor plural ending borrowed from another language) get an additional -n ending except when the p-N form ends already with -n all others, that is, mn-DA, f-GDA, and p-GA, where the declined forms always are the same as the nominative forms in the same class.

The usage of the optional -e ending for mn-D case and of the -es instead of the -s ending for mn-G case normally occurs only with words of German origin ending with a stressed root syllable. It is not possible with words with a schwa ending, with a diminutive ending -chen or -lein, with an unstressed foreign ending or with a full vowel other than a diphthong at the word end. In the remaining cases (foreign words, other words with unstressed last syllable, words ending with stressed diphthong at the word end), it is very uncommon but occurs here and there.

When a final [s] sound in the uninflected noun would render the genitive -s inaudible, that is, with words ending with -s, -ss, -, -z, -tz, -x, German words and foreign words stressed on the last syllable mandatorily get an -es ending (des Gases, des Rosses, des Kreuzes, des Schatzes, des Hindernisses, des Kolosses, des Kompromisses) whereas words with unstressed foreign ending get no genitive ending at all (des Status, des Mythos, des Index) with exceptions only when the word is no longer perceived as foreign (des Busses, des Atlasses, des Zirkusses or des Zirkus). For other words as well, facilitation of pronunciation is an incentive of using the longer form with -es; in particular with lax plosives after long vowel at the word end (des Siebes, des Rades, des Tages). and with word-final consonal clusters ending with -sch, -t, or -d (des Barsches, des Mastes, des Hemdes). It is, however, neither mandatory for these words nor unusual for other words (des Tals or des Tales, des Kinns or des Kinnes).

Where there is free choice between -s and -es genitive, usage of -es has a slight poetic or archaic touch. The always optional -e dative ending, however, is pronouncedly archaic; many speakers use it only in idioms, e.g. bei Lichte besehen ([seen] in the cold light of day), im Grunde (basically), zu Tage treten (outcrop), im rechtlichen Sinne (in the legal sense), in diesem Sinne (in this spirit).

Declension Of Polysemes

Polysemes, that is, words that have different but related meanings in different contexts, have sometimes developed different declensions for the different meanings. In particular the formation of the plural is occasionally dependent on the meaning.

There is one recurring pattern with several neuter words having a plural with -er in the normal context, and a plural with -e used only in elevated or poetic language for a special case: Lichter (all kinds of lights) Lichte (candles or other small non-electric lamps); Gesichter (faces) Gesichte (visions); Bnder (tapes, ties, ribbons) Bande (emotional bonds); Tcher (cloths) Tuche (fine textile fabrics); Lnder (countries) Lande (lands, realms). The distinction between Wrter (words, lexical items, dictionary entries) and Worte (words, expressions, sayings) follows the same pattern but there is nothing elevated or poetic about the usage of Worte. Note also the pairs Geister (spirits, ghosts) Geiste (brandies, distilled liquids) where the word is masculine and Schilder (signboards, plates) Schilde (shields) where the word is neuter in the first meaning and masculine in the second.

Here are some other examples of differently declined polysemes with their nominative and genitive singular and their nominative plural:

die Mutter (mother), der Mutter, die Mtter die Mutter (screw nut), der Mutter, die Muttern der Dorn (thorn), des Dorns, die Dornen der Dorn (pin, bolt), des Dorns, die Dorne der Bauer (farmer), des Bauern, die Bauern der -bauer (builder, in composites), des -bauers, die -bauer der Bauer (bird cage), des Bauers, die Bauer der Fels or Felsen (individual rock), des Felsens, die Felsen der Fels (rock as material), des Felses,

der Drache (dragon), des Drachen, die Drachen der Drachen (kite, quarrelsome woman), des Drachens, die Drachen der Ort (place, location), des Ort(e)s, die Orte das/der Ort (technical edge, coalface, locus), des Ort(e)s, die rter (second form used only in very special contexts)

das Wasser, des Wassers, die Wasser (masses of water) das Wasser, des Wassers, die Wsser (kinds of potable water) but only das Abwasser (waste water), des Abwassers, die Abwsser das Regiment (reign), des Regiments, die Regimente das Regiment (regiment), des Regiments, die Regimenter der Typ (type), des Typs, die Typen der Typ (guy), des Typen, die TypenExamples

The following list of examples begins with the declensions represented by the green and red field in the table of German-style plurals, and in the same sequence when the matrix is read column by column.

-nwmder Diamantdie Diamantendes Diamantender Diamantendem Diamantenden Diamantenden Diamantendie Diamanten

der Menschdie Menschendes Menschender Menschendem Menschenden Menschenden Menschendie Menschen

der Buchstabedie Buchstabendes Buchstabensder Buchstabendem Buchstabenden Buchstabenden Buchstabendie Buchstaben

fder Bauerdie Bauerndes Bauernder Bauerndem Bauernden Bauernden Bauerndie Bauern

nndas Herzdie Herzendes Herzensder Herzendem Herzenden Herzendas Herzdie Herzen

-nmader Direktordie Direktorendes Direktorsder Direktorendem Direktorden Direktorenden Direktordie Direktoren

dder Staatdie Staatendes Staat(e)sder Staatendem Staat(e)den Staatenden Staatdie Staaten

gder Stacheldie Stachelndes Stachelsder Stachelndem Stachelden Stachelnden Stacheldie Stacheln

fdie Zeitungdie Zeitungender Zeitungder Zeitungender Zeitungden Zeitungendie Zeitungdie Zeitungen

die Bckereidie Bckereiender Bckereider Bckereiender Bckereiden Bckereiendie Bckereidie Bckereien

die Fraudie Frauender Frauder Frauender Frauden Frauendie Fraudie Frauen

die Schwesterdie Schwesternder Schwesterder Schwesternder Schwesterden Schwesterndie Schwesterdie Schwestern

nkdas Leiddie Leidendes Leid(e)sder Leidendem Leid(e)den Leidendas Leiddie Leiden

odas Ohrdie Ohrendes Ohr(e)sder Ohrendem Ohr(e)den Ohrendas Ohrdie Ohren

qdas Augedie Augendes Augesder Augendem Augeden Augendas Augedie Augen

-eumbder Kanaldie Kanledes Kanalsder Kanledem Kanalden Kanlenden Kanaldie Kanle

der Kopfdie Kpfedes Kopfesder Kpfedem Kopf(e)den Kpfenden Kopfdie Kpfe

fdie Handdie Hndeder Handder Hndeder Handden Hndendie Handdie Hnde

npdas Flodie Fledes Floesder Fledem Flo(e)den Flendas Flodie Fle

-emder Kontaktdie Kontaktedes Kontaktsder Kontaktedem Kontaktden Kontaktenden Kontaktdie Kontakte

der Armdie Armedes Arm(e)sder Armedem Arm(e)den Armenden Armdie Arme

hder Charakterdie Charakteredes Charaktersder Charakteredem Charakterden Charakterenden Charakterdie Charaktere

fidie Kenntnisdie Kenntnisseder Kenntnisder Kenntnisseder Kenntnisden Kenntnissendie Kenntnisdie Kenntnisse

ndas Geheimnisdie Geheimnissedes Geheimnissesder Geheimnissedem Geheimnisden Geheimnissendas Geheimnisdie Geheimnisse

das Beindie Beinedes Bein(e)sder Beinedem Bein(e)den Beinendas Beindie Beine

-erumcder Irrtumdie Irrtmerdes Irrtumsder Irrtmerdem Irrtumden Irrtmernden Irrtumdie Irrtmer

der Manndie Mnnerdes Mann(e)sder Mnnerdem Mann(e)den Mnnernden Manndie Mnner

nldas Regimentdie Regimenterdes Regimentsder Regimenterdem Regimentden Regimenterndas Regimentdie Regimenter

das Kinddie Kinderdes Kind(e)sder Kinderdem Kind(e)den Kinderndas Kinddie Kinder

-umder Bruderdie Brderdes Brudersder Brderdem Bruderden Brdernden Bruderdie Brder

fjdie Tochterdie Tchterder Tochterder Tchterder Tochterden Tchterndie Tochterdie Tchter

nrdas Klosterdie Klsterdes Klostersder Klsterdem Klosterden Klsterndas Klosterdie Klster

