German grammar

German grammar is the study of grammar in the German language.

Declension

Every German noun is assigned one of three genders: masculine, feminine or neuter. Unlike English, which does not assign a gender to most nouns, the gender of a German noun and the gender of the thing to which the noun refers often differ. For example, in German, a stone (der Stein) is masculine, whereas a girl (das Mädchen) is neuter. It may appear strange to English native speakers, but the gender of a noun mainly depends on its nominative ending, not on its real sex. This is called "grammatical gender" and most languages such as French also feature it, sometimes with surprising traps ("la guerre"). "Mädchen", for example, is the diminutive form of an archaic feminine German noun die Maid, which meant "young woman", and diminutives ending in -chen always take the neutral gender. (The masculine equivalent of die Maid is der Junge ("young man"), and is still in common use with meaning equivalent to "guy, kid, bloke, lad, fellow". Its equivalent diminutive is the neutral das Jüngelchen, which implies the connotations of "sissy wimp".)

The German language has the singular and plural numbers.

The cases are the nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. The genitive case is becoming uncommon in modern informal speech. The case of a particular noun, and therefore the ending used for the noun, depends on the grammatical function of the noun in the sentence.

It is important to note that the inflected form of an adjective not only depends on its gender, but also on the kind of article used (or not used) with it, definite or indefinite.

Nominal (or Noun) Phrases

(The content of this section is not yet applicable for proper names.)

A German nominal phrase, in general, consists of the following components in the following order:
article, [cardinal number], [adjective(s)], [noun], [genitive attribute], [position(s)], [relative clause] [reflexive pronoun]

"Die dritte umwerfende Vorstellung des Schillerdramas in dieser Woche in Bonn"

Of course, in most cases you won't be confronted with such complicated phrases; adjectives, cardinal 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"

"Der Große"

"Der Mann"

If the noun is uncountable, you should not use an article; otherwise, you will change the meaning of the sentence.

"Ich kaufe billiges Bier" - "I buy some cheap beer"

"Ich kaufe ein billiges Bier" - "I buy a cheap bottle or a certain cheap sort of beer"

"Ich habe Geld" - "I have (much) money"

"Ich habe das Geld" - "I have this (much) 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 gender is determined by the main noun.

The word "selbst" or "selber" may be added in order to emphasize to the nominal phrase, but this is becoming increasingly uncommon in spoken German.

"Der Chef selbst hat ihn gefeuert"

The genitive attribute

A nominal phrase may have a genitive phrase, for example to express possession. This genitive 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 Hütte des Häuptlings des Stammes" (genitive phrase has its own genitive phrase)

In old German, the "genitive attribute" can be a possessive pronoun put into plural form. In modern German, this is uncommon; the corresponding possessive pronoun is used instead.

OLD: "Die Gnade seiner"

Position

A 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 German grammar#Adverbial phrases).

"Eine Wolke am Himmel"

"Der Bundeskanzler während des Bürgerkriegs im Kongo"

(position phrase has its own position phrase)

"Der Regen im Dschungel im Sommer" (Several position phrases)

"Der Berg dort"

Relative clause

A nominal phrase often will have a relative clause.

Nouns

A German noun has one of 3 specific grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and belongs to one of three declensions. These features remain unaltered by inflection but must be considered in this process. The grammatical gender influences articles, adjectives and pronouns. Note that gender and sex differ in many cases, as mentioned above.

Number (singular, plural) and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) must be taken into account in the process of declension.

The declension can be more difficult than in other languages such as Latin; not only the word ending, but also the root may be altered by inflecting.

"Der Mann" - "Die Männer"

Some nouns only have a singular form (Singularetanta); other nouns only have a plural form (Pluraletanta)

"Das All", "Der Durst", "der Sand"

"Die Kosten", "die Ferien"

Traps abound in both directions here; common singular-only words in English aren't in German, and vice versa:

information = "Information", "die Information" (one tidbit of information),

"die Informationen"

police = "die Polizei" (sg.)

Some words change their meaning when changing their number

Geld (English, "money") - Gelder (English, "different sources of money")

Käse (cheese) - die Käse (different kinds of cheese)

Types of declensions

General rules of declension

• Given the nominative singular, genitive singular, and nominative plural of a noun, it is possible to determine its declension.
• Note that in all feminine nouns, the singular form remains unchanged.
• The dative plural of all nouns ends in -n, if such an ending does not already exist.

Declension classes

-(e)s, -e    der Berg, des Berg(e)s, die Berge
   -0-     -0-     -(e)     -(e)s
   -e      -e      -en      -e

-(e)s, -er   das Bild, des Bild(e)s, die Bilder
   -0-     -0-     -(e)     -(e)s
   -er     -er     -ern     -er

-(e)s, -en   der Staat, des Staat(e)s, die Staaten
   -0-     -0-     -(e)     -(e)s
   -en     -en     -en     -en

-s, -0-  der Fahrer, des Fahrers, die Fahrer
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -s
   -0-     -0-     -(n)     -0-

-s, -e  der Lehrling, des Lehrlings, die Lehrlinge
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -s
   -e      -e      -en      -e

-s, -s  das Radio, des Radios, die Radios
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -s
   -s      -s      -s       -s

-en, -en  der Student, des Studenten, die Studenten
   -0-     -en     -en      -en
   -en     -en     -en      -en

-0-, -0-  die Mutter, der Mutter, die Mütter
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -0-
   -0-     -0-     -(n)     -0-

-0-, -en  die Meinung, der Meinung, die Meinungen
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -0-
   -0-     -0-     -(n)     -0-

-0-, -e  die Kraft, der Kraft, die Kräfte
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -0-
   -0-     -0-     -(n)     -0-

-0-, -s  die Gang, der Gang, die Gangs
   -0-     -0-     -0-      -0-
   -s      -s      -s       -s

