So there we have the basics of five main German grammar points. Love the idea of watching fun, authentic videos, but worried about understanding them well enough? If you’re speaking or writing to someone who you don’t know, or to a colleague at work, you will use Sie, the formal form of “you.”. Our German … Another crazy thing to watch out for is that plural forms in German can change according to their case! Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. Here we have two clauses joined together by und (and). (The dog bites the man. (Literally: Practice makes the master.). They’re not budging from their second position in a sentence. In English, virtually all plurals are formed by adding an “s” to the end of the original word. You’ve now got access to my most effective [level] French tips…. How Can I Get to Grips With German Grammar? This general rule applies to adjective endings for case, number and gender. For the German present perfect tense you will need a form of haben or sein as well as a past participle. Any nouns which come from foreign words will form their plural by adding an -s. Some plurals are formed by adding an umlaut as well as a new ending. (I gave it to you.). What Do I Need to Know About German Culture? What this means is that the nouns in the language have different definite and indefinite articles depending on what role the noun is playing in … If a word already ends in -e, then the plural usually just involves adding an –n. Genitive masculine nouns require their adjectives to end in -en. There is also an ß, or “Ess-tset”, which is just a fancy ‘s’. Looking for world-class training material to help you make a breakthrough in your language learning? In English, virtually all plurals are formed by adding an “s” to the … (The black dog is hungry.). (In English, which has no case system, word order is more important because we don’t have these cues.). Click here to grab your copy now! The German case system shows us the difference between who or what is acting and who or what is acted upon. All Rights Reserved. Geben Sie mir bitte das Essen. Plurals Are Formed in Various Ways. We'll guide you through some specific areas of German to help you get your head around this language. As the dog is the indefinite object in this sentence, it takes the dative case so alt (old) ends in -en. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can simply tap “add” to save it to your vocab list. We’ve got everything from Volkswagen commercials to funny YouTube videos, scenes from “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the hit song “Let it Go” from “Frozen.”. We will protect your data in accordance with our data policy. Move on to basics like “I am” (Ich bin), “You are” (Du bist), “He/She is” (Er/Sie ist), etc. German has four cases, three genders, and verbs and adjectives that decline. In this sentence, the whole “verb second” rule is blown right out of the water. If you continue to use this site we will assume you are happy with it. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe, Get regular language learning tips, resources and updates, starting with the "Complete Guide to Foreign Language Immersion" e-book, Sign up for our weekly blog newsletter for a chance to win a free FluentU Plus subscription (value $240). After a verb and comma, we need the verb from the next clause straight away. The following sentences explain where your verbs need to go: This shows the classic verb placement. Then we have what is known as the “verb comma verb” rule. FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. The main difference that sets apart German sentence structure from that of English is that German is an OV (Object-Verb) language, whereas English is a VO (verb-object) language. Start with important singular words, like “yes”, “no”, “please”, “thank you”, and the numbers 1-30. Cases affect nouns, and their case changes if they are the object, subject or indirect object in a sentence. What is your current level in [language]? Depending on the noun’s gender and sentence case, we might need to change their definite or indefinite article. This course will empower you to start using German grammar … However, German grammar isn’t as complicated as it looks. It’s important to see grammar as the nuts and bolts of any language. How to learn and memorize German grammar. ), At first glance, you might think the above sentence would translate as “the man bites the dog.” However, we should know that it’s the other way around. As you can see, FluentU isn’t just for watching videos. Terms of Service & Privacy Policy, I’ve written some simple emails explaining the techniques I’ve used to learn 8 languages…, Perfect! The main rule of thumb with subordinate clauses is conjunction first, verb last.