-meder Ksedie Ksedes Ksesder Ksedem Kseden Ksenden Ksedie Kse

der Knochendie Knochendes Knochensder Knochendem Knochenden Knochenden Knochendie Knochen

nmdas Mnnleindie Mnnleindes Mnnleinsder Mnnleindem Mnnleinden Mnnleindas Mnnleindie Mnnlein

das Rudeldie Rudeldes Rudelsder Rudeldem Rudelden Rudelndas Rudeldie Rudel

-smder Opadie Opasdes Opasder Opasdem Opaden Opasden Opadie Opas

der Gorilladie Gorillasdes Gorillasder Gorillasdem Gorilladen Gorillasden Gorilladie Gorillas

der LKWdie LKWsdes LKW(s)der LKWsdem LKWden LKWsden LKWdie LKWs

fdie Omadie Omasder Omader Omasder Omaden Omasdie Omadie Omas

die Saunadie Saunasder Saunader Saunasder Saunaden Saunasdie Saunadie Saunas

die GmbHdie GmbHsder GmbHder GmbHsder GmbHden GmbHsdie GmbHdie GmbHs

ndas Sofadie Sofasdes Sofasder Sofasdem Sofaden Sofasdas Sofadie Sofas

das Brodie Brosdes Brosder Brosdem Broden Brosdas Brodie Bros

othermder Radiusdie Radiendes Radiusder Radiendem Radiusden Radienden Radiusdie Radien

der Atlasdie Atlantendes Atlassesder Atlantendem Atlasden Atlantenden Atlasdie Atlanten

fdie Matrixdie Matrizender Matrixder Matrizender Matrixden Matrizendie Matrixdie Matrizen

ndas Praktikumdie Praktikades Praktikumsder Praktikadem Praktikumden Praktikadas Praktikumdie Praktika

das Themadie Themendes Themasder Themendem Themaden Themendas Themadie Themen

das Virusdie Virendes Virusder Virendem Virusden Virendas Virusdie Viren

das Genusdie Generades Genusder Generadem Genusden Generadas Genusdie Genera

HelmutRichter publishedhere2006-05-20; lastupdate2011-03-01 http://www.lrz.de/~hr/lang/de-decln.htmlhttp://www.lrz.de/~hr/lang/de-decl.htmlGerman Declension

by Helmut Richter

The purpose of this article is to summarise German declension as much as possible in the form of rules as distinct from tables. The idea is that only a minimum has to be learnt, and a maximum of regularities exploited. Well, the regularities are few and the rules are complex but things are just not simpler. The question which case to apply when is outside the scope of this article.

Some general principles in German declension

Four classes four cases Sparingness of marking, Monoflexion Declension patterns

Strong declension Weak declension Forms without ending

Words and expressions that never have an ending Mandatory omission of ending Optional omission of ending Adjective and numeral declension Noun and name declension (see also separate article)

Declining the entire phrase

Subdividing the phrase into subphrases Endings in the determiner subphrase Endings in the adjective subphrase Endings in the noun subphrase Examples

Overview

This article contains a lot of detail which may be uninteresting for some or even most readers. It is designed for readers that have a fair basic knowledge of German and want an overview of the various intricacies of German declension, in particular of the influence the various parts of a nominal phrase can have on each other. For the resolution of a single question, not the entire article needs to be read:

For learning how German declension works without studying the details, you are invited to read the short first chapter on general principles in its entirety plus the introductory paragraphs of the subsequent two chapters, each up to the first subordinate headline. You might then want to glimpse at the examples before delving into the gory details.

For finding the pronoun and adjective endings in a sentence, make sure you know what strong and weak declension means, then jump to the chapter Declining The Entire Phrase. Read on until your question is answered, which will often be the case after much less than the entire chapter.

For finding the case endings for a given noun, there is a separate companion article on noun declension. But be warned, even with that one, you will need a dictionary because noun case endings can often not be found by applying rules.

Some general principles in German declension

The contents of this section is assumed to be known in the subsequent sections; please read it carefully. The examples in this section are only illustrative; the rules governing the contained declension endings are explained later.

Four classes four cases

There are three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural) but they combine only into four classes (masculine singular, feminine singular, neuter singular, common plural). The formation of a noun plural may be dependent on the gender of the word, but all other words articles, pronouns, adjectives referring to a plural noun are not affected by its gender. The four classes are abbreviated m, f, n, and p in this article. (The term noun class instead of grammatical gender and number is normally used for African languages but is useful here as well.)

Gender is not sex: non-biological, hence sexless, objects can have words of any gender. However, when a word denotes exclusively persons or animals of only one sex, there is a good chance that males have words of masculine gender and that females have words of feminine gender, although even then there are exceptions. Other than in English, the gender of generic words overrides the sex of the person; we can thus have eine mnnliche Geisel or ein weibliches Mitglied. In the same sentence, the grammatically fitting pronoun is used; later, there is often a switch to the biologically correct one. Most generic words of masculine gender have a feminine counterpart for females; one would therefore not say ein weiblicher Lehrer but rather eine Lehrerin. Whether or not Lehrer beiderlei Geschlechts can or should be replaced by Lehrerinnen und Lehrer is a matter of political correctness, not of language, and thus not discussed here.

There are four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), mostly enumerated in this sequence but sometimes also with accusative second. The four cases are abbreviated N, G, D, and A in this article. The way cases are marked by articles or by word endings depends on the class:

Only in the m class, A case is different from N case. This rule is universally valid and overrides every rule below. Thus, in the sequel a phrase like only N case would mean only N case and, for f, n, or p class, also A case without further notice.

In the f class, not only N und A case coincide, but also G and D, with an exception for names. Moreover, for nouns, but not for articles and adjectives, all four cases look the same.

In the p class, N, A, and G coincide for nouns.

Hence, the four classes combine with the four cases in a way that not 16 combinations result but only 10for nouns (m-N, m-G, m-D, m-A, f-NGDA, n-NA, n-G, n-D, p-NGA, p-D) and 12for other parts of speech (with f-NA, f-GD, p-NA, p-G). That's a fair saving over 234=24but the odd distribution of similar and dissimilar forms seems to be more of a difficulty than a simplification.

Sparingness of marking, Monoflexion

Since Middle High German times, endings marking the gender and case of a word are used rather sparingly, and many of the ending look the same or very similar. This sparingness can be considered a feature of German declension: when there is already a word having a more or less unambiguous mark for the case, then other words may have no mark or a rather unspecific one. This principle is sometimes called Monoflexion because in the extreme case, there is only one inflected word in the phrase; in general, however, more than one word is inflected. Here are some examples:

Er geht mit gutem Beispiel voran. Das Kapitel beginnt mit einem guten Beispiel.

In the first sentence, gutem is the only word that has a chance of showing the n-D property of gutes Beispiel in this sentence. It carries the ending -em which is specific for mn-D. However, in the second sentence, einem has already a specific ending, and for the adjective a rather unspecific -en is good enough.

Mit wievielen Schlern hast du dich getroffen? Mit drei Schlern. Mit wievielen Schlern hast du dich getroffen? Mit dreien.

This is again the same pattern: the p-D form differs from the other cases by an additional -n ending, so such an ending on the numeral is spurious and thus omitted. This happens also for words where the p-D form is not different from the other p forms.

Wessen Buch ist das? Es ist dein Buch. Wessen Buch ist das? Es ist das deine. Wessen Buch ist das? Es ist deines.

Here, it is not case information but gender information which can be attached to either the noun, or the article, or the possesive pronoun. As a result, the latter can get three different possible endings although gender and case is always the same, to wit n-N.

When a name consists of several words, not all of them get the -s ending in the genitive case sometimes even none when the article carries already the case information: Walters, Herrn Walter Mllers, des Herrn Walter Mller.

Whereas the principle of sparingness of marking has some logic behind it, the examples show that the actual endings appear somewhat irregular. There is only little freedom which spurious endings to drop or to retain; in most cases there is only one possible distribution of case endings.

Declension patterns

Declensions are often called strong or weak. These terms refer to the endings which are either specific for only a handful of class/case combinations (strong) or common for many of them (weak). There is, however, a pitfall about the usage of the terms strong and weak:

For adjectives, both patterns are used for each adjective, depending on the syntactic context strong endings where the adjective has the burden of marking gender and case, and weak endings where another part of speech, usually an article or a pronoun, fulfils this task.

For nouns, each noun is declined either according to the weak declension pattern, which resembles the weak adjective declension, or to a different pattern sometimes called strong although it has only little similarity with strong adjective declension.

Strong declension

The basis for strong non-noun declension are the definite articles. They just have to be learnt:

mfnp

nominativederdiedasdie

genitivedesderdesder

dativedemderdemden

accusativeden+++

A plus sign means that this entry is not used because for these classes, the accusative equals the nominative for all parts of speech.

The relative pronouns look the same except for all genitive forms and the p-D form which have an additional -en ending, yielding mn-G dessen, fp-G deren, and p-D denen.