-(e)ns, -(e)n  der Name(n), des Namens, die Namen
   -0-     -(e)n   -(e)n    -(e)ns
   -(e)n   -(e)n   -(e)n    -(e)n

Irregular declensions

             Singular       Plural
Nominative   der Herr       die Herren
Accusative   den Herrn      die Herren
Dative       dem Herrn      den Herren
Genitive     des Herrn      der Herren

             Singular       Plural
Nominative   das Herz       die Herzen
Accusative   das Herz       die Herzen
Dative       dem Herz(en)   den Herzen
Genitive     des Herzens    der Herzen

Many foreign nouns have irregular plurals, for example:

-s, -en     das Thema, des Themas, die Themen
-0-, -en    das Kommunismus, des Kommunismus, die Kommunismen
-s, PL      das Thema, des Themas, die Themata
-0-, PL     der Uterus, des Uterus, die Uteri

Articles and article-like words

Articles have a feature called "strength", which influences the declension of the adjectives. There are strong articles, weak articles, and articles that have strong and weak cases. Sometimes this feature is not constant in daily use.

The 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.

Indefinite article endings (mixed)

             Masculine  Neuter Feminine  Plural
Nominative   -0-        -0-    -e        -e
Accusative   -en        -0-    -e        -e
Dative       -em        -em    -er       -en
Genitive     -es        -es    -er       -er

• This table declines the indefinite article (mixed) (ein-), the negative indefinite article (mixed) (kein-) , and the possessive pronouns (mixed) (mein-, dein-, sein-, ihr-, unser-, euer/eur-).
• The indefinite article doesn't have a specific plural form (like English, but unlike Italian); there are several article words for this need. In most cases, however, these plural forms are left out. This is quite similar to English.

Definite article (strong)

             Masculine  Neuter Feminine  Plural
Nominative   der        das    die       die
Accusative   den        das    die       die
Dative       dem        dem    der       den
Genitive     des        des    der       der

Definite article endings (strong)

             Masculine  Neuter Feminine  Plural
Nominative   -er        -es    -e        -e
Accusative   -en        -es    -e        -e
Dative       -em        -em    -er       -en
Genitive     -es        -es    -er       -er

• Note that this is essentially the same as the indefinite article table, but with the masculine nominative -er and the neuter nominative and accusative -es.
• This table declines the demonstrative pronouns (dies-, jen-) (this, that; strong) and the relative pronoun (welch-) (which; strong)

Possessive "article-like" pronouns

The "possessive pronouns" are another group of pronouns that are treated like articles. All the kinds of possessive "articles" have a mixed strength. They have the same gender and number as the corresponding noun, whereas their stem indicates the kind of possessor.

There are possessive pronouns derived from the definite article and derived from the interrogative article. Their forms are only determined by the gender and number of the speaker. They have the same forms for all cases of the possessed word, but they cannot be used in the genitive case.

Definite possessive [of the] (mixed)

• Masculine: dessen
• Neuter: dessen
• Feminine: deren
• Plural: dessen

Interrogative possessive [of what] (mixed)

• Masculine: wessen
• Neuter: wessen
• Feminine: wessen
• Plural: wessen

NOT: Die Soldaten dessen Armee

In a rather ancient type of German, spoken until the 18th century, a genitive noun can be used instead of a possessive pronoun.

OLD: "Des Königs Krone" - "The King's crown"

(MODERN: "Die Krone des Königs" - BUT: "Die Königskrone" (compound noun))

Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numbers are always placed before any adjectives. If the number is not very high, it is usually not combined with an indefinite plural article like "einige" or "mehrere".

"Drei Hunde"

"Die vier apokalyptischen Reiter"

NOT: "Einige fünf Äpfel" BUT: "Einige Äpfel" or "Fünf Äpfel"

"Ein paar tausend Euro"

If you use a cardinal number, you must use the plural form of the nominal phrase, in contrast to languages like Turkish.

NOT: "Zehn Pferd" (turk. "On At")

BUT: "Zehn Pferde"

EXCEPTION: "Zehn Bier", "Zehn Biere" (both possible in some cases like drinks)

Whereas there is a cardinal number meaning "one" in English, Germans use the indefinite article instead. The difference is expressed by the intonation.

"Ein rotes Buch" can mean

"a red book": ein rotes Buch; or

"one red book": ein rotes Buch

Adjectives

For the inflection of adjectives, the case, number and gender of the nominal phrase must be considered along with the article of the noun.

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

"Ein lauter Krach"

"Der laute Krach"

"Der große, schöne Mond"

Participles may be used as adjectives and are treated in the same way.

In contrast to Latin, adjectives are only declined in the attributive position (that is, when used in nominal phrases to describe a noun directly). Predicative adjectives are not declined and are indistinguishable from adverbs.

NOT: "Die Musik ist laute" BUT "Die Musik ist laut"

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).

Strong inflection

             Masculine  Neuter Feminine  Plural
Nominative   -er        -es    -e        -e
Accusative   -en        -es    -e        -e
Dative       -em        -em    -er       -en
Genitive     -en        -en    -er       -er

• Compare this table with the definite article endings table. The only difference is the masculine and neuter genitive -en.

Strong inflection is used:

• When no article is used
• After manch- (some), solch- (such), viel- (much; many), welch- (which), which have definite article declination.
• After etwas (some; somewhat), mehr (more)
• After wenig- (few), mehrer- (several; many), all- (all), which also have strong adjective inflection.
• After personal pronouns other than mir, dir, ihm
• After number adjectives with no endings

Weak inflection

             Masculine  Neuter Feminine  Plural
Nominative   -e         -e     -e        -en
Accusative   -en        -e     -e        -en
Dative       -en        -en    -en       -en
Genitive     -en        -en    -en       -en

Weak inflection is used:

• After the definite article
• After derselb- (the same), derjenig- (the one)
• After dies- (this), jen- (that), jeglich- (any), jed- (every), which have definite article declination.
• After mir, dir, ihm
• After arm (meager), alt (old), all (all)

Mixed inflection

The mixed inflection is used after ein-, kein-, and the possessive articles.

