GRAMMAR REVIEW
the necessary grammatical points for German One

TIPS AND RESOURCES
 

  • Parts of speech quiz
  • Grammar tips for American students of the German language.
  • Big Dog's Grammar: A Bare Bones Guide to English . Bone up on your grammar!
  • A Complete English grammar and English Grammar resources.


    • 1. VERBS and RELATED TERMS

    a. VERBS: necessary for every senctence, the action words, the glue between subjects and other information.

    b. INFINITIVE: the unconjugated dictionary form: To be, to go, etc. SEIN, HABEN, SPIELEN, MACHEN

    c. CONJUGATE: to run a verb through its chart forms

    d. SINGULAR: one (I, you, he/she/it) vs. PLURAL: many (we, y'all, they)

    e. PERSON: first, second and third; can be singular or plural.

    f. SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE: one form in German giving present time meaning and meanings in the near future.

    g. MODAL VERBS: can, should, must, may, would like to, wants to.

    2. WHAT ARE SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS?

    a. SUBJECT: the actor or main player in a sentence. SUBJECTS use NOMINATIVE CASE
    Also used with SEIN (to be), which takes no object)

    I am the nominee. He works at Gulp'n'Blow. She plays the accordian.
    b. DIRECT OBJECT: receives the action or is acted upon. DIRECT OBJECTS use ACCUSATIVE CASE
    He "dissed" me. We accuse O.J. . Get a life. They have a pet toad.
    c. INDIRECT OBJECT (German Two): not the main thing acted upon, secondary
    Give me the money. Lend me you ears. I gave her a ring.
    d. NOTE: There are four CASES in German (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive)

    3. ARTICLES: definite and indefinite

    a. DEFINITE (specific): I am the lizard king. She's the one. I want the pink car.

    b. INDEFINITE (general, unclear): That's a book; whose? I want a car, any car.

    c. GENDER: all nouns are labelled Masculine, Feminine or Neuter.
    The words are labelled this way, the things are simply what they are.

    d. NUMBER: singular (one - a man, the car, this car) vs. plural (many -the men, the cars, books, no kids)

    4. MISC. TERMS

    a. PRONOUNS: replace nouns. The man - he. The book - it.

    b. ADVERBS: describe/modify either VERBS, giving info about the action, OR ADJECTIVES, modifying the description.

    I play Tennis well. He speaks too fast. She speaks clearly. That is very nice.
    c. ADJECTIVES: describe and give info about NOUNS.
    That's my/your/his book. Du bist verrückt. She's a helpful person. German is great.
    d. CONJUNCTIONS: join phrases UND, ABER, ODER, DENN (and, but, or, because)
    German is interesting and educational, but it's often confusing, because...
    e. PREPOSITIONS (pre-position) before a noun- over the river... nach Hause.

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