GERMAN GRAMMAR - ADVANCED

on this page: ~ N-nouns ~ comparative and superlative ~ prepositions ~ dative verbs ~ dative adjectives ~ personal pronouns ~ word order ~ idiomatic expressions ~ adjective endings ~ conjunctions ~ als, wenn, wann ~ um.. zu, ohne zu, (an)stat.. zu ~ imperative ~ wo-compounds ~ genitive ~ preposition meanings ~ passive voice

N-NOUNS
Masculine N-nouns: der Bauer, der Journalist, der Junge, der Jurist, der Kollege, der Komponist, der Kunde, der Mensch, der Nachbar, der Neffe, der Patient, der Pilot, der Polizist, der Prasident, der Psychologe, der Soldat, der Student, der Tourist, der Zeuge. Masculine N-nouns that add -ns in genitive: der Name, der Gedanke, der Glaube. NOMINATIVE ACCUSATIVE DATIVE GENITIVE SINGULAR der Herrn der Herrn dem Herrn des Herrn PLURAL die Herren die Herren den Herren der Herren

Nouns declined like adjectives: der/die Angestellte, Behinderte, Bekannte, Erwachsene, Fremde, Jugendliche, Reisende, Verwandte.

COMPARATIVE/SUPERLATIVE
Adjectives and adverbs: comparative: add -er to base form superlative: add - st to base from. add -est to words ending in -d, -t or a sibilant.

One syllable adjectives or adverbs with stem vowel a, o or u add an umlaut in the comparative and superlative so wie - as as : equality of a person, thing or activity to another. Es is heute kalter als gestern. als : compares people, things or activities Ich esse am liebsten Fischen am + superlative + -en : expresses superlative degree of predicate adjectives and adverbs. Von meinen drei Bruder ist Uwe der grosste If adjective is modifying noun, then it gets adjective endings!!!! Irregular comparison: Base form Comparative Superlative bald eher am ehesten gern lieber liebstgut besser besthoch hocher hochstnach naher nachstviel mehr meist-

PREPOSITIONS
ACCUSATIVE bis durch entlang fur gegen ohne um wider DATIVE aus ausser bei entgegen gegenuber mit nach seit von zu TWO-WAY an auf hinter in neben uber unter vor zwischen GENITIVE (an)statt trotz wahrend wegen diesseits jenseits oberhalb unterhalb innterhalb ausserhab

Two way prepositions: if expressing movement (change in location), use accusative. If no motion, use dative.

DATIVE VERBS
antworten befehlen begegnen danken dienen fehlen folgen gefallen gehorchen answer command meet thank serve feel follow obey

gehoren gelingen glauben helfen leid tun passen passieren raten schmeken verzeihen weh tun

belong succeed believe help fit happen advise taste pardon

Some dative verbs take impersonal objects (es, etwas) in accusative: befehlen, denken, glauben, raten, verzeihen.

DATIVE ADJECTIVES
ahnlich angenehm bekannt bose dankbar fremd gleich lieb moglich nahe nutzlich recht schuldig teuer wert willkommen similar comfortable familiar mad thankful foreign same dear possible near useful right guilty expensive valued welcome

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
NOM AKK DAT ich mich mir du dich dir er ihn ihm sie sie ihr es es ihm wir uns uns ihr euch euch sie sie ihnen

Interrogative pronouns: NOM wer was ACC wen was DAT wem ACC wessen

WORD ORDER:
When direct object is a noun: follows indirect object

When direct object is a personal pronoun: precedes indirect object Pronouns (in any case) always precede noun. Word order is always: time - manner - place

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS:
Angst vor (+ dat) : fear of Freude uber (+ acc) : joy over/in Interesse an (+ dat); Interesse fur -: interest in Lust an (+ dat) : pleasure in Mitleid mit : sympathy with Schuld an (+ dat): guilty of Sehnsucht nach : longing for

ADJECTIVE ENDINGS:
Predicate adjectives : follow the verbs sein, werden, bleiben - NEVER add endings Das Film is interessant Das Wetter bliebt jetzt schon Attribute adjectives: precede nouns they modify. Take ending based on gender, number, and case of the nouns they modify, and based on what kind of word the adjectives are preceded by. (3 tables) Three cases: adjectives preceded by ein words adjectives preceded by der words unpreceded adjectives Indefinite adjectives: andere, einige, mehrere, viele, wenige. In plural and suggest indefinite quantities. They take endings as unpreceded adjectives (table 3) When they are followed by attribute adjectives, they both get the same ending. alle, beide - take endings like der words (table 1)

CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating conjunctions: DO NOT affect order of subject and verb.

ABER - but, however, nevertheless DENN - because, for SONDERN - but, on the contrary, rather, instead UND - and ODER - or Aber - can be used after both positive and negative clauses Sondern - can be used only after negative clauses, b/c it expresses a contrast or contradiction.