             Masculine  Neuter Feminine  Plural
Nominative   -er        -es    -e        -en
Accusative   -en        -es    -e        -en
Dative       -en        -en    -en       -en
Genitive     -en        -en    -en       -en

Criteria for inflection

This topic is complex, and this section is still under construction

Strong inflection: If there is no article at all or if the noun is preceded by non-inflectable words like "ein bißchen", "etwas" or "viel"

Weak inflection: If the article is inflected, for example the definite article. The definite article may hide by melting together with a preposition.

Mixed Inflection: Actually it is not a separate inflection. It is used when the same article may have an inflected ending in one case, but not in another case.

The endings are applicable to every degree of comparison.

The positive form

The uninflected basic positive form is equal to the root of the adjective. So the positive form of the adjective is quite simple to build, you take the stem of the adjective and attach the corresponding ending to it.

"schön" (basic positive form)

"Das schöne Lied" - "The beautiful Song"

The comparative form

The basic comparative form consists of the stem and the suffix "-er". Inflected, the corresponding adjective ending is attached.

"schöner" (basic comparative form)

"Das schönere Lied" - The more beautiful Song"

The superlative form

This basic form is little bit more complicated. You attach the suffixes "-st" and "-en" to the root, and the word "am" is put before it.

"am schönsten" (basic superlative form)

When inflecting the basic superlative form, you remove the "am" and the suffix "en". Then you add the conventional adjective ending.

"Das schönste Lied"

Pronouns

Pronouns of the first person refer to the speaker; those of the second person refer to an addressed person. The 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)] [selber|selbst] [relative clause]

In German, a pronoun may have a position under certain circumstances. First and second person pronouns usually do not, except in poetical or informal contexts.

"Es im Schrank"

"Das auf dem Tisch"

In the German of today, pronouns do not have a genitive form. Instead, you usually use the corresponding possessive article (see German grammar#The genitive attribute).

"Der Knochen des Hundes" - "Sein Knochen" or "Dessen Knochen"

In formal, archaic German, there are genitive objects, just like accusative and dative objects. Since the personal pronoun does not have a genitive form, the third person genitive plural of the possessive pronoun is applied in those cases. These forms are bracketed.

OLD: "Ich erinnere mich ihrer" (MODERN: "Ich erinnere mich an sie.")

OLD: "Ich erinnere mich seiner" (MODERN: "Ich erinnere mich an ihn.")

OLD: "Ich entsinne mich derer" (Don't use this)

The emphasizers "selber" and "selbst" have a slightly different meaning than if used with nominal phrases. They normally emphasize the pronoun, but if they are aplied to a reflexive pronoun, they emphasize its reflexive meaning.

Personal pronouns

• Nominative: ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie
• Accusative: mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie
• Dative: mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen

"Ich rufe den Hund" - "Ich rufe ihn"

The third person plural is used for formal speaking; it can address a single person (then capitalized in written German) as well as multiple persons.

"Ich grüße Sie"

Pronouns derived from articles

To replace a nominal by a pronoun that is derived from an article, you use the declined form corresponding to the gender, case and number of the nominal phrase. Note that these pronouns do not have a genitive case; instead, you use a possessive article with the corresponding noun.

Although the pronoun form and the article form are the same in most cases, there are sometimes differences.

             Masculine  Neuter  Feminine  Plural
Nominative   der        das     die       die
Accusative   den        das     die       die
Dative       dem        dem     der       denen
Genitive     dessen     dessen  deren     deren

Reflexive pronouns

There are also reflexive pronouns for the dative case and the accusative case. In the first and second person, they are the same as the normal pronouns, but they only become visible in the third person singular and plural. The third person reflexive pronoun for both plural and singular is: "sich":

"Ich lehre mich die deutsche Sprache" (NB. unterrichten takes the acc. too)

- "I teach the German language to myself"

(Note: This sentence is quite unusual. It would be better to say "Ich bringe mir die deutsche Sprache bei")

"Er liebt sich" - "He loves himself"

"Sie verstecken sich" - (literary) "They hide themselves"

Reflexive pronouns can be used not only for personal pronouns:

"Sie hat sich ein Bild gekauft" - "She (this women) bought herself a picture"

"Seiner ist schon kaputt" - (literary) "His is already broken"

Relative clause

A pronoun may have a relative clause under certain circumstances that still are to be explained. (See relative clauses).

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to something already defined.

diese (this, former) jene (this, latter) erstere (the former)

Use ersterer to refer to masculine nouns; erstere otherwise

letztere (the latter)

Use letzterer to refer to masculine nouns; letztere otherwise

derjenige (the one)

Declined like [def. art] + [jenig-] + weak adj. ending

Used to identify a noun to be further identified in a relative clause.

derselbe (the same)

Declined like [def. art] + [selb-] + weak adj. ending

Used to indicate an identity stronger than der gleiche would.

Adverbial phrases

Native adverbs

Many adverbs are not derived from an adjective. Often they have very important meanings. For example, "nicht", "leider" or "gerne".

Accusative nouns with adverbial meaning

To be written

Adverbial forms of adjectives

Adverbs are rather simple to form, at least in comparison to other languages. An adverb is simply the uninflected form of the adjective (or participle). This holds for the positive, comparative and superlative forms.

"schnell"

"groß"

"fließend"

"geklaut"

"schneller"

"am schönsten"

"fließender"

The adverb can be used to

• describe actions
• describe adjectives
• describe other adverbs

Comparative and superlative forms are unusual in the last two situations.

