BASIC GERMAN:
A GRAMMAR AND
WORKBOOK
Heiner Schenke and Karen Seago
A GRAMMAR AND
WORKBOOK
Heiner Schenke and Karen Seago
Content
1 What’s different in German? Basic tips and patterns 1
2 Verbs in the present tense 6
3 Verb variations and irregular verbs 12
4 Irregular verbs: haben and sein 19
5 Separable verbs in the present tense 24
6 Imperatives 30
7 Questions 36
8 Nouns and gender 42
9 Plural of nouns 50
10 The four cases 56
11 The nominative case 62
12 The accusative case 65
13 The dative case 70
14 The genitive case 75
15 Personal pronouns 79
16 Possessive adjectives 87
17 Reflexive verbs 92
18 Negatives 97
19 Comparison of adjectives and adverbs 102
20 Modal verbs 10921 The present perfect tense 116
22 The simple past tense 124
23 The future tense 130
24 Prepositions 135
25 Adjective endings 143
26 Numbers and dates 151
27 Conjunctions and clauses 158
28 Word order 167
1 What’s different in German? Basic tips and patterns 1
2 Verbs in the present tense 6
3 Verb variations and irregular verbs 12
4 Irregular verbs: haben and sein 19
5 Separable verbs in the present tense 24
6 Imperatives 30
7 Questions 36
8 Nouns and gender 42
9 Plural of nouns 50
10 The four cases 56
11 The nominative case 62
12 The accusative case 65
13 The dative case 70
14 The genitive case 75
15 Personal pronouns 79
16 Possessive adjectives 87
17 Reflexive verbs 92
18 Negatives 97
19 Comparison of adjectives and adverbs 102
20 Modal verbs 10921 The present perfect tense 116
22 The simple past tense 124
23 The future tense 130
24 Prepositions 135
25 Adjective endings 143
26 Numbers and dates 151
27 Conjunctions and clauses 158
28 Word order 167
An abstract
Verb endings – an overview
Here is an overview of the verb endings in the present tense:
infinitive stem
kommen komm to come
wohnen wohn to live
hören hör to hear
Verb endings – an overview
Here is an overview of the verb endings in the present tense:
infinitive stem
kommen komm to come
wohnen wohn to live
hören hör to hear
A verb with its ending is called a finite verb (as opposed to the infinitive which
does not have a meaningful ending). This is an important grammatical term,
and you will find it in quite a few of the units.
does not have a meaningful ending). This is an important grammatical term,
and you will find it in quite a few of the units.
Verb endings in more detail
Although as a beginner you probably mostly use the first and second person
singular (ich and du or Sie) it is important to know all the endings for the
verbs. Here they are in more detail.
ich (‘I’)
For the first person singular you add -e to the stem:
Ich wohne in Frankfurt. I live in Frankfurt.
Ich spiele Gitarre. I play the guitar.
du/Sie (‘you’, singular)
There are two forms of address in German: the informal and the formal. If
you are addressing one person, the informal address is du and the formal is
Sie (always with an initial capital letter). The endings are -st and -en:
Woher kommst du? Where do you come from?
(informal)
Wo wohnst du? Where do you live? (informal)
Woher kommen Sie? Where do you come from? (formal)
Wo wohnen Sie? Where do you live? (formal)
er/sie/es (‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’)
To talk about a third person or thing you use er for ‘he’, sie (with small s) for
‘she’ and es for ‘it’ in German and add -t to the stem:
komm-en wohn-en hör-en
ich (I) -e komme wohne höre
du (you, informal) -st kommst wohnst hörst
Sie (you, formal) -en kommen wohnen hören
er/sie/es (he/she/it) -t kommt wohnt hört
wir (we) -en kommen wohnen hören
ihr (you, plural, informal) -t kommt wohnt hört
Sie (you, plural, formal) -en kommen wohnen hören
sie (they) -en kommen wohnen hören
Although as a beginner you probably mostly use the first and second person
singular (ich and du or Sie) it is important to know all the endings for the
verbs. Here they are in more detail.
ich (‘I’)
For the first person singular you add -e to the stem:
Ich wohne in Frankfurt. I live in Frankfurt.
Ich spiele Gitarre. I play the guitar.
du/Sie (‘you’, singular)
There are two forms of address in German: the informal and the formal. If
you are addressing one person, the informal address is du and the formal is
Sie (always with an initial capital letter). The endings are -st and -en:
Woher kommst du? Where do you come from?
(informal)
Wo wohnst du? Where do you live? (informal)
Woher kommen Sie? Where do you come from? (formal)
Wo wohnen Sie? Where do you live? (formal)
er/sie/es (‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’)
To talk about a third person or thing you use er for ‘he’, sie (with small s) for
‘she’ and es for ‘it’ in German and add -t to the stem:
komm-en wohn-en hör-en
ich (I) -e komme wohne höre
du (you, informal) -st kommst wohnst hörst
Sie (you, formal) -en kommen wohnen hören
er/sie/es (he/she/it) -t kommt wohnt hört
wir (we) -en kommen wohnen hören
ihr (you, plural, informal) -t kommt wohnt hört
Sie (you, plural, formal) -en kommen wohnen hören
sie (they) -en kommen wohnen hören
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