Grammatik im Blick

Grammar Supplement for GER 506 and Review for GER 507
Version Aug 22, 2011

Grammar in Chapter 1:
1. Present tense regular verbs
2. Present tense haben/sein
3. Gender of nouns
4. Question words
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1. Present tense regular verbs

All German verbs need to be conjugated according to the person they are referring to. In English,
the conjugation pattern consists of two types only:
to go
I go

we go

you go

you (all) go

he / she / it goes

they go

In German, the conjugation pattern displays more variation:

gehen
ich gehe

wir gehen

du gehst

ihr geht

er / sie / es geht

sie gehen

Some useful terms to talk about conjugation patterns are the following:
The infinitive
1st person singular

1st person plural

2nd person singular

2nd person plural

3rd person singular

3rd person plural

The infinitive in German consists of two units (with one exception: sein/to be): the stem and the
ending (suffix). The ending is always the same, its en:
geh-en
hei-en
hab-en
Consider the following two conjugation patterns of regular verbs. Find out what other endings
verbs have and fill them in the table below:
kommen
ich komme

wir kommen

du kommst

ihr kommt

er / sie / es kommt

sie kommen

machen
ich mache

wir machen

du machst

ihr macht

er / sie / es macht

sie machen

***Exercise:

infinitive: stem+_____

1st person singular:

ich stem+

1st person plural:

wir stem+

2nd person singular:

du stem+

2nd person plural:

ihr stem+

3rd person singular:

er/sie/es stem+

3rd person plural:

sie stem+

Sometimes, the endings that you just wrote down need to be adjusted to the stem. Take, for
example the verb heien.
Infinitive: heien

stem: hei-

suffix: -en

In the first person singular, everything is regular, the ending e is applied to the stem,
creating ich heie. In the 2nd person singular, however, the usual ending st needs to be
adjusted because the stem already ends in an which is similar to an s: heist is not
working out because it would be difficult to pronounce. The s is redundant in that case so
that the 2nd person singular form is du heit.
There are similar considerations for verbs like arbeiten (to work) and finden (to find). Go
through the conjugation pattern and try to identify what their tricky point is.
***Exercise:
arbeiten

finden

2. Present Tense of haben and sein

At this point, you will have to deal with two exceptions, haben (to have) and sein (to be).
Since they dont follow the regular pattern they are called irregular verbs. Please memorize
their conjugation pattern carefully since you will use them very frequently:
haben
ich habe

wir haben

du hast

ihr habt

er / sie / es hat

sie haben

There is one point where haben is especially tricky, that is in the 2nd person singular be
careful, its not du habst but du hast! The -b- sneaked out.
sein
ich bin

wir sind

du bist

ihr seid

er / sie / es ist

sie sind

3. Gender of Nouns
In German nouns can have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. English follows
the natural or biological gender, that means persons and individual pets or animals receive
either masculine or feminine gender according to their biological sex. However, in German,
things have a gender as well. It is very important to know the right grammatical gender. This
knowledge is necessary for a lot of follow-up grammar such as case modification. So you
better start studying them correctly right from the beginning!
Gender is displayed best in the definite articles der, die, das (der for masculine, die for
feminine, and das for neuter).
Some examples (first row with obvious ones, second row with less obvious ones):
masculine

feminine

neuter

der Mann (man)

die Frau (woman)

das Kind (child)

der Tisch (table)

die Lampe (lamp)

das Sofa (sofa)

At the beginning of your DiB chapters, you will find the vocabulary section (Wortschatz) for
each chapter. These lists will also provide you with the definite articles and thus, the gender
for the nouns.
Besides learning them off by heart, there are some rules that might help you to remember the
right gender. As always, these rules are not mathematical rules so they will not cover 100%
of the German you will deal with. But they are good guidelines. Below, you will find an
example for each gender.
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rule
Nouns ending in er:

gender
masculine (der)

examples

exceptions

Computer, Bcker, Teller das Messer, das

Zimmer, die Nummer

Nouns ending in e:

feminine (die)

Lampe, Tasche, Blume

der Kse, der Name,

das Finale

Nouns ending in chen:

neuter (das)

Mdchen, Ktzchen

---

If you start your own list of rules or a list of nouns according to their gender, it is advisable to
also note the exceptions. For more helpful rules, please visit the according Grimm Grammar
section at http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/no_02.html
We acknowledge that gender learning has a lot to do with pure memorization. That is why
we want to provide you with several strategies for improving the effectiveness of your gender
learning. Please read the study tips below carefully. We hope to meet all your individual
learning preferences and styles!