Subordinating conjunctions:
A dependent clause is introduced by a subordinating conjunction. It is separated from the main clause by a comma. Affect word order!! In dependent clauses the finite verb is in final position:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

A simple verb is in final position (spielst) A separable prefix is attached to the bas form of the verb, which is in final position (mitspielst) A modal auxiliary follows the dependent infinitive and is in final position (willst) In the future tense the auxiliary werden follows the infinitive and is in final position (hast) In perfect tenses the auxiliary haben or sein follows the past participle and is in finals position (hast)

ALS - when BEVOR - before BIS - until DA - because, since DAMIT - so that DASS - that EHE - before NACHDEM - after OB - if, whether OBGLEICH - although OBWOHL - although

SEIT - since (temporal) SEITDEM - since (temporal) SOBALD - as soon as SOLANGE - as long as WAHREND - while; whereas WEIL - because WENN - if, when, whenever Obwohl ich mude war, musste ich fruh aufstehen. Da ich zuviel gegessen hatte, habe ich schlecht geschalfen. In a dependent clause containing a double infinitive, the auxiliary haben is not in final position. It precedes the double infinitive which is always the last element in a clause. Ex. Ich weiss, dass Reuth hatte kommen wollen.

ALS, WENN, WANN

Als - a clause concerned with a single event in the past, or refers to a single block of time in the past Wenn - a clause concerned with repeated events or possibilities in the past, or with single or repeated events in the present or future time. Wann - (at what time?) introduces direct and indirect questions. Asks for time. Time determination. Da - that Ob - whether, if

um.. zu, ohne zu, (an)stat.. zu

Um zu - in order to Ohne zu - without Statt zu - instead of Sie fuhr nach Bonn, um das Beethoven Haus zu sehen Wir werden sie anrufen, statt einen Brief zu schreiben Er is weggegangen, ohne ein Wort zu sagen.

IMPERATIVE

Familiar singular - infinitive verb stem (frag) - if verb stem ends with -m or -n, add -e (atme) - if ends with -m or -n but is preceded by -l or -r, don't add -e (lern) - if verb stem ends in -d or -t, add e (rede, warte) - stems that change from e>i and e>ie retain the stem vowel change but do not add -e (nimm, lies) - stems that change from a>a do not take umlaut (trag, lauf) Familiar plural - identical to the present-tense ihr form of the verb. (et!) Formal - used when addressing one or more persons to whom you would say Sie - identical to the present-tense Sie-form of the verb - pronoun Sie is always used and follows the verb (warten Sie!) Imperative of sein : fam.singular: sei; fam.plural: seid; formal : seien Sie.

WO- COMPOUNDS
No wo-compound: when referring to persons (von wem) Von wem spricht sie? Was: Wo + preposition: to refer to things and ideas Wovon spricht sie? Wo expands to wor : when preposition begins with a vowel (worauf, worin, woruber) Worauf freut sie sich? Wo- compounds are NOT used to inquire about the time. To inquire about time, seit wann, wie lange, or wann is used Seit wann arbeitet er?

GENITIVE
Noun endings:

Masculine and neuter: take -es (one syllable nouns) or -s (two or more syllables) Feminine and plural nouns: do not add a genitive ending Proper names: add -s. If already ends in an s-sound, no -s is added, apostrophe is used.

PREPOSITION MEANINGS
DATIVE Aus Ausser Bei Gegenuber Mit Nach Seit Von Zu ACCUSATIVE Bis Durch Entlang Fur Gegen Ohne Um TWO-WAY An Auf Hinter In Neben Uber Unter Vor Zwischen GENITIVE (an)statt Trotz Wahrend Wegen Auserhalb Innerhalb Instead of In spite of During On account of Outside of Inside of At, to, on On top of, at, to Behind Inside,into, to Beside, next to Over, above Under In front of Between Until, as far as, by Through Along For Against, about, around (approx.) Without Around, at (time) Out of, from, made of Besides, except, out of At the home of, near, at, with Opposite, across from With, by (vehicle) To, after, according to Since, for (temporal) From, by, of, about, of (relationship) To, at, for

Oberhalb Unterhalb Diesseits Jenseits Meinetwegen

Above Under On this side of On that side of For my sake, as far as I'm concerned

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Active focuses on the person or thing that is performing some activity (the subject acts) Passive focuses on the activity being performed or on the person or thing receiving the action of the verb (the subject is acted upon) Formula for the passive voice: werden + past pariticiple - werden is conjugated to agree with the subject. - The past participle never changes form and stands at the end of a main clause. The agent: ACTIVE: PASSIVE: - Subject in nominative von + dative (for people) durch + accusative (for things) - Object in accusative subject in nominative - Man nothing! Active: Er offnet die Tur. Passive: Present Simple Past (Prateritum) Present Perfect (Perfekt) Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt) Future Die Tur wird von ihm geoffnet Die Tur ist von ihm geoffnet Die Tur ist von ihm geoffnet worden. Die Tur war von ihm geoffnet worden Die Tur wird von ihm geoffnet werden.

MODAL VERBS IN PASSIVE

Formula for passive with modal verbs: modal verb + past participle + werden - the modal verb is conjugated to agree with the subject of the sentence. - the past participle + werden does not change its form and is placed at the end of the main clause. - The tense of the modal verb determines the tense of the passive construction

Active: Ich kann der Brief schreiben. Passive: Present Simple Past (Prateritum) Present Perfect (Perfekt) Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt) Future Der Brief kann geschrieben werden. Der Brief konnte geschrieben werden. Der Brief hat geschrieben werden konnen Der Brief hatte geschrieben werden konnen. Der Brief wird geschrieben werden konnen

Copyright 2004 by TP. All rights reserved. Revised: .