Introduction

GERMAN

It is a member of western group of Germanic branch of Indo-European languages,

spoken by about 120 million people in the world, with Germany, Austria and

Switzerland as the three main centers of usage. It is one of the most widely spoken

languages in the world.

GERMAN CHARACTERS

1. GERMAN has 26 characters as in English, but their pronunciations are

different. In addition, German has a character (ß- ss) called eszett. (we use

double s as a substitution of ß)

Aa ah Oo oh Be bay Pe pay Ce say Qu koo De day eR err Ee ay eS ess eF eff Te tay Ge gay Uu ooh Ha haa Vau fow Ii yi We Vay

Jot yot iX ixx Ka kah Ypsilon oop-see-lohn eL ell Zet zett eM emm eN enn ß eszett

Umlaut Diphthongsä ay ei eyeö ooh ai eyeü yuu äu/eu oy

ie eeh

Introduction 1

NOUNS AND GENDER

1. A noun is a word which represents a person, place, thing or idea. In German,

all nouns are capitalized (Haus, Mann, Tisch…) It is to make the nouns easy to

spot when determining the grammatical structure of a sentence. Verbals and

adjectives which function as nouns are also capitalized. (Hobbys: Schwimmen,

Singen…)

2. All German nouns belong to one of the three grammatical genders:

Masculine, Feminine, or Neuter. Often you must memorize the gender of a

noun when you learn its meaning.

The gender is most easily identified by the noun’s definite article in the

nominative case: der (masculine), die (feminine), and das (neuter).

Nouns formed with the following suffixes are always or usually Masculine:

-er, -ner, -ler, -ich, -ig, -ling, -ast, -or, -tor, -ismus, -us, -and, -ant, - än, - är –at, -et, -

eur, -iker, -ist, -oge, -nom.

Exceptions: die Butter, das Fieber, das Labor

Nouns formed with the following suffixes are always or usually Feminine:

-in, -ung, -t, -keit, -schaft, -sion, -tion, -heit, -ie, -ei, -a, -ade, -age, -anz, -enz, -ik, -

ine, -it is, -ose, -sis, -tät, - üre, -ur.

Exceptions: das Sofa, der Papagei, das Genie, der Atlantik, das AbiturIntroduction 2

Nouns formed with the following suffixes are always or usually Neuter:

-chen, -lein, -sel, -erl, -li, -tel, -eau, -icht, -ett, -ma, -il, -in, -ing, -um, -tum, -ment, -

ium, -it.

Exception: der Profit, die Firma

3. Definite Article –“The”

The genders of German nouns are typically shown by way of an

accompanying definite article: der (masculine), die (feminine), or das

(neuter).

The plural form is identical to the feminine form in the nominative and

accusative cases (die)

Masculine Feminine Neuter PluralNominative der Mann die Frau das Kind die KinderAccusative den Mann die Frau das Kind die KinderDative dem Mann der Frau dem Kind den KindernGenitive des Mannes der Frau des Kindes der Kinder

4. Indefinite Article- “a/an”

Indefinite article cannot be used with the plural form of a noun.

Masculine Feminine Neuter PluralNominative ein Mann eine Frau ein Kind KinderAccusative einen Mann eine Frau ein Kind KinderDative einem Mann einer Frau einem Kind KindernGenitive eines Mannes einer Frau eines Kindes Kinder

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5. Kein- to negate a noun

The german article kein, which is infected similarly to ein and means “no”,

“not a”, is often combined with plurals.

Kein is usually used to negate a noun with an indefinite article preceding the

noun.

If no article precedes the noun, kein is used.

Er hat ein Auto --- Er hat kein Auto.

He has a car. ----He doesn’t have any car.

Hast du Zeit? ---Nein, Ich habe keine Zeit.

Do you have time? ---No, I don’t have time.

Masculine Feminine Neuter PluralNominative kein Mann keine Frau kein Kind keine KinderAccusative keinen Mann keine Frau kein Kind keine KinderDative keinem Mann keiner Frau keinem Kind keinen KindernGenitive keines Mannes keiner Frau keines Kindes keener Kinder

NOUNS AND CASES

The case of a noun or pronoun signifies its function in the sentence, that is, whether

it is acting as the subject or an object, or whether it is acting in some other capacity.

Case allows the word order in a German sentence to be more flexible, as seen in the

example below, in which the nominative (subject) case is black:

Der Mann isst den Apfel

Den Apfel isst der Mann.

In German the word order can be changed for emphasis (as shown above)- without

altering the basic meaning of the sentence. There are four different cases:

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1. Nominative Case. The nominative case is the subject of the sentence; it

performs the action of the verb.

2. Accusative Case. The accusative case is the object of the verb. This case is

also used after accusative prepositions and some time expressions.

3. Dative Case. The dative case generally indicates the indirect object of the

sentence. It is a person or thing toor for whom an activity is done. The dative

case is also used after dative verbs and dative prepositions.

4. Genitive Case. The genitive case establishes a relationship between two

nouns but is also used in some idiomatic expressions.

YOU- DU UND SIE

Like several other languages, German has two sets of pronouns that can be used to

other people, all of which mean “you”. We have the formal and informal “you”. and

the singular and plural “you”.

1. Du Singular informal

2. Ihr Plural informal

3. Sie Singular/Plural formal

When to use familiar/ informal “you”

- when speaking with family members

- when speaking with friends

- when speaking with pets

- when speaking with children

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- when speaking with people who start addressing you as “Du” (but if the

person who starts addreassing you as ”Du” is someone in a position of

authority over you, you should not respond in the informal form)

- when speaking with someone who asks you to (“sich duzen”) address

him/her in informal form.

When to use formal form?

In situations other than those mentioned above.

Introduction 6