"Der Vogel fliegt schnell"

"Der Vogel fliegt am schnellsten"

"Der schrecklich hohe Berg." is different from "Der schreckliche, hohe Berg"

"Ein schrecklich langsam wachsender Baum"

"Ein schneller wachsender Baum"

Prepositional phrases

A prepositional phrase consists of a nominal phrase and a preposition or postposition. The case of the nominal phrase depends on the pre- or postposition and sometimes on its exact meaning. There are several ways to replace a position by another construction with the equivalent meaning.

"In dem Haus" (dative case) - "inside the house"

"In das Haus" (accusative case) - "into the house"

"der Ehre wegen" - "for the cause of honour"

Note that prepositions do not always have a locative meaning; they can also be modal or temporal adverbs, for example.

Prepositional phrases, being adverbial, may be used to describe actions and adjectives. They can also be attributes of a nominal phrase.

"Ich gehe in das Haus"

"(Eis ist) während der Sommerzeit begehrt"

In some cases, the preposition and the article of the nominal phrase may or must elide together. This is similar to Italian.

NOT "von dem Himmel" BUT "vom Himmel"

Pronominal adverb

A real position can be substituted by a pronominal adverb.

"auf dem Tisch" - "dadrauf"

"auf den Berg hinauf" - "dadrauf hinauf"

"während der Schulstunde" - "währenddessen"

"der Gerechtigkeit wegen" - "deswegen"

"mit dem Flugzeug" - "damit"

Pronominal adverbs may be precified by an adverbial clause. See below.

Adverbial clause

Besides prepositional phrases and pronominal adverbs, there are also adverbial clauses. They can be applied to actions as well as to nominal phrases and pronominal adverbs.

"Ich ging nach Hause, während die Sonne unterging"

"damals" - "damals, als/während Helmut Kohl Bundeskanzler war"

"in jenem Jahr" - "in jenem Jahr, als/während Helmut Kohl Bundeskanzler war"

You can replace a position or pronominal adverb by such a sentence completely, too. (The previous sentence needs to be clarified by someone knowledgable)

"als Willy Brandth Bundeskanzler war" INSTEAD OF "damals, als Willy Brandt Bundeskanzler war"

"wo die Sonne scheint" INSTEAD OF "am Himmel, wo die Sonne scheint"

Verbs

German verbs may be classified as either weak, with a regular inflection, or strong, having an irregular inflection. There are less than 200 irregular verbs, and Germans tend to "weaken" them more and more.

Simple Infinitives

The infinitive consists of the root and usually the suffix "-en". There are a few verbs having another ending, mostly "-ern" or "-eln". The ending "-n" is regarded to be the suffix of those.

"laufen"

"lächeln"

"meistern"

There are some verbs which have a permanent prefix at their beginning. The most common permanent prefixes found in German are "ver-", "ge-", "be-", "er-", "ent-" and "zer-".

"brauchen", to need - "verbrauchen", to consume or to use up

"raten", to advise - "verraten", to betray

"fallen", to fall - "gefallen" to be pleasing

"hören", to hear - "gehören" to belong to

"brennen", to burn (intransitive) - "verbrennen", to burn (transitive), "to burn completely"

"beginnen", to begin (no form without the prefix)

The meaning of the permanent prefixes does not have a real system; the alteration in meaning can be subtle or drastic. The prefixes "ver-", "be-" and "ge-" have several different meanings. Verbs with "er-" tend to relate to creative processes, verbs with "ent-" usually describe processes of removing, and "zer-" is used for destructive actions.

Many verbs have a separable prefix that changes the meaning. The separable prefix is added at the beginning, before the permanent prefix.

"wegtragen" "to carry away"

"umverteilen"

In some cases these separable prefixes merge together with the infinitive; therefore, they are actually permanent prefixes. Unfortunately for the learner, there are even verbs that have a version with a separable prefix and another version with same prefix, but permanent.

"umfahren"

"Ich fahre den Baum um" (I crash with the tree)

"Ich umfahre den Baum" (I drive around the tree)

Complex infinitives

Components and word order

You can also build complex infinitives, consisting of more than the original infinitive. They include objects, predicative nouns and adverbial information. These are packed before the original infinitive.

NOT "einen Vogel am Himmel plötzlich sehen"

BUT "plötzlich einen Vogel am Himmel sehen"

Word order is still to be explained

Pronoun objects are usually mentioned before nominal phrase objects; dative nominal objects before accusative nominal objects; and accusative pronoun objects before dative pronouns.

normal:

"Ich gebe meinem Vater das Geld"

"Ich gebe es ihm"

"Ich gebe ihm das Geld"

"Ich gebe es meinem Vater"

slightly unusual:

"Ich gebe das Geld meinem Vater"

"Ich gebe ihm es"

"Ich gebe das Geld ihm"

very strange:

"Ich gebe meinem Vater es"

Native adverbs, like "nicht", "leider" or "gerne", are placed before the innermost verb (see Compound infinitives)

Objects

Objects are actually nothing more than nominal phrases or pronouns in a certain case.

Objects may only be described by native adverbs, not "normal" adverbs ("schnell", "leicht") derived from adjectives.

"dem Gast das Messer geben"

"dem Gast das Messer nicht geben" (you don't give the knife to anybody)

"Das Messer nicht dem Gast geben" (you don't give it to this certain person)

to be explained in a deeper way

Predicative nouns and predicative adjectives

A predicative adjective can be the positive, comparative or superlative stem of a adjective, therefore it has the same form as the adverb. You may also use positional phrases or pronominal adverbs.

"rot sein"

"bekannt werden"

"im Rathaus sein"

A predicative noun is a nominal phrase in the nominative case.

"Ein Arzt sein"

Take notice that, if the subject is singular, the predicative noun musn't be plural.

"Der Schwarm ist eine Plage" (singular/singular)

"Die Bienen sind Insekten" (plural/plural)

"Die Bienen sind der Schwarm" (plural/singular)

NOT "Der Schwarm ist die Bienen" (singular/plural)

use instead for example "Der Schwarm ist ein Haufen Bienen"

or "Die Bienen sind der Schwarm" (inversion)

3rd person pronouns are handled like any nominal phrase when used in a predicative way.