Now, strong non-noun declension has all forms with the same final letter as the definite article:

mfnp

nominative-er-e-es-e

genitive-es-er-es-er

dative-em-er-em-en

accusative-en+++

Instead of these mn-N forms, some words have forms without ending in most contexts; this will be discussed in one of the next sections.

The strong mn-G forms of adjectives with -es ending are today no longer used but replaced by weak forms with -en ending. For many non-adjectives, however, the strong forms are the only correct ones, whereas in other situations both mn-G forms are permissible. Details will be given later. The strong mn-G forms were in use until fairly recently (e.g.the 1912 version of Luther's Bible translation contains reines Herzens (Mt.5:8) and alles Fleisches (Gen.6:13) which have been replaced by reinen Herzens and allen Fleisches in the 1984 version); at least for adjectives they are now considered obsolete.

Finally, the declension of most pronouns follows a similar pattern.

12mfn1p2pp

nominativeichduersieeswirihrsiewerwasjemand

genitivemeinerdeinerseinerihrerseinerunsereuerihrerwessenwessenjemandes

dativemirdirihmihrihmunseuchihnenwemwemjemandem

accusativemichdichihn++unseuch+wen+jemanden

Singular pronouns are avoided with prepositions when talking about inanimate objects: use words like dabei, dafr, wobei, wofr instead. This avoidance is not a hard and fast rule but depends on the context. The more determined the referent, the more permitted is the combination of prepositions with singular pronouns, and combinations with es sound clumsier than with other pronouns.

The inanimate counterpart of jemand is etwas which is not declined at all with the genitive case missing altogether.

Weak declension

Weak declension makes only a difference between nominative singular and all other cases:

mfnp

nominative-e-e-e-en

genitive-en-en-en-en

dative-en-en-en-en

accusative-en+++

Forms without ending

Words and expressions that never have an ending

The words and expressions nichts, wenig, ein wenig, (ein) paar, etwas, genug, viel, derlei, allerlei, mancherlei, deren, dessen are not inflected at all. The genitive case is avoided and replaced by constructs with von, the other cases have the same form as the nominative, even the word ein in ein paar and ein wenig is not inflected as one can see in the following example where they appear in dative and accusative case. Example:

Mit ein paar reifen Frchten und genug frischer Milch schmeckt die Speise viel besser, deren altes Rezept ich Ihnen verrate. Wenn Sie etwas Ses mgen, knnen Sie auch ein wenig braunen Zucker hinzufgen.

These uninflected words and expressions do not appear together with determiners (see item 1 in the list below for a definition). The only exception is ein paar which can trade the leading ein in for a determiner, e.g. diese paar alten Klamotten (these few old rags).

Several of these (ein wenig, etwas, genug) are not only used as in the example where they constitute a part of a nominal phrase, but they can also qualify an adjective, thus acting as an adverb: ein wenig mager, etwas unbefriedigend, gut genug. The difference in the syntax is subtle: if there is an additional article or possessive pronoun, only an adverb can be meant, e.g. mein etwas altes Auto (my somewhat old car); if not, some sentences may appear ambiguous, e.g. etwas mageres Fleisch which could either mean somewhat lean meat or some lean meat with the latter suggesting itself in the first place. In the context of this article, only the usage in the nominal phrase and not as an adverb is meant.

The distinction between much and many is made in German in nearly the same way as in English: viel (much), wenig (little), ein wenig (a little), viele (many) wenige (few). viel und wenig, used for singular nouns, are both uninflected, whereas viele und wenige are inflected. There are, however, also situations where the inflected viele und wenige appear in the singular, to wit when there is a need to determine the noun with a definite article or possessive pronoun: mein weniges Geld, das viele brig gebliebene Brot. The inflected forms are also occasionally applied in other contexts, in particular with adjectives or verbs used as neuter nouns, e.g. vieles Gute (synonym of viel Gutes), vieles Lesen (preferred over viel Lesen), but also with some other nouns, e.g. ohne viele Mhe or Vielen Dank!.

Adjectives ending with -er derived from geographical names (e.g. Mnchner, Brandenburger, Schweizer) are not declined either and behave similarly to the expressions explained in this section. They do, however, sometimes appear with determiners, and the genitive is avoided only when a cluster of noun-like words would obscure the cases. There are also nouns denoting inhabitants of the geographical region. These nouns look the same as the adjective in the nominative, but are declined like other nouns which makes a difference only in the mn-G and p-D case. Compare:

adjectivenoun

m-Nder Schweizer Brgerder Schweizer

m-Gdes Schweizer Brgersdes Schweizers

m-Ddem Schweizer Brgerdem Schweizer

m-Aden Schweizer Brgerden Schweizer

f-NAdie Schweizer Brgerindie Schweizerin

f-GDder Schweizer Brgerinder Schweizerin

p-NAdie Schweizer Brgerdie Schweizer

p-Gder Schweizer Brgerder Schweizer

p-Dden Schweizer Brgernden Schweizern

The adjective Schweizer, like the English adjective Swiss, refers to anything Swiss including but not restricted to army knives and cheese, whereas the noun refers only to Swiss citizens. Both words are capitalised, other than other adjectives derived from geographical names (e.g. bayerisch, deutsch, britisch).

Mandatory omission of ending

The mn-N forms of the possessive pronouns, of the indefinite article, and p-D forms of numerals take an ending only in a few contexts where no more word follows in the phrase. In the vast majority of possible contexts, they cannot have an ending.

Optional omission of ending

Some words can be used with or without their ending. With the exception of the first item below, the forms without an optional ending belong more to elevated language; in some contexts they sound stilted.

all- can drop its ending when a demonstrative or possessive pronoun follows: alle meine Entchen or all meine Entchen; it must drop its ending when a definite article follows: all die Entchen.

manch- can be used with or without ending; it must not have an ending immediately before an indefinite article and should have one immediately before a noun: manches dicke Buch, manch dickes Buch or manch ein dickes Buch.

solch- behaves mostly like an indefinite numeral or an adjective, both regarding its position in the phrase and its ending. It can, however, also be placed immediately before an indefinite article and is then without ending. Moreover, the ending is optional immediately before an adjective: solch ein dickes Buch, ein solch dickes Buch, or ein solches dickes Buch.

welch without ending, morphologically and syntactically behaving like solch without ending, serves for emphasis in an exclamation: welch ein dickes Buch! (what a thick book!), but welches dicke Buch? (which thick book?).

In archaic language, n-NA forms of adjectives are sometimes without ending when there is no article with an ending before. This usage has now been obsolete for more than a century but occurs in proverbs, song lyrics, and idioms: gut Ding will Weile haben (a thing well done needs time), kein schner Land ... als hier das unsre ([there is] no lovelier land ... than ours here), sich bei jmdm. lieb Kind machen (curry favour with s.o.).

The form dies instead of dieses should be regarded as a contraction rather than as a form without ending; subsequent words are treated as if it had an ending: compare manch dickes Buch and dies[es] dicke Buch.

Adjective and numeral declension

The way adjectives and numerals are declined is highly dependent on their context in the whole phrase. The entire next chapter of this article is devoted to this topic.

Noun and name declension

Other than the other parts of speech, nouns have individual declensions; there is not a single pattern for all of them. As a small comfort, they have only one declension each, other than adjectives. For each noun, it suffices to know the gender, the plural, and, for masculine nouns with -en plural only, whether they are subject to weak declension. More on noun declension patterns can be found in a separate article.

Adjectival nouns (substantivierte Adjektive) are nouns that emerged from ellipses with omitted nouns, e.g.der Kranke (from der kranke Mensch), die Deutsche (from die deutsche Frau), das Gehackte, (from das gehackte Fleisch). They are declined like adjectives, not like nouns. The main difference is seen when adjective declension is strong: masculine adjectival noun: m-N der Kranke, ein Kranker, p-N Kranke; genuine noun: m-N der Bote, ein Bote, p-N Boten; feminine adjectival noun: f-N die Deutsche, f-G der Deutschen, p-N Deutsche; genuine noun: f-N die Tante, f-G der Tante, p-N Tanten; neuter adjectival noun: n-N das Gehackte, Gehacktes; genuine noun: n-N das Gebirge, ein Gebirge, p-N Gebirge. Not always is it obvious that a noun is an adjectival noun: der/die Abgeordnete, die Variable. Feminine adjectival nouns have a tendency of being treated as genuine nouns when they are no longer recognised (f-G der Variablen or der Variable), some even acquire extra feminine markers (der Beamte, die Beamtin). Masculine and neuter adjectival nouns are more robust in this respect.

Names have only their genitive case different from the nominative. The pattern is similar to masculine nouns but with the important difference that the -s (but never -es) genitive ending occurs with all names irrespective of gender (Antons, Annas). After a sibilant, it may be replaced by an apostrophe (Franz'); the formation with -ens (Franzens) is archaic. Where the person is well-known enough, the article is often used to avoid the genitive marker (das Leben des Franz von Assissi).