***Exercise: Pick one of the study tips below and try it out! Pair up with a classmate.
Together, prepare a list of nouns, and then study with your individual method. Meet up with
your partner in a week to test each other.

Study Tips:
Work with colors: there are various ways for effective color-coding. You
can use blue, red, and green paper to write down nouns. On the blue paper
youll note masculine nouns, feminine nouns on red paper, and green is
reserved for neuter nouns. Use these sheets as reference in class and for
homework.
The same color code works within written texts: use three different
highlighters to color nouns in the text.
Colored sticky notes: write three, for example, masculine nouns on a blue
sticky note. Put it next to your mirror for one week only and read the words
when standing in front of it. Change nouns once a week.

Compose Gender Stories: use a handful of masculine nouns in a very

simple story. Combine some that are easy to remember (e.g. der Mann)
with less easy ones (der Kse). Read your story once per day.
Modify/update the stories once in a while.

Draw pictures/ make a collage of things that share the same gender. E.g.
have a house with three rooms; assemble all masculine furniture in one
room, feminine in another and neuter ones in the third room.

4. Question words
English question words usually start with wh- (what, who, where, why; one exception: how) and
German is not so far from that: German question words start with a w-.
wer?

who?

was?

what?

wo?

where?

wohin?

where to?

woher?

where from?

warum?

why?

wann?

when?

wie?

how?

Questions words take the 1st position in a sentence, followed by the verb in its usual 2nd position.
The structure is very similar to English questions using wh-words, so it shouldnt be a big deal to
learn. Compare the following examples:
Wer ist das?

Who is that?

Was ist das?

What is that?

Wo bist du?

Where are you?

Wie geht es dir?

How are you?

Woher kommst du?

Where are you from?

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There are some tricky word pairs in here that are easily mixed up. Be careful to memorize them
correctly:
German

English

wer
wo
wann

who
where
when
if

wenn

(this will come up in a

later chapter)

Another special case is how to ask someone for their name:

Wie heit du?
(literally: how are you called?)
In English, whenever you use another verb than to be as in the examples above, you have to add
to do in your question:
What do you do? Where do you go? Why do you sleep? Where do you come from?
In German, we dont need that. We can use whatever verb we want and maintain the same
structure. The verb is in 2nd position after the question word:
Wo wohnst du?

Where do you live?

Was kochst du?

What do you cook?

Warum magst du Deutsch?

Why do you like German?

Wie findest du Deutsch?

How do you like German?

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One step further:

Questions can also be asked without the help of a question word. These are called decisionquestions or yes-no-questions because you can answer them with yes/no.
Do you like pizza?

Do they go to the movies?

Here again English uses to do as a helper to generate questions for most of the verbs used
(exceptions are to be and modal verbs).
German can generate question without the use of a helper. Just put the verb in first position
followed by the subject:
Magst du Pizza?

Gehen sie ins Kino?

Compare the two question types:

Was magst du?

What do you like?

Magst du Pizza?

Do you like pizza?

Wohin gehen sie?

Where do they go?

Gehen sie ins Kino? Do they go to the movies?

***Exercise:
1. Generate 3 pairs of question like above on your own that you can ask a classmate.
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2. Watch the following video on youtube. Its the German intro of Sesame Street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTKDM8UzOhA
Translate the lyrics from second 1 to 23. Try to sing along!
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12

Grammar in Chapter 2:
5. Present tense regular verbs with vowel change
6. Accusative
7. Conjunctions and word order [weil sentences]
8. Telling time
9. Days of the week
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5. Present Tense of Regular Verbs with Vowel Change