1st person or 2nd person pronouns are never used as predicative pronouns.

Normally, you make an inversion, when using an definite pronoun as predicativum.

VERY USUAL "Ich bin der" INSTEAD "Der bin ich"

VERY USUAL "Du bist der" INSTEAD "Der bist du"

USUAL "Es ist der" INSTEAD "Der ist es"

Adverbs

You can use any kind of adverbial phrase or native adverb mentioned above.

Compound infinitives

You can construct compound infinitives by the usage of modal verbs or auxiliary verbs. You put a new infinitive behind the main infinitive. Then this "outer" infinitive will be conjugated instead of the old "inner" infinitive. Sometimes you have turn the old infinitive into a passive participle.

Passive infinitive

There are two types of passive forms: static passive and dynamic passive. They differ by their auxiliary words. The static passive uses "sein", the dynamic passive is formed with "werden" (which has a slightly different conjugation from its siblings). In both cases, the old infinitive is turned into its passive participle form.

"sehen" - "gesehen sein" - "gesehen werden"

"plötzlich am Himmel gesehen sein/werden"

"in der Schule sein" - "in der Schule gewesen sein"

"dem Lehrer gefallen" - "dem Lehrer gefallen haben"

Note that a complex infinitive cannot be turned into passive form, with an accusative object, for obvious reasons. This restriction does not hold for dative objects.

"mir den Schlüssel geben"

NOT "mir den Schlüssel gegeben werden"

"mir gegeben werden"

The only exceptions are verbs with two accusative objects. In older forms of German, one of these accusative objects was a dative object. This "dative object" is removed, whereas the "real" accusative object stays.

"Die Schüler die Vokabeln abfragen"

NOT "Die Schüler abgefragt werden"

"Die Vokabeln abgefragt werden"

Perfect infinitives

The perfect infinitive is constructed by turning the old infinitive into the passive participle form and attaching the auxiliary verbs "haben" or "sein" behind the verb.

"sehen" - "gesehen haben" (transitive)

"einen Vogel sehen" - "einen Vogel gesehen haben" (transitive)

"laufen" - "gelaufen sein" (intransitive)

"einen schnellen Schritt laufen" - "einen schnellen Schritt gelaufen sein/haben"

(transitive! The meaning changed!)

Note that the perfect infinitive of an intransitive verb is created the same way as the static passive infinitive of a transitive verb, which can be confusing.

You can also build perfect infinitives of passive infinitives, both static and dynamic. Since the passive is intransitive, having no accusative object, you have to use the auxiliary "sein"

"sehen"

"gesehen worden sein"

"gesehen gewesen sein"

"sein" is used as an auxiliary verb, when the verb is

• intransitive,
• indicates a movement from one place to another, or
• describes the alteration of a state

"haben" is used, when

• actually any other case, but could be described more specifically

Future infinitives

The future infinitive is more theoretical, because this infinite is only used in finite form. You keep the old infinitive and append the verb "werden".

"nach Italien fahren" - "nach Italien fahren werden"

The future infinitive can also be built by a perfect infinitive, which is used in the future perfect.

"den Baum gefällt haben" - "den Baum gefällt haben werden"

Infinitives with modal verbs

You put the modal infinitive behind the old (passive or perfect) infinitive, not changing any other word. Some modal verbs in German are: können, dürfen, müssen, brauchen, wollen, mögen, lassen.

"dorthin fahren können"

"nach Rom fahren lassen"

(NOT the same "lassen" as in "den Agenten nach Rom fahren lassen"!)

Accusative cum infinitivum

Similar to Latin, there is an aci-construction possible. You put a certain infinitive behind the last infinitive, then add an accusative object before the inner complex infinitive.

"Ich sehe dich stolzieren"

"Ich lasse dich ein Haus bauen" (2 accusative objects, but not connected directly)

The Infinitive with "zu"

The infinitive with "zu" has nothing to do with the gerundive, although it is created in a similar way. You just put the word "zu" before the infinitive, maybe before the permanent prefix, but after the separable prefix.

"zu lesen"

"Ich lerne zu lesen" - "I learn reading"

"zu verlassen"

"Ich habe beschlossen, dich zu verlassen" I'm sure there is an better example!

"wegzuwerfen"

"Ich habe beschlossen, das Buch wegzuwerfen"

Conjugation

There are three persons, two numbers and two moods (indicative and conditional mood) to regard for conjugation. Although there are six tenses in German, you have only to know two of them to conjugate, as the other ones are compound tenses. There are three classes of conjugation in German: schwach, stark and gemischt.

Weak verbs

• Present: -e, -(e)st, -(e)t, -en, -(e)t, -en
• Imperfect: -(e)te, -(e)test, -(e)te, -(e)ten, -(e)tet, -(e)ten

Strong verbs

• Present: -e, -(e)st, -(e)t, -en, -(e)t, -en
• Imperfect: -0-, -st, -0-, -en, -t, -en

Conditional endings

• All tenses and verbs: -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en

The "(e)"s are inserted when the stem of the verb ends in:

-chn -d, -dn, -fn, -gn, -t, -tm

The second person singular ending is -t for verbs whose stems end in:

-s, -&szlig, -x, -z

Examples

beten (to pray; weak transitive verb)

• Past Participle: gebetet
• Present: bete, betest, betet, beten, betet, beten
• Imperfect: betete, betetest, betete, beteten, betetet, beteten

singen (to sing; strong transitive verb)

• Past Participle: gesungen
• Present: singe, singst, singt, singen, singt, singen
• Imperfect: sang, sangst, sang, sangen, sangt, sangen

The other tenses are described in the Sentences section, because they include construction of sentences.