Declining the entire phrase

In this chapter we talk about nominal phrases, that is phrases that are a single unit of declension. For instance, in the sentence

Wir betrachten die in der Zeit des hohen Mittelalters gebauten Burgen.

the accusative object is die in der Zeit des hohen Mittelalters gebauten Burgen but it contains a subphrase in the dative case, to wit der Zeit des hohen Mittelalters which in turn contains a subphrase in the genitive case, to wit des hohen Mittelalters. Nominal phrases do thus occur nested. In this article, we regard as one nominal phrase a piece of text that must necessarily have the same class and case because there is no syntactic reason that would allow switching. In this example, die ... gebauten Burgen, der Zeit ..., and des hohen Mittelalters would be the three nominal phrases the declension of which have to be determined separately.

A nominal phrase to be declined can consist of following parts of speech, usually in this sequence:

1. Determiners: all-, definite articles (der, des, die, ...), demonstrative pronouns (dies-, jen-), welch-, irgendwelch-, manch-, possessive pronouns (mein-, dein-, ...), first and second person personal pronouns (ich, du, euch, ...)

2. Numerals in the widest sense: indefinite article (ein-, kein-), jed-, solch-, folgend-, cardinal numbers (zwei-, drei-, ...), indefinite numerals (beid-, einig-, mehrer-, viel-, viel, ein paar, ...)

3. Adjectives including ordinal numbers (erst-, zweit-, ...), also ander-, nchst-, letzt-4. Noun or sequence of titles and names

The general trend for the words before the noun is to go from determiners saying what exactly is spoken about to descriptors telling properties of what is spoken about; only the ordinal numbers do not fit in this pattern. There is no syntactic or morphological difference between ein- as an indefinite article (English a) and as a numeral (English one), only stress is different; regarding the declension rules, ein- behaves as indefinite article.

The vast majority of phrases consist of a determiner or an indefinite article or neither, followed by zero or more adjectives, followed by one noun. In this case, the basic rule is:

If the determiner has no ending or is lacking altogether, the adjectives take the ending a determiner would have had, that is, a strong ending, except in mn-G case.

If the determiner exists and has an ending, the adjectives take a weak ending, and in addition also in mn-G case.

The case determiner without ending occurs with indefinite articles and possessive pronouns in mn-N or n-A case. There are thus the following possibilities:

zero or more adjectives with strong endings (unless mn-G); noun

determiner or indefinite article with no ending; zero or more adjectives with strong endings (unless mn-G); noun

determiner or indefinite article with strong ending; zero or more adjectives with weak endings; noun

optional determiner or indefinite article with or without strong ending; zero or more adjectives in mn-G case with weak endings; noun

If the phrase is more complex (e.g.indefinite numerals combined with determiners or adjectives, or noun missing), the basic pattern is still the same: there is a sequence of determiners with no endings or strong ones, followed by a sequence of adjective-like words having a strong ending if and only if there was no strong ending in the last word before. The situation can, however, be rather intricate when it comes to defining in which of the two sequences the other words belong, in particular the indefinite numerals. In some situations, there is some leeway, leaving more than one correct distribution of case endings. We take here a somewhat prescriptive approach, offering one working variant without discussing which alternatives would also have been possible. More than one variant is given only when both variants are commonly used by native speakers. Hence, a violation of the rules below does not always mean incorrect language.

Now, we are going to specify the general rule covering also the more complex phrases. For brevity, a word is said to be in a strong position when it is the first word of the whole inflected phrase or when the last preceding word had no ending ( mandatory or optional omission of ending); otherwise it is in a weak position. Uninflected words and expressions (that is, words and expressions that never have an ending) pass on their strong or weak position to subsequent words. The word after a p-N personal pronoun (wir, ihr) is in a weak position, but the position after all other cases of personal pronouns (ich, mir, mich, du, dir, dich, uns, euch genitive does not occur) is strong.

Subdividing the phrase into subphrases

The first step is to subdivide the entire phrase into three subphrases: a determiner subphrase, an adjective subphrase, and a noun subphrase. These appear in this sequence; there is no alternation between subphrases in the phrase. However, each of the subphrases can be void.

Determiners (item 1in the list above) belong to the determiner subphrase.

In compositions with definite articles (derjenige, dasselbe) the article is in the determiner subphrase and the remainder of the word in the adjective subphrase. Compositions with irgend- are declined as if the irgend- were not present.

Numerals in the widest sense (item 2in the list above) belong to the determiner subphrase when in a strong position and the phrase is singular; otherwise they belong to the adjective subphrase. There are, however, a handful of exceptions:

A few words belong to the determiner subphrase when in a strong position even in the plural. kein- is then always in the determiner subphrase. beid-, smtlich-, and solch- can be used both ways (p-NA beide dicke Bcher or beide dicken Bcher; p-G beider dicker Bcher or beider dicken Bcher). More often than not, particularly in the p-NA case, they are treated as belonging to the determiner subphrase.

solch- after ein belongs to the adjective subphrase even when ein has no ending.

The expression alle beide is mostly declined in parallel, that is, both words are in the determiner subphrase although beid- is in a weak position after all-.

Descriptive adjectives and ordinal numbers (item 3in the list above) belong to the adjective subphrase.

Adjectival nouns belong to the adjective subphrase.

Non-adjectival nouns and names belong to the noun subphrase.

Endings in the determiner subphrase

The mn-N forms of possessive pronouns and of indefinite articles in the determiner subphrase

have no ending when they are not the last word of the entire phrase,

have a weak ending in a weak position when they are the last word of the entire phrase, and

have a strong ending in a strong position when they are the last word of the entire phrase.

When a noun with a mn-G ending -(e)s follows and only then , some words in the determiner subphrase can get the weak mn-G ending -en. This happens

never with indefinite articles, demonstrative pronouns, or possessive pronouns (the expression *diesen Jahres, here and there found with calendar dates, is at least dubious instead use dieses Jahres which is doubtlessly correct),

typically with all-, jeglich- and irgendwelch-, which are all not very frequent in singular, e.g. das Ende allen irdischen Lebens, and

optionally with other words, e.g. jedes Mannes or jeden Mannes.

All other words in the determiner subphrase have strong endings.

Endings in the adjective subphrase

All words in the adjective subphrase, as far as they are declined at all, have the same endings, to wit

weak endings when the first word of the subphrase is in a weak position, and always in mn-G case

strong endings when the first word of the subphrase is in a strong position, except in mn-G case.

For more than one adjective in a strong position, a variant with a strong ending on the first adjective and with weak endings on the remaining ones is also occasionally found, mainly in older literary texts.

The genitive forms of numerals greater than one have an -er in a strong position: zweier, dreier. Beyond three, this sounds slightly archaic, and beyond twelve, the genitive is avoided altogether and replaced by a construction with von, e.g.der Tod von fnfzig Mnnern.

When a numeral is the last word of the phrase, it can get an -en ending in the dative case:

Wievielen Schlern hast du das gegeben? Fnfen.

The larger the number, the less frequently is this feature used. For two and three, it is mandatory, for numbers up to twelve (with the exception of seven where *siebenen would sound clumsy), it is quite commonly used, beyond twelve, it is awkward. The -e ending for p-NA numerals at the end of the phrase is obsolete but occurs in fixed expressions, e.g.alle Viere von sich strecken.

Endings in the noun subphrase

Nouns have only one kind of ending for each case; so they can either occur with their case ending (which is often void) or undeclined. Normally they have their case ending, with some exceptions:

In weak noun declension, that is, when the mn-DA form differs from the mn-N form, the simpler mn-N form ist used instead of the mn-DA form when the noun appears isolated. This avoids confusion with plural forms: von Mensch zu Mensch, der Unterschied zwischen Mensch und Affe but der Unterschied zwischen einem Menschen und einem Affen. Nonetheless: sich etw. zu Herzen nehmen (to take sth. to heart), von Herzen kommend (heartfelt).

Of a sequence of titles and names in strong position which is the usual position for names , only the title Herr and the last of the names is declined: Walters, Herrn Walter Mllers, Direktor Walter Mllers. In a name containing von, the given name is declined when the clause with von specifies this individual person (e.g.Walthers von der Vogelweide) but the last name when the von belongs to the family name (e.g.Gertrud von Le Forts).