In some verbs, the vowel of the stem changes when conjugated - but only in the 2nd and 3rd
person singular present tense (= du, er/sie/es). There are two categories of changes: e to ie/i
and a to . Category I: e ie / i

sehen

ich sehe

wir sehen

du siehst

ihr seht

er/sie/es sieht

sie sehen

lesen
ich lese

wir lesen

du liest

ihr lest

er/sie/es liest

sie lesen

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Note: In lesen and sehen the stem vowel e is longer than in the following verbs. To keep its
length, e changes into long i, represented by ie.
Below in nehmen, essen, sprechen the stem vowel e is short so the i stays short as well.
nehmen
ich nehme

wir nehmen

du nimmst

ihr nehmt

er/sie/es nimmt

sie nehmen

essen

***Exercise:

ich esse

wir essen

du isst

ihr esst

er/sie/es isst

sie essen

sprechen
ich

wir

du

ihr

er/sie/es

sie

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Category II: a

fahren
ich fahre

wir fahren

du fhrst

ihr fahrt

er/sie/es fhrt

sie fahren

schlafen
ich schlafe

wir schlafen

du schlfst

ihr schlaft

er/sie/es schlft

sie schlafen

***Exercise:

laufen
ich

wir

du

ihr

er/sie/es

sie

***Exercise: Fill in the gaps with the correct conjugation.

1. Ich ____________ viel in der Deutschklasse. (sprechen)
2. Mariana _______________ gerne lange am Wochenende. (schlafen)
3. David macht gerne Sport. Er _________________ jeden Morgen. (laufen)
4. Jessica macht nicht gerne Sport. Sie ____________ immer mit dem Auto. (fahren)
5. Wir _________________ heute Abend Inglorious Bastards auf DVD.
6. Doug und Anke _____________ gerne Pizza, aber Ryan ___________ lieber Pasta.
(essen)

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6. Weil-Sentences
Verb positions in the sentence
I.

The verb in independent main clauses:

Read the examples of very short sentences below. Which position does the verb have in
independent clauses? Please fill out the box.

Ich esse.

Er schlft.

Sie lernt.

Wir sprechen.

***Exercise:

Verb in _____ position in independent clauses.

Even when we expand on the short sentences by adding an object, the verb position does not
change in independent clauses:
Ich

esse

Pizza.

subject

verb

object

This order of SVO is why German is called a SVOlanguage.

If we add a complement instead of an object, the verb position still does not change:
Ich
subjekt

lese

gern.

verb

complement

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***Exercise: Please split up the sentences and put their elements into the according columns.
Subjekt

Verb

Objekt/Ergnzung

Er spielt Tennis.
Der Mann geht schnell.
Bernas Lieblingsfarbe ist
Rot.
Haralds Lieblingsfarbe
ist Blau.

II.

The verb in dependent subordinate clauses:

In dependent clauses, the verb position changes. Study the example below and find out which
position the verb takes in dependent clauses (fill out the box to the right):

Bernas Lieblingsfarbe ist Rot,

weil Rot eine sehr temperamentvolle Farbe ist.

independent clause
= SVO
dependent clause
= _____________

17

Read two more examples. Mark subject, object, and verb with their abbreviations and complete
the last one on your own:
Haralds Lieblingsfarbe ist Blau, weil der Himmel auch Blau ist.
Evas Lieblingsfarbe ist Pink, weil Pink frhlich und schn ist.

Sophias Lieblingsfarbe ist Grn, _______________________________________

What happens to the verb in dependent clauses? The use of weil kicks it to the very end of the
sentence. Lets summarize:
Independent clauses: verb 2nd position
Dependent clauses: verb final position
Weil is a conjunction, more precisely a subordinating conjunction that indicates that the
following sentence is dependent on a superior one (= on the independent clause). There are more
conjunctions that have the same effect on the sentence structure and its easy to learn them as a
list. Please go to http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/con_04.html to get a fuller picture of
conjunctions.
One step further: Do you know of another type of sentence where the position of the verb is
neither second nor last? Give an example.
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18

***Exercise:
1. Was ist deine Lieblingsfarbe und warum?
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2. Frage 3 weitere Studenten, was ihre Lieblingsfarbe ist und warum und notiere ihre
Antworten.

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7. Accusative Case
You already know the Nominative case although you might not be aware that this is its name:
Das ist

ein Mann.

eine Frau.

ein Kind.

Das ist

der Mann.

die Frau.

das Kind.

Nominative indicates the subject of an action. ist describes der Mann, the man is.
Accusative describes the direct object of an action. The action is directed at the direct object.
There cannot be more than one subject for an action; anything else that you might think of as
another subject is an object. Study the following example:
I eat.

Ich esse.

That is a perfectly fine sentence. What about the next:

He sees.

Er sieht.

??

Isnt there something missing? You might ask yourself what does he see? And this what is the
object of the action to see. We have to add an object to the sentence in order to make it
complete.
He sees a man.
In German, we now need to use the Accusative case to mark the object. Compare the following
examples and try to find out what changes apply when using Accusative:
Ich sehe

einen Mann.

eine Frau.

ein Kind.