Auxiliary verbs

werden (to become) (strong)

• Past participle: geworden
• Present: werde, wirst, wird, werden, werden, werdet, werden
• Past: wurde, wurdest, wurde, wurden, wurdet, wurden

haben (to have) (mixed)

• Past participle: gehabt
• Present: habe, hast, hat, haben, habt, haben
• Past: hatte, hattest, hatte, hatten, hattet, hatten

sein (to be) (strong)

• Past participle: gewesen
• Present: bin, bist, ist, sind, seid, sind
• Past: war, warst, war, waren, wart, waren

Modal verbs

• müssen - to be required; must
• sollen - to be supposed; should
• wollen - to want (resolve)
• mögen - to want (desire)
• können - to be able; can; to be possible
• dürfen - to be allowed; may

Imperative conjugation

There is an imperative for second person singular and second person plural, as well as for first person plural and second person formal. The root of the verb is never changed.

The endings for second person singular informal are: "-(e)", "-el" or "-le", and "-er(e)". The endings for second person plural informal are: "-(e)t", "-elt", and "-ert".

"fahren" -"Fahr(e)!" - "Fahrt!"

The imperative of second person plural and second person formal is equal to the infinitive

This subtopic is strongly related to the construction of German sentences, so you are strongly recommended to take a look at that section.

Verbal nouns and verbal adjectives

This section explains how to construct those forms from the main infinitive. The processes are the same both for simple and complex infinitives. For complex infinitives, you must ignore all the adverbial phrases and object phrases, they do not affect this process; except something else is mentioned.

Past participle

There are some irregularities to learn when creating the past participle form.

Weak verbs form their past participles with "ge-" plus the third person singular form of the verb.

fragen (es fragt) -> gefragt

passen (es paßt) -> gepaßt

antworten (es antwortet) -> geantwortet

hören (es hört) -> gehört

fühlen (es fühlt) -> gefühlt

Verbs with inseparable prefixes, or foreign words ending in "-ieren" or "-eien" do not have "ge-" added to the verb.

"probieren" (es probiert) -> probiert

"prophezeien" (es prophezeit) -> prophezeit

For irregular verbs, the infinitive ending "-en" remains. But in most cases, the suffix "-t" is used.

"gelaufen"

"gelacht"

"gelächelt"

"getöpfert"

The seperable prefix remains in place.

"weggetragen"

"umverteilt"

NOTE "Ich habe den Baum umgefahren" (Now there is no tree any more!)

NOTE "Ich habe den Baum umfahren" (There was no accident!)

The past participles of modal and auxiliary verbs have the same form as their infinitives. But if these verbs are used alone, without an infinitive, they have a regular participle.

"Ich habe den Chef besuchen dürfen" ("Chef" = boss)

"Ich habe zum Chef gedurft" (unusual)

Present participle

To create the basic form of a present participle, you attach the suffix "d" to the infinitive of the verb.

"laufen" - "laufend"

"töpfern" - "töpfernd"

"lächeln" - "lächelnd"

"verraten" - "verratend"

"aufbauen" - "aufbauend"

Future participle or gerundive

A gerundive-like construction is fairly complicated to use. The basic form is created by putting the word "zu" before the infinitive. This is also the adverb.

"zu suchen"

"Der Schlüssel ist zu suchen" (Somebody has to find the key, because we need it)

"zu verzeichnen"

"auf zu machen"

The adjective is more complicated. Instead of the infinitive, you use the present participle, then decline it corresponding to gender, number, case and article of the nominal phrase.

"Der zu suchende Schlüssel"

"Ein zu lüftendes Geheimniss"

Nomen agentis

The nomen agentis is constructed by removing the infinitive ending and replacing it by "-er" ( "-ler" or "-er(er)" respectively ). The nomen agentis is masculine by standard, for female actors the there are altered suffixes.

"fahren" - "Der Fahrer"/"Die Fahrerin"

"tischlern" - "Der Tischler"/"Die Tischlerin"

This form is very hard to build for complex infinitives, therefore it is unusual. Most of the time you do this, and that will not be often the case, you ensure that all object phrases and adverbial phrases are put before the nomen agentis.

"schnell zum Flughafen fahren um die Maschine noch zu erwischen"

ABSURD AND UNUSUAL:

"Schnell-zum-Flughafen-um-die-Maschine-noch-zu-erwischen-Fahrer"

Is there a more common English name for this form than nomen agentis?

Gerund

The normal gerund noun is generally the same word as the infinitive. The gerund does not have a plural, and its gender is neuter.

"arbeiten" - "Das Arbeiten"

NOTE "Die Arbeiten" is not the feminine plural of the gerund "Arbeiten",

it is the plural of "Die Arbeit".

There is another kind of gerund that implies disapproval of the action. The ending of this form is "-erei" ( "-lerei" or "erei" ). It does not have a plural, and its gender is feminine.

"arbeiten" - "Die Arbeiterei"

"lächeln" - "Die Lächlerei"

Similar to the form presented above, you can put the prefix "ge-" (after the seperable prefix), if the verb doesn't have a permanent prefix, and attach the ending "-e" ( "-el", "-er" ). This noun indicates the same disapproval as the other one. It is a singularetantum, too, and it is masculine.

"fahren" - "Das Gefahre"

"lächeln" - "Das Gelächel"

These forms are very hard to build for complex infinitives, therefore they are very unusual. Most of the time you do this, and you won't do that very often, you must ensure that all object phrases and adverbial phrases are put before the gerund noun.

"gesehen werden" - "Das Gesehen-Werden"

"schnell zum Flughafen fahren um die Maschine noch zu erwischen"

ABSURD AND UNUSUAL:

"Das Schnell-zum-Flughafen-um-die-Maschine-noch-zu-erwischen-Fahren"

Not that absurd, but rather funny:

"Die Schnell-zum-Flughafen-um-die-Maschine-noch-zu-erwischen-Fahrerei"

Tenses

Although there are six tenses in German, a student has actually only two tenses to learn, because the other ones are compound. They are actually quite similar to English constructions.