Of a sequence of titles and names in weak position, only the first title, but never names or the title Doktor, is inflected: des Walter Mller, des Herrn Walter Mller, des Doktor Walter Mller (always written as Dr. Walter Mller), des Direktors Walter Mller. Reasons for weak position of names could be:

usage of adjectives or possessive pronouns: der nette Herr Mller, unser Herr Mller (in a business letter, meaning Mr. Mller of our company)

in the genitive, avoidance of inflecting a name with a final sibilant: des Erasmus von Rotterdam, only for well-known names

avoidance of erroneous stress on the given name when a person puts his given name after the family name according to Bavarian custom: der Wei Ferdl, der Kiem Pauli.

Examples

Here are some phrases with their decomposition into the three subphrases. The determiner subphrase is marked with green background colour when its last word has an ending, and with yellow background colour when it is void or its last word has no ending. The adjective subphrase is marked with green or yellow background colour depending on whether the words underly weak or strong declension. The only case where the two colours do not match is when a mn-G form of an adjective occurs in strong position as in example 23.

Examples 18 are the declensions for the four classes with definite and indefinite article. Examples 918 and 2023 demonstrate the effect of the assignment of the words to the determiner and adjective subphrase. In example 20 two different assignments are possible, yielding different endings in the adjective subphrase; only in the p-D case the endings happen to be the same. In example 21 two different n-G endings are possible in the determiner subphrase. The noun subphrase in examples 1820 is void, either because of a lacking noun or of an adjectival noun. The special rules about strong and weak position after personal pronouns are exemplified by examples 2425.

determiner subphraseadjective subphrasenoun subphrase

1.m-NdernetteMann

m-GdesnettenMannes

m-DdemnettenMann

m-AdennettenMann

2.m-NeinnetterMann

m-GeinesnettenMannes

m-DeinemnettenMann

m-AeinennettenMann

3.f-NAdienetteFrau

f-GDdernettenFrau

4.f-NAeinenetteFrau

f-GDeinernettenFrau

5.n-NAdasnetteKind

n-GdesnettenKindes

n-DdemnettenKind

6.n-NAeinnettesKind

n-GeinesnettenKindes

n-DeinemnettenKind

7.p-NAdienettenLeute

p-GdernettenLeute

p-DdennettenLeuten

8.p-NAnetteLeute

p-GnetterLeute

p-DnettenLeuten

9.n-NAjedesnetteKind

n-GjedesnettenKindes

n-DjedemnettenKind

10.n-NAein jedesnetteKind

n-Geinesjeden nettenKindes

n-Deinemjeden nettenKind

11.p-NAkeinenettenLeute

p-GkeinernettenLeute

p-DkeinennettenLeuten

12.p-NAviele netteLeute

p-Gvieler netterLeute

p-Dvielen nettenLeuten

13.p-NAdievielen nettenLeute

p-Gdervielen nettenLeute

p-Ddenvielen nettenLeuten

14.n-NAdieses meinnettesKind

n-Gdieses meinesnettenKindes

n-Ddiesem meinemnettenKind

15.p-NAdiese meinenettenKinder

p-Gdieser meinernettenKinder

p-Ddiesen meinennettenKindern

16.p-NAdiesedrei nettenKinder

p-Gdieserdrei nettenKinder

p-Ddiesendrei nettenKindern

17.p-NAdrei netteKinder

p-Gdreier netterKinder

p-Ddrei nettenKindern

18.p-NAdiesedrei

p-Gdieserdrei

p-Ddiesendreien

19.p-NAfleiige Angestellte

p-Gfleiiger Angestellter

p-Dfleiigen Angestellten

20.p-NAsmtlichefleiigen Angestellten

or, less common,smtliche fleiige Angestellte

p-Gsmtlicherfleiigen Angestellten

orsmtlicher fleiiger Angestellter

p-Dsmtlichenfleiigen Angestellten

orsmtlichen fleiigen Angestellten

21.n-NAallesirdischeLeben

n-GallenirdischenLebens

or, less common,allesirdischenLebens

n-DallemirdischenLeben

22.n-NAdiesesJahr

n-GdiesesJahres

n-DdiesemJahr

23.n-NAnchstesJahr

n-GnchstenJahres

n-DnchstemJahr

24.m-NdualterTrottel

m-DdiraltemTrottel

m-AdichaltenTrottel

25.p-NihraltenTrottel

p-DeuchaltenTrotteln

p-AeuchalteTrottel

HelmutRichter publishedhere2006-03-28; lastupdate2008-08-21 http://www.lrz.de/~hr/lang/de-decl.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_grammar#Modal_particlesGerman grammar

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German grammar

NounsVerbsArticlesAdjectivesPronounsAdverbial phrasesConjugationSentence structureDeclensionModal particle

This page outlines the grammar of the German language.

Contents

[hide] 1 Nouns

1.1 Genders 1.2 Cases

1.2.1 General 1.2.2 Genitive 1.2.3 Dative 1.2.4 Cases after prepositions 1.3 Prepositions and cases 1.4 Declension of adjectives 1.5 Plurals 2 Nominal (or noun) phrases

2.1 Genitive attribute 2.2 Position 2.3 Extended attribute phrase 2.4 Relative clause 3 Articles and article-like words 4 Cardinal numbers 5 Adjectives 6 Pronouns

6.1 Personal pronouns 7 Adverbial phrases 8 Verbs

8.1 Split verbs 9 Modal particles 10 Sentences 11 References

11.1 Notes 11.2 Bibliography 12 External links

[edit] NounsMain article: German nounsA German noun has one of three specific grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter). Nouns are declined for case and grammatical number. All nouns are capitalized.

[edit] GendersGerman has all three genders of late Proto-Indo-Europeanthe masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. Every German noun takes one of these genders. The grammatical gender of a German noun does not necessarily correspond with the real-life object's sex (or lack thereof). Nouns denoting a person, such as die Frau ("woman") or der Mann ("man"), generally agree with the natural gender of what is described. However, since every German noun ending with -chen or -lein is grammatically neuter, there exist several notable counterexamples such as das Mdchen ("girl") and das Frulein ("miss"). Thus these are not illogical, whereas das Weib (old, regional or anthropological: woman) is really an exception. In addition, German assigns gender to nouns without natural gender, in fairly arbitrary fashion. For example, the three common pieces of cutlery all have different genders: das Messer ("knife") is neuter, die Gabel ("fork") is feminine, and der Lffel ("spoon") is masculine.

Students of German are often advised to learn German nouns with their accompanying definite article, as the definite article of a German noun corresponds to the gender of the noun. However, the meaning or form, especially the ending, of a noun can be used to recognise 80% of noun genders.[1] For instance, nouns ending in the suffixes -heit, -keit, -tt, -ung, -ik, or -schaft are feminine. As noted above, nouns ending in -chen or -lein take the neuter. A noun ending in e is likely to be feminine; however, this is not a universal rule: die Katze ("cat"), die Blume ("flower"), and die Liebe ("love") are feminine, but der Bote ("delivery boy") is masculine, and das Ende ("end") is neuter. Similarly, a noun ending in er is likely to be masculine (der Teller, der Stecker, der Computer); however, das Messer ("knife") and das Wasser ("water") are neuter, whereas die Mutter ("mother") can be feminine, as can die Butter ("butter") in many forms of High German, although it is der Butter in Swiss German.

[edit] Cases[edit] GeneralUnlike English, which has lost almost all forms of declension of nouns and adjectives, German still inflects nouns, adjectives and pronouns into four grammatical cases. The cases are the nominative (Nominativ/Werfall), genitive (Genitiv/Wesfall), dative (Dativ/Wemfall), and accusative (Akkusativ/Wenfall). The case of a particular noun depends on the grammatical function of the noun in the sentence.

Nominative (Wer?): The subject of a sentence, the thing doing the action

Genitive (Wessen?): The possessor of something, or the object of certain prepositions.

Dative (Wem?): The indirect object, as in when an object is given to someone, or the object of certain prepositions

Accusative (Wen?): The direct object, the thing which is directly receiving the action, or the object of certain prepositions

Example: der Tisch (engl. the table)Singular:Plural:

Nom:der Tischdie Tische

Gen:des Tisch(e)sder Tische

Dat:dem Tisch(e)den Tischen

Acc:den Tischdie Tische

In a sentence (using only one noun for understanding purposes):

Der Tisch gab dem Tisch(e) des Tisch(e)s den Tisch

The table gave the table of the table the table.

This sentence is an example of how cases are used in German (and in every other language with grammatical case). This differs from English, where the word order in a sentence has more meaning. In German, because the function of each noun is not marked by its position within the sentence but by the declined articles and in case of genitive and dative also by a suffix at the end of the noun itself the German sentence could also be:

Der Tisch gab dem Tisch(e) den Tisch des Tisch(e)s.