Ich sehe

den Mann.

die Frau.

das Kind.

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There is only one noticeable change, that is the definite and indefinite article change within the
masculine paradigm.
ein einen

der den

***Exercise: Review the section above and try to complete the following table without checking
back:
Case / Gender

Masculine

Nominative

Das ist

Accusative

Ich sehe

Feminine

Neuter

Since most actions require not only a subject but also an object, the Accusative can be called
default case for German. Lets go back to an early example:
I eat.

Ich esse.

It is perfectly fine to use essen to describe the action only. But once you add what is eaten, its
the object of the action and receives the Accusative case. Try it yourself. First you need to find
out the gender of the three words given below before putting them into the table. Make the
according changes where necessary.

21

Pizza Brot Kuchen

***Exercise:

Case / Gender

Masculine

Nominative

Das ist

Accusative

Ich esse

Feminine

Neuter

Study Tip:
In total, German has four cases. It is important to know when to apply which case. The
easiest way is to decide whether the action needs an object.

In the beginning, this might be difficult, especially when you are not fit in grammar.
Then it might be helpful to strictly separate Nominative verbs from Accusative verbs
(and later two more cases).
The following exercise will help you to get a better understanding of Nominative and
Accusative verbs.

***Exercise:
Go back to the vocabulary sections of chapter 1 and 2 of DiB and also use your notes from class.
Make two lists, one containing all verbs that require a subject only. These are Nominative verbs.
The other list should contain all the verbs that can have or require a direct object. These are
Accusative verbs. Remember that Accusative is the default case so to speak!

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One step further:

The same changes apply to possessive pronouns when used in Accusative case.
Examples:
Das ist meine Mutter. Das ist mein Vater. Das ist mein Bruder.
Ich sehe meine Mutter. Ich sehe meinen Vater. Du siehst meinen Bruder.

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Grammar in Chapter 3:
10. Prefix verbs
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10. Prefix Verbs

So far, we focused on conjugating haben and sein as well as regular verbs. Also, Grimm
Grammar and Deutsch im Blick http://coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/v_01.html can give you further
information about certain verb types and tenses. With sein we noticed, that German has verbs
that can look much different from their infinitive form when inflected and you may have already
come across other verbs that share that characteristic. In German, we have a lot of verbs that
change vowles or spelling or even make you wonder if that is actually a form of the word you
were thinking of. Nouns do that, too, for example in their pluralforms (der Kaktus die
Kakteen; das Buch die Bcher).
But lets focus on a few verbs for now:
essen
fahren
laufen
nehmen
schlafen

24

***Exercise: You have probably come across some forms, so try to match the given forms to
their infinitives:

du fhrst

= ____________________

es luft

= ____________________

er schlft

= ____________________

sie isst

= ____________________

du nimmst

= ____________________

Did you realize that only second and third person singular have been used in the exercise
above? Can you think of why this is so? Exactly. only the forms in the second and third person
singular are a bit tricky.
essen
ich

esse

wir

essen

du

isst

ihr

esst

er, sie,
es

isst

sie/
Se

essen

fahren
ich
fahre

wir

fahren

du

ihr

fahrt

er, sie,
es

fhrst
fhrt

sie/
Se

fahren

laufen
ich

laufe

wir

laufen

du

lufst

ihr

lauft

er, sie,
es

luft

sie/
Se

laufen

nehmen
ich
nehme

wir

nehmen

du

nimmst

ihr

nehmt

er, sie,
es

nimmt

sie/
Se

nehmen

schlafen
ich
schlafe

wir

schlafen

du

schlfst

ihr

schlaft

er, sie,
es

schlft

sie/
Se

schlafen

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Have you seen the verbs that we used in the conjugation tables in other forms also? Such as with
prefixes attached? Correct, it was not a spelling mistake.