Conjugation includes three persons, two numbers, two moods and two tenses. The subjunctive mood is quite complicated to build; even many native speakers have problems with that matter. English native speakers should note that these tenses don't carry aspect information. There are no progressive tenses. "Das Mädchen geht zur Schule" may mean "The girl goes to school" as well as "The girl is going to school". A sentence like "Das Mädchen ist zur Schule gehend" is still correct, but nobody speaks this way (by the way, "Das Mädchen ist gehend zur Schule" is completely wrong). You must use an adverb to make a visible difference aside from the context.

• Present - It is the present-conjugated form of the infinitive. The most important tense in German. You will mainly use "Präsens" for present progressive, as well as for historical past. It is also common to use it with a future meaning.

  Example: Ich kaufe das Auto.

• Preterite - It is the past-conjugated form of the infinitive. This past tense is mainly for written German and formal speech.

  Example: Ich kaufte das Auto.

• Perfect - It is the present-conjugated form of the perfect infinitive. The most important tense in spoken German to explain what happened in the past. Note that to express things like "I have been waiting for 3 hours now", present tense is used: "Ich warte jetzt schon seit 3 Stunden hier" (literally, "I wait now already since 3 hours here").

  Example: Ich habe das Auto gekauft.

• Pluperfect (past perfect) - It is the past-conjugated form of the perfect infinitive. It can be thought of the perfect form of the Preterite. Use it when you describe what had already happened in the past.

  Example: Ich hatte das Auto gekauft.

• Future - It is the present-conjugated form of the future infinitive. Mainly for describing the future. This tense is used in spoken and written German, but Germans prefer the Präsens with future meaning instead.

  Example: Ich werde das Auto kaufen.

• Future perfect - It is the present-conjugated form of the future infinitive of the perfect infinitive. Used to refer to things that will have happened, that is be past, in the future. This tense is uncommon in spoken German.

  Example: Ich werde das Auto gekauft haben.

In the third singular and plural conjugations future perfect can also be used to express an assumption and refers to something that is assumed to have happened in the past.

Er wird das Auto gekauft haben ("I assume that he has bought the car")

Sie werden das Auto gekauft haben ("I assume that they have bought the car")

Sentences

Main Sentence

If a verb has a separable prefix, this prefix is moved to the end of the sentence.

"Ich" - "den Müll wegwerfen"

"Ich werfe den Müll weg" (statement)

"Werfe ich den Müll weg?" (question)

"Wirf den Müll weg!" (command)

Statement

A normal statement is quite simple to build. First the Subject, then the conjugated verb, at last the rest of the infinitive without this verb.

"Ich" - "den Baum sehen" - "Ich sehe den Baum"

"Du" - "nach Hause gegangen sein" - "Du bist nach Hause gegangen"

"Ein Text" - "geschrieben werden" - "Ein Text wird geschrieben"

"Wir" - "den Raum verlassen" - "Wir verlassen den Raum"

"Der König" - "eine Burg bauen lassen" - "Der König lässt eine Burg bauen"

If the conjugated verb has a separable prefix, this prefix stays at the end of the sentence.

"Ich" - "den Müll wegwerfen" - "Ich werfe den Müll weg"

Inversion

By an inversion you emphasize a component of the sentence: an adverbial phrase, a predicative or an object, or even an inner verbal phrase. The subject phrase is put directly behind the conjugated verb, and the component to emphasize is taken to the beginning.

"Ich fliege schnell" - "Schnell fliege ich"

"Du bist wunderschön" - "wunderschön bist du"

UNCOMMON: "Ich bin gelaufen" - "Gelaufen bin ich"

Questions

Questions may be divided into yes/no questions, asking for the truthfulness of a statement, and specific questions, which ask for a concrete aspect of a statement.

Specific questions are similar to inverted statements. They begin with a question word, then there is the conjugated verb, maybe the subject next, and the rest of the sentence follows.

Yes/No questions

This kind of question is similar to the inversion: you put the inflected verb at the beginning of the (not inverted) sentence.

"Du kommst." - "Kommst du?"

"Ich habe geschlafen." - "Habe ich geschlafen?"

"Ich werde das Spiel beenden." - "Werde ich das Spiel beenden?"

"Du wirfst den Torwart raus." - "Wirfst du den Torwart raus?"

Ask for subject or object

In a normal question, you replace the subject phrase or object phrase with a corresponding interrogative pronoun, then move it to the beginning of the sentence, like an inversion. Theoretically, you must use the interrogative pronoun of "welcher, welche, welches" or a nominal phrase with the interrogative article.

"Du hast deiner Frau einen Ring gekauft"

- "Welchen hast du deiner Frau gekauft?"

"Du hast deiner Frau einen roten Ring gekauft"

- "Welchen Ring hast du deiner Frau gekauft?"

"Du hast deiner Frau einen roten Ring gekauft"

- "Welchen Roten hast du deiner Frau gekauft?"

"Du hast deiner Frau einen roten Ring gekauft"

- "Welchen roten Ring hast du deiner Frau gekauft?"

But the usage of this pronoun implies that the speaker knows both the gender and number of the unknown object. So, practically, you replace these pronouns by short forms.

"Du hast deiner Frau einen Ring gekauft"

- "Was hast du deiner Frau gekauft?"

	person	thing
nominative	wer	was
genitive (object)	wessen	wessen
dative	wem	---
accusative	wen	was

Regardless of whether you use the full pronoun or the short form, the genitive case is practically only used for genitive objects. See Ask for Possessors

Ask for Predicative

You ask for a predicative with the either interrogative pronoun "Was" or, if knowing it is not a nominal phrase, "Wie".

"Er ist schnell" - "Wie/Was ist er?"

"Ein Schmetterling ist ein Insekt" - "Was ist ein Schmetterling?"