Der Tisch gab des Tisch(e)s Tisch dem Tisch(e)Den Tisch des Tisches gab dem Tisch der Tisch.

Dem Tisch(e) gab den Tisch des Tisch(e)s der Tisch.

Des Tisch(e)s Tisch gab dem Tisch(e) den Tisch.

etc.

Although some of these may sound exotic in modern day German, they are grammatically correct (and even rather unusual constructions are more regularly used in poetry). With a flexible word order like that it is very easy, for example, to put the most important part of a sentence in the front of the sentence.

Contrary to strongly inflected languages like Latin, German expresses cases more through the word's article than the ending of the word, though especially the difference between plural and singular is also expressed by suffixes on the words' endings (der Tisch, die Tische). Other exceptions of a suffix expressing the case of a noun along with the article are the forms of genitive singular and dative plural. Yet, one could still say that transferring the case-information to the article preserved the German case system throughout its development from Old High German to contemporary German.

[edit] GenitiveFirst evidence of a decline of the genitive case can already be found in colloquial language of Early New High German (spoken from 1350 to 1650). When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, the use of the Genitive case (along with the Preterite) was already rather unusual in most of the German dialects. Nevertheless, Luther used the bureaucratic language of Saxony for his translations which still made extensive use of the Genitive (and other "archaic" elements more usual in Middle High German than in New High German) and thereby slowed down the loss of the Genitive to a certain extent. Today the use of the genitive case is still rare in spoken language - speakers often substitute the dative case for it in conversation, quite similar to the language's Germanic relative Faroese. But the genitive case remains almost obligatory in written communication, public speeches and anything that is not explicitly colloquial in German and is still an important part of German Bildungssprache (language of education). Television programmes and movies often contain a mixing of both, dative substitution or regular genitive, depending on how formal or "artistic" the programme is intended to be. The use of the Dative substitution is more common in southern German dialects, whereas Germans from northern regions (where Luther's Bible-German had to be learned like a foreign language back then) use the genitive more regularly. Though it has become quite common not to use the genitive case when it would formally be required, great numbers of Germans know how to use it and generally do so. Especially among people of higher education, it is considered a minor embarrassment to be caught using the dative case incorrectly. Therefore, it is by no means recommended to avoid the genitive when learning German, since the decline of this case, which has been going on for about 600 years, is proceeding very slowly, because the historical development of German Standardsprache has reestablished this particular case in German language to some extent, and not necessarily just in written form.

Yet, a German book called Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod ("The Dative is the Genitive its death") alludes to this phenomenon (being called "genitive's death struggle" by the author) in its title. In standard German, the title would be "Der Dativ ist der Tod des Genitivs" ("Dative is Genitive's Death"). As is apparent, the book uses an Upper German dialect way of speaking, i. e. by employing the dative case together with a possessive pronoun instead of the genitive, to poke fun at what the author perceives as a decline in the German language, since in written German a dative construction replacing the genitive is still considered a major error. This is, by the way, not how Standard German speakers would colloquially replace the genitive case; they would construct Der Dativ ist der Tod vom Genitiv, which is (being literally the English "of the Genitive") incorrect in the Standard as well, but far less incriminated.

Linguistically, the thesis of the genitive case dying out can easily be refuted. Indeed, the genitive case has been widely out of use in all dialects of the German language for centuries. The new phenomenon is only the replacement of dialects by a colloquial Standard German, which does not at all, however, affect the use of the genitive case in the written language.

There are, however, legitimate dative constructions to indicate possession, as in "Dem Knaben ist ein Buch zu eigen". The construction "zu eigen", however, doesn't practically appear but in Latin beginners' translations, as the sentence should indicate (puero liber est). Some dialects have "Dem Knaben ist ein Buch" which is literally a dativus possessivus. If a genitive is unmarked and without article (practically, in the plural), usage of von (and after it, a dative) is not only legitimate but required, as in: "Die Belange von Minderheiten sind zu schtzen" (minorities' affairs are to be protected). In that case, Belange der Minderheiten would produce a definite article which is not intended, and Minderheiten itself is somewhat an unmarked plural.

[edit] DativeThe Dative case governs the indirect object of a sentence and location. The sentence "Ich gebe meinem Sohn einen Hund" contains a subject "ich"; a verb "gebe"; an indirect object "meinem Sohn"; and a direct object "einen Hund". Why is "einen Hund" the direct object and not the indirect object? Because, "einen Hund" is the what that corresponds to the subject's action and "meinem Sohn" is the to whom or the destination of the object of the subject's action.

Dative also focuses on location. (See Accusative or Dative Prepositions below). German makes a big difference between location and motion. Accusative will handle motion; Dative location. There are 4 main verbs to show this dichotomy. hngen/hngen, legen/liegen, stellen/stehen, setzen/sitzen. (motion/location). z.B. Ich hnge das Bild an die Wand. (I hang/am hanging the picture on the wall). Note the article of 'Wand' - this is motion, this is Accusative and 'die' remains 'die' in the Accusative. Now, the picture is on the wall. This is location. z.B. Das Bild hngt an der Wand. Here, the article of 'Wand' is 'der' - because 'die' in the Nominative and Accusative changes to 'der' in the Dative. This sentence is location and therefore, the case of the noun that follows the preposition must be Dative.

[edit] Cases after prepositionsThe case of a noun after a preposition is decided by that preposition. No prepositions require the nominative case, but any other case may follow one, for example, the preposition fr (for) is followed by the accusative case, the word mit (with) is followed by the dative, and the word auerhalb (outside of) is followed by the genitive case. Certain prepositions, called "two way prepositions", have objects either in dative or accusative, depending on whether the use implies position (e.g. in der Kche = "in the kitchen", dative case) or direction (e.g. in die Kche ("into the kitchen", accusative case).

[edit] Prepositions and casesPrepositions in German can be difficult for English speakers to master. The simple reason is that prepositions are designed to give some direction, location, intensity, etc. to a sentence. The way an English speaker would indicate such things may be totally different than the way a German speaker would. Perhaps a few examples will clarify this:

ENGLISH: The book is on the table. The poster is on the wall. "ON" is the preposition. In English, we understand 'on', in this context, to mean contact between two surfaces. The book and the table; the poster and the wall. Do English speakers care about the relationship between the two objects in relation to their contact? No - English speakers couldn't care any less. However, German speakers are desperately interested in the relationship between the two objects in relation to their contact with each other. Note the German examples below (same sentences as the English example).

GERMAN: Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. Das Poster hngt an der Wand. The meaning is the same - 'on'. However, we have two different prepositions, 'auf' and 'an'. Why two? Because 'auf' is used to express horizontal contact and 'an' is used to express vertical contact.

Furthermore, there are times when the English preposition is completely different than the German. For example, "Turn OFF the lights"/"Mach' die Lichter AUS." "aus" does not mean "off." It means "out."

In German, prepositions are powerful enough to change what immediately follows it to be in subordination to the type of preposition.

For example, 'bei' is a Dative preposition. If 'bei' is used in a sentence, it will force what immediately follows it to be Dative. For example: Ich mache einen Besuch bei meiner Familie. (I'm visiting with my family). Notice "mein" has the Dative feminine ending because 'bei' requires it.

The following chart shows the cases associated with several prepositions.[2]

HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_grammar" \l "cite_note-2#cite_note-2" [3]

HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_grammar" \l "cite_note-3#cite_note-3" [4]AccusativeDativeGenitiveAccusative or Dative

bisausanstatt*an

durchauerstatt*auf

frbeiauerhalbhinter

gegengegenberinnerhalbin

ohnemittrotz*neben

umnachwhrend*ber

widerseitwegen*unter

vonjenseitsvor

zuentlang***zwischen

gemseitens

laut**anhand

mithilfe

* with dative colloquially and with pronouns.** may take a "hypercorrect" genitive.*** may take a colloquial dative: entlang des Weges (dem Weg) along the way, but with accusative in the afterposition with identical meaning: den Weg entlang.

Unusual prepositions, which exist in vast amount in bureaucratical style, as a rule take the genitive.

[edit] Declension of adjectivesThe declension of an adjective depends not only on the gender, number and case of the noun it modifies, but also on whether the indefinite article, definite article or no article is used with it. The following table shows two examples which exemplify all three cases:

Masculine nominative singularFeminine dative singular

definite articleder schne Mann (the/that handsome man)vor der verschlossenen Tr (in front of the/that locked door)

indefinite articleein schner Mann (a handsome man)vor einer verschlossenen Tr (in front of a locked door) [a specific door]

no articleschner Mann (handsome man)vor verschlossener Tr (in front of a locked door) [an undefined door or any door]

Declension of adjectives is mandatory even in proper names. The name of Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, for instance, changes into "das Kunsthistorische Museum" when predeceded by a definite article.