Here are some examples:

nehmen:
abnehmen

= to lose weight or to take sth. off

zunehmen

= to put on weight

wegfahren

= to drive away or to take a trip

umfahren

= to drive around or to drive over

benehmen

= to behave

verfahren

= to drive the

fahren:

wrong way

schlafen:
einschlafen

= to fall asleep

ausschlafen

= to sleep in

aufessen

= to finish the plate (lit. to eat up)

auslaufen

= to leak (lit. to run out)

verschlafen

= to oversleep

entlaufen

= to run away

essen:

laufen:

26

Can you identify the prefixes? Guess what their function is. What does a prefix do to a
verb? Right, it alters or changes the meaning slightly or sometimes even completely. This means
more verbs on the vocab list. But the good thing is the forms of their conjugations are not
affected by that so all the verbs no matter what their prefix still inflect the same as they did
without their prefixes.
The only thing to pay attention to now is that there are two different types of prefixes.
There are some that are separable and some that are inseparable from the verb it is attached to.
What does that mean? Well, those that are separable are a little more special than the inseparable
prefix verbs. When you use them in a sentence as the main verb you have to separate the verb
from its prefix and kick the prefix to the end. I know it is weird because now you have to wait
until someone finished a sentence to really know what they are saying.

Look at these examples:

Achtung, deine Flasche luft aus!

If we did not wait for the aus it would mean that your
bottle is running, but leaking makes much more sense.

Ich nehme 20 kg zu.

Here you see how important that little prefix (which is now

Ich nehme 20 kg ab.

at the end) can be for the meaning of a simple sentence.

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Separable prefixes
ab

= off, down as in: abholen

an

= at, on

Inseparable prefixes
be

= makes a verb transitive or turns

action towards object

as in: anziehen

as in: beantworten
auf = up

as in: aufstehen

aus = out

as in: ausgehen

ein = in, into

as in: einkaufen

fern = far

as in: fernsehen

fort = away

as in: fortgehen

her = hither, to here

ent, emp = beginning of action or separation

as in: entwickeln
er

= stress on outcome, accomplishment

as in: erleben

ge

= result, successful action

as in: gefallen

as in: herkommen

hin = thither, to there as in: hinstellen

mit = with, along

as in: mitnehmen

nach = after

as in: nachdenken

um = around, at

as in: umsehen

miss

= same as English mis-

as in: misstrauen

ver

= action of the verb has gone wrong

(not always)
as in: verlaufen

vor = before

as in: vorstellen

vorbei = by, past

as in: vorbeilaufen

weg = away

as in: wegnehmen

zer

= asunder, apart
as in: zerlegen

Prefixes can occur in nouns or adjectives and

you may encounter the following, too:

zu = to, closed

as in: zuhren

zurck = back

as in: zurckgeben

zusammen = together as in: zusammenkommen

ir or un = negating the word

die Schuld die Unschuld

as in:
or

relevant irrelvant

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***Exercise: Here is a list of English verbs can you find the correct German equivalent?
Use the table and a dictionary and indicate if the verbs are separable (S) or inseparable (I):

to get dressed =

_________________

to pick up

_________________

to answer

_________________

to go out

_________________

to go away

_________________

to watch TV

_________________

to develop

_________________

to shop

_________________

to take apart

_________________

to experience =

_________________

to answer

_________________

to get up

_________________

to mistrust

_________________

to place

_________________

to take along =

_________________

to look around =

_________________

to imagine

_________________

to think about =

_________________

to take away =

_________________

to get lost

_________________

***Exercise: From now on start a list for separable and inseparable prefix verbs. And now, use
them in complete sentences to practice sentence order. You may use the verbs discussed or try to
find new ones that best describe what you did or experienced during the last days.
For example: Ich stehe eigentlich immer um 6 Uhr auf, aber manchmal verschlafe ich.
Usually I get up at 6am, but sometimes I oversleep.
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Zum Nachdenken: Reflection on Spelling and Meaning.

Read the sentences out loud and reflect on the use:
seit

vs.

seid

Seit wann seid ihr schon hier?

Since when are yall here already?

Mann

vs.

man

Man weiss nicht ob der Mann nett ist.

One does not know if that man is nice.

Paar

vs.

paar

Ich habe ein Paar Schuhe, die ein paar Euro gekostet haben.
I have a pair of shoes that had cost me some euros.

end-

vs.

ent-

Endlich hat er eine Entscheidung getroffen.

He has finally made a decision.

wieder

vs.

wider

Sie widerspricht mir immer und immer wieder.

She objects me over and over again.

Herr

vs,

her

Herr Mayer kommt dieses Jahr nicht her.

Mr Mayer does not come here this year.

Uhr

vs.

ur-

Die Uhr ist uralt. Ich habe sie von meiner Ur-Ur-Oma
The watch is very old. I got it from my great great granny.