You can also use other interrogative pronouns like "Wo".

It is possible to ask for the adverb of a predicative, if it is not a nominal phrase (and even for the adverb of the adverb etc.)

IS OKAY "Der Baum ist 3 Meter hoch."

(A good German style is to write down numbers 1 - 12):

BETTER "Der Baum ist drei Meter hoch.- "Wie hoch ist der Baum?"

Ask for possessor

When searching for the possessor of a nominal phrase, you first act as if you would invert the corresponding statement, placing the noun with the unknown possessor at the beginning. Then give it the possessive interrogative article ("wessen" for all cases, genders and numbers). Of course, this nominal phrase may not have a genitive possessor.

"Ich habe das Auto des Chefs gesehen." - "Wessen Auto hast du gesehen?"

"Ich habe sein Auto gesehen" - "Wessen Auto hast du gesehen?"

"Ich habe sein Auto gesehen" - "Wessen hast du gesehen?"

(Wessen is no longer an article, but a pronoun)

Usage is the same for both unknown possessive articles as for unknown genitive possessors.

Ask for adverb

First the interrogative pronoun ("Wie"), then the conjugated verb, next the subject, then the rest of the sentence.

"Der Vogel fliegt schnell am Himmel" - "Wie fliegt der Vogel am Himmel?"

If the adverb describes another adverb or an adjective to be inserted

Ask for position or adverbial clause

Developing the question for an adverbial phrase may be slightly more complicated.

Theoretically, like the other specific questions, the unknown position is inverted to the beginning of the sentence. Whereas the pre- or post- position remains, the nominal part is replaced either by an interrogative pronoun or by a nominal phrase having the interrogative article.

"Er sah den Vogel auf dem Baum." - "Auf welchem Baum sah er den Vogel?"

"Dein Hund wurde in diesem Jahr geboren."

- "In welchem Jahr wurde dein Hund geboren?"

Practically, the speaker will know neither the gender of the noun, nor the number of the noun, nor even the kind of preposition. So a short form is used instead in nearly every case. These short forms are also the only way to ask for an adverbial clause or for a proposition.

"Er sah den Vogel auf dem Baum." - "Wo sah er den Vogel?"

"Dein Hund wurde damals geboren." - "Wann wurde dein Hund geboren?"

Some interrogative pronouns: Wo, Woher, Wohin, Wann, Wieso, Weshalb, Warum, Weswegen.

Commands

For a command you take the imperative form of the conjugated verb from the infinitive and put it at the beginning of the sentence followed by the corresponding personal pronoun. The separable prefix, if there is one, remains at its old place, separated. If the verb chamges the vowel in the second and third person singular, the vowel is also changed in the second person singular of the imperative.

The 2nd person plural pronoun is always omitted. In archaic language, or to emphasize who is ordered for the action, the 2nd person singular pronoun may be left.

"Das Tier verfolgen" - "Verfolge (du) das Tier!"

"Das Tier verfolgen lassen" - "Lass(e) (du) das Tier verfolgen!"

"wegfahren" - "Fahr(e) du weg"

"jemanden mitnehmen" - "Nimm (du) jemanden mit"

There are no imperative forms for first person plural and second person formal. The first and third person plural of the conditional of the present is used. You must put it to beginning of the sentence, separate the separable prefix before that, and place the personal pronouns "wir" or "Sie" directly after it.

"wegfahren" - "Fahren wir weg!" - "Fahren Sie weg!"

"froh sein" - "Seien wir froh!" - "Seien Sie froh!"

Note that imperatives must have the same word order as yes/no questions.

Subordinate clauses

A subordinate clause is always incorporated in a main sentence (or another subordinal clause). In general, it begins with a special word, setting it into relation with the encompassing sentence. At next there can be the subject, at last there is the infinitive with the conjugated verb. Notice, that the conjugated verb remains at its position at the end.

This topic needs some adds

Clauses with dass

Subordinate clauses beginning with "dass" [thus, so, that] enable the speaker to use statements like nominal phrases or pronouns. These sentences are singular, neuter and either nominative or accusative.

"Dass Spinnen keine Insekten sind, ist allgemein bekannt"

- "Das ist allgemein bekannt"

"Ich weiß, dass Spinnen keine Insekten sind" - "Ich weiß das"

Indirect questions with ob

Whereas the word "dass" indicates that the statement is a fact, "ob" starts an indirect yes/no question.

"Ich weiß nicht, ob ich fliegen soll."

Relative clauses

The outer nominal phrase can be the subject(nominative case), direct object(accussative case), indirect(dative case) or a predicativ noun of the relative clause. The clause begins with a form of the definite pronoun( der/die/das ), or the interrogative pronoun( welchem/welcher/welches ), the rest words are put after it.

"Der Mann, der/welcher seiner Frau den Hund schenkt" (nominative subject)

"Der Hund, den/welchen der Mann seiner Frau schenkt" (accusative object)

"Die Frau, der/welcher der Mann den Hund schenkt" (dative object)

"Der Mann, der/welcher ich bin" (predicative noun)

The outer nominal phrase can also be the possessor a noun inside. You use the genetive case of a relative pronoun matching the outer nominal phrase in gender and number.

"Der Mann, dessen Auto auf der Straße ist"

"Die Person, deren Auto ich kaufe"

"Das Auto, dessen Fahrer ich helfe"

"Die Kinder, deren Lehrer ich kenne"

Prepositions/Postpositions are attached to these phrases in the relative clause if necessary.

"Das Haus, in dem ich lebe"

"Die Person, wegen der ich hier bin"

"Das Haus, durch dessen Tür ich gegangen bin"

When to use der, welcher or was: to be added

Adverbial clauses

An adverbial clause begins with a conjunction, defining its relation to the verb or nominal phrase described.

"Als ich auf dem Meer segelte"

Some examples for conjunctions: als, während, nachdem, weil