[edit] PluralsThe German language has twelve different ways of forming the plural. A student of German as a foreign language must learn the plural for each new noun learned; although many feminine nouns are very regular in the formation of the plural, many masculine and neuter nouns are not. For example, some plurals are formed with an "n", some with "en", some with an umlaut and an "e" or an umlaut and an "en", other plurals are the same as the singular, some add "er" or an umlaut and "er". Many loanwords borrowed from another language take a plural in "s" (e.g. das Restaurant die Restaurants).

singularplural

die Frau (woman)die Frauen

der Mann (man)die Mnner

die Kuh (cow)die Khe

der Globus (globe)die Globen

der Krbis (pumpkin)die Krbisse

der Kuss (kiss)die Ksse

der Bus (bus)die Busse

das Kabel (cable)die Kabel

das Auto (car)die Autos

die Mitarbeiterin ((female) employee)die Mitarbeiterinnen

der Kaktus (cactus )die Kakteen

Although ancient German plurals called for morphologically distinct gender markings, this is no longer the case. With regard to the treatment of adjectives and articles, this amounts almost to the plural number behaving as a fourth gender. Textbooks and articles typically list the articles or adjectival endings for plurals in the next row or column where a fourth gender would be given if it existed. What this suggests is not completely true, but it is usually an effective approach for non-native speakers studying the language.

[edit] Nominal (or noun) phrases(The content of this section is not yet applicable for proper names.)

This section requires expansion.

A German nominal phrase, in general, consists of the following components in the following order:article, number (cardinal or ordinal), adjective(s), noun, genitive attribute, position(s), relative clause, reflexive pronoun "Die dritte umwerfende Vorstellung des Schillerdramas in dieser Woche in Hamburg"

(the third stunning performance of the drama by Schiller this week in Hamburg)Of course, most noun phrases are not this complicated; adjectives, numbers, genitive attributes, positions, relative clauses and emphasizers are always optional.

A nominal phrase contains at least a cardinal number, an adjective, a pronoun, or a noun. It always has an article, except if it is an indefinite plural noun or refers to an uncountable mass.

"Die Drei" (the three of them) "Der groe Mann" (the tall man) "Der Mann" (the man)If the noun is uncountable, an article is not used; otherwise, the meaning of the sentence changes.

"Ich kaufe billiges Bier" (I buy cheap beer) "Ich kaufe ein billiges Bier" (I buy a bottle/can/glass/... of cheap beer) "Ich habe Geld" (I have money) "Ich habe das Geld" (I have the money) or (I have enough money to...)A nominal phrase can be regarded a single unit. It has a case, a number, and a gender. Case and number depend on the context, whereas the main noun determines the gender.

[edit] Genitive attributeA nominal phrase may have a genitive attribute, for example to express possession. This attribute may be seen as merely another nominal phrase in the genitive case which may hang off another nominal phrase.

"Der Beruf des alten Mannes" (The profession of the old man.) "Die Htte des Huptlings des Stammes" (The hut of the chief of the tribe)(genitive phrase has its own genitive phrase). This is uncommon in modern German. "Die Htte des Stammeshuptlings" (The hut of the tribe's chief) is preferred.

A direct translation of "Der Beruf des alten Mannes" would be "the profession of the old man." "The old man's profession" could be translated directly and correctly as "Des alten Mannes Beruf", though this form is almost never used in modern German.

[edit] PositionA nominal phrase may contain a "position phrase"; this may be seen as merely another nominal phrase with a preposition (or postposition) or a pronominal adverb (See Adverbial phrases).

"Eine Wolke am Himmel" (a cloud in the sky) "Der Bundeskanzler whrend des Brgerkriegs im Kongo" (the Chancellor during the civil war in the Congo)(position phrase has its own position phrase)

"Der Regen im Dschungel im Sommer" (the rain in the jungle in the summer)(Several position phrases)

"Der Berg dort" (that mountain over there)[edit] Extended attribute phraseGerman permits lengthy nominal modifiers such as

"Der whrend des Brgerkrieges amtierende Premierminister" (literally: the during-the-civil-war office-holding prime minister) or "Die noch zu Anfang des Kurses relativ kleinen, aber doch merklichen Verstndigungsschwierigkeiten" (literally: The still-at-the-beginning-of-the-course-relatively-small-but-nevertheless-noticeable communication difficulties).

These are a feature of written (particularly educated) German. One also might hear them in the context of formal oral communications as well (such as news broadcasts, speeches, etc.).

[edit] Relative clauseA nominal phrase will often have a relative clause.

Aside from their highly inflected forms, German relative pronouns are less complicated than English. There are two varieties. The more common one is based on the definite article der, die, das, but with distinctive forms in the genitive (dessen, deren) and in the dative plural (denen). Historically this is related to English that. The second, which is more literary and used for emphasis, is the relative use of welcher, welche, welches, comparable with English which. As in most Germanic languages, including Old English, both of these inflect according to gender, case and number. They take their gender and number from the noun they modify, but the case from their function in their own clause.

Das Haus, in dem ich wohne, ist sehr alt.

The house in which I live is very old.

The relative pronoun dem is neuter singular to agree with Haus, but dative because it follows a preposition in its own clause. On the same basis, it would be possible to substitute the pronoun welchem.

However, German uses the uninflecting was ('what') as a relative pronoun when the antecedent is alles, etwas or nichts ('everything', 'something', 'nothing'.), or when the antecedent is an entire clause.

Alles, was Jack macht, gelingt ihm.

Everything that Jack does is a success.

Jack verga sein Buch, was niemanden berraschte"

Jack forgot his book, which surprised nobody.

In German, all relative clauses are marked with a comma.

[edit] Articles and article-like wordsMain article: German articlesThe inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. Articles have the same plural forms for all three genders.

[edit] Cardinal numbersIn relation to nouns, cardinal numbers are placed before adjectives, if any. If the number is relatively low, it is usually not combined with an indefinite plural article (e.g. einige or mehrere). Personal pronouns of the first and second person are placed before numbers. Personal pronouns of the third person cannot be used with numbers.

"Drei Hunde" (three dogs)"Die vier apokalyptischen Reiter" (the four horsemen of the Apocalypse)NOT: "Einige fnf pfel" BUT: "Einige pfel" or "Fnf pfel" (some apples, five apples)"Ein paar tausend Euro" (a couple of thousand euro)"Wir vier" (we four)The use of cardinal numbers requires the plural form of the noun or nominal phrase.[5]NOT: "Zehn Pferd" BUT: "Zehn Pferde" (ten horses)EXCEPTION: "Zehn Bier" and "Zehn Biere" are both acceptable, with respect to certain nouns such as beverages.

The cardinal number "one" is identical in form and inflection to the indefinite article. The number is distinguished from the article in speech by intonation and in writing sometimes by emphasis (italics or spacing: "ein" or "e i n"). In dialects, the indefinite is much shortened to a Schwa, equivalent to an unstressed e (varying into a short "a" when coming into Upper German regions), whereas the cardinal number isn't.

"Ein rotes Buch" may mean

"a red book" - ein rotes Buch; or

"one red book" - ein rotes Buch

The numbers zwei (two) and drei (three) have case endings in some instances. Where an adjective would have weak endings, numbers do not have endings. If an adjective had strong endings, these numbers may also have strong endings in the genitive case

"das Haus zweier junger Frauen" (two young women's house)If there is no other word carrying the strong ending of the genitive plural, the numbers must carry it.

"die Reise dreier Schwestern" (three sisters' voyage)If these numbers are centre of a nominal phrase in the dative plural and no other word carries case markers, they may carry dative endings.

"Zweien habe ich Bananen gegeben" (I have given bananas to two (of them))Special case for 'eins' in German: It can be represented as: "eins", "eine", "einer", "eines", "einem" or "einen" depending on the sentence.

[edit] AdjectivesMain article: German adjectivesTo correctly inflect German adjectives, the case, number and gender of the nominal phrase must be considered along with the article of the noun. German adjectives normally go before the noun which they are changing. German adjectives have an ending before the noun. The ending is normally the letter "-e" in the singular form and "-en" in the plural form.

Like articles, adjectives use the same plural endings for all three genders.

"Ein lauter Krach" (a loud noise)"Der laute Krach" (the loud noise)"Der groe, schne Mond" (the big, beautiful moon)Participles may be used as adjectives and are treated in the same way.

In contrast to Romance languages, adjectives are only declined in the attributive position (that is, when used in nominal phrases to describe a noun directly). Predicative adjectives, separated from the noun by "to be", for example, are not declined and are indistinguishable from adverbs.