Saite

vs.

Seite

Auf Seite 74 im Buch steht, das seine Geige vier Saiten hat.
On page 74 it says that a violin has four strings.

viel

vs.

fiel

Als Kind fiel er sehr viel hin.

He fell a lot when he was a kid.

leeren

vs.

lehren

Ich lehre Deutsch, um leere Kpfe zu fllen.

I teach German to fuel empty brains.

Meer

vs.

mehr

Ich will mehr Urlaub haben, um ans Meer zu fahren.

I want to have more vacation to go to the beach.
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Grammar in Chapter 4:
11. Modal verbs
12. Coordinating conjunctions
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11. Modal Verbs

Review present tense conjugations and regular verbs. You may use Grimm Grammar as a
reference: http://coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/v_02.html. Remember that regular verbs do not change
their stem when they are being conjugated and are predictable when you adjust forms. For the
present tense for example, all you need to do is to match the verb ending to the person who is
performing the action. spielen for example is regular:

ich

spiel e

du

spiel st

er/sie/es

spiel t

wir

spiel en

ihr

spiel t

sie (Sie)

spiel en

But it would be too easy and too boring if all verbs were regular. So, just like in English, we can
find irregular verbs in German as well. The main difference is that patterns are not that
predictable. Many times you will see a change in the stem, such as a vowel change. tragen (to
wear; to carry) is one of those.

ich

trag e

du

trg st

er/sie/es

trgt

wir

trag en

ihr

trag t

sie (Sie)

trag en

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Zum Nachdenken: Reflection on Spelling and Meaning.

Look at these examples to visualize changes in spelling when transforming or compounding
words:
der Brieftrger

(= the one who carries letters (postman))

derives from der Brief

and

tragen

and

-er personifies it.

-er indicates the masculine the female equivalent would be die Brieftrgerin.

der Langschlfer

(= the one who sleeps long (late riser))

derives from lang

and

schlafen

and

-er personifies it.

and

-er personifies it.

die Langschlferin is its female counterpart.

der Fuballspieler
derives from der Fu, der Ball, spielen
and again, female is die Fuballspielerin.

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Now you will learn how to express more complex thoughts. Many times you want to talk
about what you want to do, can do, or should do. And many times you have to tell someone
what he or she must or must not do. To do so you need more than just a verb that describes
what the person in charge does or intends to do. Modal verbs come in handy here. Review the
following list of modals and the way they are used by using it in a complete sentence in English
on the blank next to the pairs:

can, be able to

knnen

__________________________________________

supposed to

sollen

__________________________________________

must

mssen

__________________________________________

want to

wollen

__________________________________________

allowed to

drfen

__________________________________________

like to

mgen

__________________________________________

would like to

mchten

__________________________________________

Now, lets look at this example:

I would like to go to Germany.

Any idea how to say this in German? Dont translate but draw from what you already
know. All the vocabulary for this sentence should be already memorized, so just translating
would give us this:
Ich mchten gehen nach Deutschland.

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We already know that in German we need to adjust the ending of the verb towards the
one who is performing the action (the subject). Here we have Ich as the subject, so first person
singular. We also know that the conjugated verb wants to be the second unit of a regular
sentence. The problem is just that we have two verbs: mchten and gehen. Whenever we have
a modal verb we need to grant it the right to be conjugated, and used as the second unit. The
other verb is secondary and kicked to the end of the sentence (a common pattern in German).
The kicking of verbs is counter-intuitive for speakers of English not only because it
seems a bit illogical. But it is very important and also affects the situation in which you talk or
read, because you have to wait until a sentence is finished before you really know what is going
on. Also, when you hear a modal verb, you know that usually you will need to listen for a
specifying verb which closes the thought. This verb will be in its infinitive at the end.

Lets see how this looks like if we apply these rules to our example.
Ich mchte nach Deutschland gehen.

We conjugated the modal verb mchten and placed the secondary verb in the very end in
its infinitive. If we have further objects, we will need to place them in between the two verbs.
Ich mchte mit meiner besten Freundin nach Deutschland gehen.

Remember, you can switch the placement of subject or objects; however the verbs will
not change their positions. Simply switch the object (it can be more than a single word) with the
subject. The emphasis here mit meiner besten Freundin is followed by the conjugated verb:
Mit meiner besten Freundin mchte ich nach Deutschland gehen.