NOT: "Die Musik ist laute" BUT "Die Musik ist laut" ((the) music is loud)There are three degrees of comparison: positive form, comparative form and superlative form. In contrast to Latin or Italian, there is no grammatical feature for the absolute superlative (elative).

[edit] PronounsMain article: German pronounsThe pronouns of the third person may be used to replace nominal phrases. These have the same gender, number and case as the original nominal phrase. This goes for other pronouns, too.

pronoun [position(s)] [relative clause]

[edit] Personal pronounsPersonal Pronouns

1st sg.2nd sg.3rd sg.1st pl.2nd pl.3rd pl.2nd formal

NominativeichduersieeswirihrsieSie

GenitivemeinerdeinerseinerihrerseinerunsereuerihrerIhrer

DativemirdirihmihrihmunseuchihnenIhnen

AccusativemichdichihnsieesunseuchsieSie

[edit] Adverbial phrasesMain article: German adverbial phrases[edit] VerbsMain article: German verbsMain article: German conjugationGerman verbs may be classified as either weak, with a dental consonant inflection, or strong, showing a vowel gradation (ablaut). Both of these are regular systems. Most verbs of both types are regular, though various subgroups and anomalies do arise. The only completely irregular verb in the language is "sein" (to be). However, textbooks for foreign learners often class all strong verbs as irregular. There are fewer than 200 strong and irregular verbs, and there is a gradual tendency for strong verbs to become weak.

[edit] Split verbsMain article: Separable verbGerman has many verbs that have a separable prefix that can be unattached to its root. Examples are aussehen, to appear or look, and vorstellen, to imagine, or to introduce.

Peter sieht spitze in seinem Anzug aus. Peter looks handsome (lit sharp) in his suit.

Lori, kennst du meine Frau? Ja? Wer stellte euch vor? Lori, do you know my wife? Yeah? Who introduced you?

[edit] Modal particlesMain article: German modal particleModal particles (Abtnungspartikel) are a part of speech used frequently in spoken German. These words affect the tone of a sentence instead of conveying a specific literal meaning. Typical examples of this kind of word in German are doch, mal, halt, eben, nun, schon, eh or ja. Many of these words also have a more basic, specific meaning (e.g. ja "yes", schon "already"), but in their modal use, this meaning is not directly expressed.

[edit] SentencesMain article: German sentence structureGerman sentence structure is somewhat more complex than that in other languages, with phrases regularly inverted for both questions and subordinate phrases.

[edit] References[edit] Notes1. ^ Durrell, Martin; Hammer, A.E. (2002), Hammer's German Grammar and Usage (Fourth ed.), McGraw-Hill, pp.110, ISBN978-0-07-139654-72. ^ German Accusative Prepositions http://german.about.com/library/blcase_acc2.htm3. ^ German Dative Prepositions http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat2.htm4. ^ German Genitive Prepositions http://german.about.com/library/blcase_gen2.htm5. ^ This is in contrast to some languages such as Turkish: e.g., "Zehn Pferde," not "Zehn Pferd" (cf. Turkish On At).

[edit] Bibliography Wietusch, Gudrun (2006). Grundkurs Grammatik. Cornelsen. ISBN 978-3-464-61805-9 Pahlow, Heike (2010). Deutsche Grammatik - einfach, kompakt und bersichtlich. Engelsdorfer Verlag, Leipzig. ISBN 978-3-86268-012-2[edit] External linksWikibooks has a book on the topic of

German

www.canoo.net Comprehensive German grammar in English

German Grammar Toms Deutschseite - German grammar explained by a native speaker (in English)

German Grammar Lessons German grammar lessons along with exercises

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_grammar"

Categories: German grammarhttp://www.benjaminwaters.org/lan.deu.gradus.htmMastering German

1 German Declension1.1 Noun Gender1.2 Plural Forms1.3 The Genitive1.4 Excursus: Prepositions and Case1.5 Complete Noun Declension1.5 Declension of Articles and Pronouns1.6 Declension of Adjectives

This document explains how to work on certain problems of German grammar with the help of a rote-learning program. You need to download it and read how it works. To speak a language well and not just gain a passive reading knowledge, you need to spend as much time as possible attempting to converse in the language, which means taking intensive language lessons with good teachers, spending time in a country where the language is spoken, or better, both at once. But rote learning is also an essential part of language training, and well suited to tackling certain problems.

1 German Declension

By declension we mean the inflection of the noun and of the words that attach to it (articles, pronouns, adjectives) in order to indicate gender (masculine, neuter, feminine), quantity (singular, plural), and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive). Unfortunately, this system is rather complicated in German. Fortunately, it is highly amenable to methodical labor with rote-learning software. The Exercises 14 here are really just a warm up for execises 5 and 6, which combine all aspects of declension in a truly mind-hurting fashion.

1.1 Noun Gender

Exercise 1: Total Mastery of German Noun Genderrote.de.01.genus.txt

You get given a word like Fliege and you have to answer f, for feminine, or if you get Staat you would answer m for masculine, or if you got Buch you would answer n for neuter. If you go through one or two thousand words a day, you can master the German genders in a week or so. Once you catch on to the fact that -heit, -keit, -ung, und -schaft words are all feminine, you may want to strip those words out of the list by doing e.g. sed -e '/heit:/d' infile > outfile.

A precondition for mastering declension is knowing the gender of every noun. Some notes on noun gender in German:

1 Every noun has takes one of the 3 genders: masculine, neuter and feminine. These are grammatical genders, and relate to the way these words inflect and relate to other words. They dont necessarily have anything to do with the gender of the object that is being described. A man becomes feminine if you describe him not as der Mann but rather die Person; a girl and a woman can both be described using neuter nouns: das Mdchen, das Weib.

2 When a word is a compound word, it is always the last word of the compound that determines the gender: der Schweinehund; die Sozialpolitik; das Bundesausbildungsfrderungsgesetz.3 Often gender can be automatically determined by the ending of the word.

Masculine:-ich, -ig, -ling, -s, -and, -ant, -r, -ast, -eur/-r, -ent, -ier, -iker, -ikus, -ismus, -ist, -or

Neutral:-chen, -lein, -le, -icht, -tel, -tum, -eau, -o, -ett, -in (Greek words), -ing (English words), -(i)um, -ma, -ment

Feminine:-ei, -in, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung, -a, -ade, -age, -aille, -aise, -ance, -ne, -anz, -ation, -elle, -ette, -euse, -ie, -(i)enz, -(i)ere, -ik, -ille, -ine, -ion, -ation, -isse, -(i)tt, -itis, -ive, -ose, -sis, -ur, -re

4 Gender can often be determined by the meaning of the word.

Masculinum:Jahreszeiten, Monate, Tage, Himmelsgegenden, Winde, Niederschlge, Erdarten, Gesteinsarten, Geldbezeichnungen

Neutrum:Metalle, chemische Elemente, Medikamente, Verkleinerungsformen, Substantivierungen, Kollektivbegriffe mit dem Prfix Ge-

Femininum:Baumbezeichnungen, viele Blumenbezeichnungen, Zahlen, Druckarten, Schriftarten

1.2 Plural Forms

Exercise 2: Plural Forms of German Nounsrote.de.02.plural.txt

You are given a German noun in the nominative singular and a plural article, and you must answer with the correct plural form. So if the question is Baum, die the die is asking you for the nominative or accusative form of the plural, and you reply Bume. If the question is Baum, den the den is asking you for the dative form of the plural, and you would answer Bumen. A der would be asking you for the genitive plural, which is always just the same as the nominative/accusative plural.

How do we build the basic plural form in German? Duden Dud4,386 distinguishes 5 plural types:

1e-PluralEin Tag, Zwei Tage; Ein Traum, Drei Trume

2-PluralEin Computer, Drei Computer; Ein Apfel, Drei pfel

3[e]n-PluralEin Mensch, Drei Menschen

4er-PluralEin Ei, Drei Eier; Ein Gott, Drei Gtter

5s-PluralEin Baby; Drei Babys

They are distinguished by their endings, but this does not quite tell the whole story, because we must add that in types 1 2 4 many words additionally change their vowel with an Umlaut. (It should also be noted that a smaller number of words have irregular Latin or Greek style endings: Brontosaurus / Brontosaurier, Cello / Celli, Lexikon / Lexika &c.) As with noun gender, the plural formation is something that you just have to drill into your head.

In the dative case, every plural adds an n to the end, unless: a it already ends in n, making no further n necessary; b the plural ends in s, since adding an n would then sound silly.

The definite articles for the plural are die for nominative and accusative; den for the dative; der for the genitive. I have built them into the exercise so that you ge