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To do this more automatically, study the meaning and conjugations of the modal verbs:

knnen =
ich

kann

wir

knnen

du

kannst

ihr

knnt

er, sie, es

kann

sie (Sie)

knnen

ich

muss

wir

mssen

du

musst

Ihr

msst

er, sie, es

muss

sie (Sie)

mssen

ich

darf

wir

drfen

du

darfst

Ihr

drft

er, sie, es

darf

sie (Sie)

drfen

ich

mag

wir

mgen

du

magst

ihr

mgt

er, sie, es

mag

sie (Sie)

mgen

Any patterns or questions? Or can

you formulate a rule?

mssen =

drfen =

mgen =

35

mchten =
ich

mchte

wir

mchten

du

mchtest

ihr

mchtet

er, sie, es

mchte

sie (Sie)

mchten

ich

will

wir

wollen

du

willst

ihr

wollt

er, sie, es

will

sie (Sie)

wollen

ich

soll

wir

sollen

du

sollst

ihr

sollt

er, sie, es

soll

sie (Sie)

Sollen

Any patterns or questions? Or can

you formulate a rule?

wollen =

sollen =

Now try your English sentences in German

supposed to

sollen

________________________________________________

must

mssen

________________________________________________

want to

wollen

________________________________________________

allowed to

drfen

________________________________________________

like to

mgen

________________________________________________

would like to

mchten

________________________________________________

36

mgen versus mchten

Memorize their meanings and read the forms out loud often to practice the different but
similar pronunciation. For mgen we often times leave out the secondary verb as it is implied,
and just like in English we use it as the only verb as well, while mchten mostly requires
another verb.
Ich mag Kaffee (trinken).

versus

Ich mchte Kaffee (trinken).

I like (to drink) coffee.

versus

I would like (to drink) coffee.

Zum Nachdenken: Reflection on Spelling and Meaning.

wollen versus werden
wollen is a common modal verb meaning to want as in
Ich will ein Eis haben.
(I want to have icecream).
werden on the the other hand can be used in multiple ways. We have seen it on our
vocabulary list as a primary verb for to become/get, as in
Das Wetter wird nchste Woche besser.
(The weather gets better next week).
You will also see it in many other ways, for example for the future tense:
Ich werde im Sommer nach Deutschland fliegen.
(I will fly to Germany in the summer.)
It functions just like a modal verb. The secondary verb is kicked to the end. A
third way to use werden is for the passive voice, but you will learn this later on.

37

12.Coordinating Conjunctions (non-kickers)

We have already seen conjunctions, such as weil (because) and und (and). There are two
different types: so called kickers (subordinating conjunctions) and non-kickers (coordinating
conjunctions). Look at the examples and highlight all the verbs:

Ich will nach Deutschland fahren, weil ich mein Deutschland liebe.

Ich will nach Deutschland fahren, weil ich mein Deutsch verbessern will.

versus

Ich will nach Deutschland fahren und ich liebe Deutschland.

Ich will nach Deutschland fahren und ich will mein Deutsch verbessern.

As you can see coordinating conjunctions (non-kickers) join equal clauses: either two
independent clauses or two dependent clauses. The word order stays the same in each clause,
with the verb in second position. Kickers, on the other hand kick the verb(s) to the end. The
conjugated verb of the sub-clause is kicked to the very end.

38

There are more coordinating conjunctions, but these are the most commonly used ones:
aber

but

oder

beziehungsweise

or

sondern

or
but rather (after a
negative)

because,
denn

und

and

as, for
entweder... oder...

either ... or ...

weder... noch... neither ... nor ...

Now practice the conjunctions that you are unsure about. Aber, und and oder, for
example may be a little easier spelling-wise than beziehungsweise. Try to write a short paragraph
(about your hobbies, your pets, your weekend plans, your career plans) including ALL
conjunctions given above.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

39

Zum Nachdenken: Reflection on Spelling and Meaning.

Read the sentences out loud and reflect on the use:

das

vs.

dass

Das ist das Kleid, das er mir gekauft hat.

That is the dress (that) he bought for me.

Er hat gesagt, dass mir das Kleid nicht steht.
He said that the dress does not look good on me.

What do you notice?

Can you agree with and understand the following:
-

das is used as an article or a relative pronoun as in the first example.

dass is used as a subordinating conjunction.

Like in a weil sentence the conjugated verb is kicked to the end of the sub-sentence
and 'dass introduces more details on a thought.

40