German Grammar You Really Need To Know: Teach Yourself

Jenny Russ

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781444179491
• eBook ISBN: 9781444179514
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: German Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Comprehensive and clear explanations of key grammar patterns and structures are reinforced and contextualized through authentic materials. You will not only learn how to construct grammar correctly, but when and where to use it so you sound natural and appropriate. German Grammar You Really Need to Know will help you gain the intuition you need to become a confident communicator in your new language.

1

Asking for and giving personal information

In this unit you will learn how to

• Say who you are

• State your nationality

• Say where you are from

• Say what your occupation is

• Give similar information about other people

• Ask for personal information about other people

Language points

• Subject pronouns

• Sein in the present tense

• Gender of nouns (nominative case)

• Plural of nouns

• Nouns and adjectives indicating nationality

• Ask questions (interrogative sentences)

• Negative sentences

To ask for and give personal information you will need the German equivalent of words like I, you, he, she, etc. These are known as pronouns. You will also need a verb. This shows an action or state, for example I cook, you buy, he is, etc. In this unit we will learn the verb sein, which means to be.

SAYING WHO YOU ARE

Ich bin Hans Schmidt.	I’m Hans Schmidt. (male)
Ich bin Inge Schneider.	I’m Inge Schneider. (female)

STATING YOUR NATIONALITY

Ich bin Deutscher.	I’m German. (male)
Ich bin Deutsche.	I’m German. (female)

Every noun in German begins with a capital letter, e.g. der Mann (the man), die Frau (the woman), das Kind (the child). You will notice that the endings are different in the two examples above, the -er referring to a male German, the -e to a female. These are both examples of so-called adjectival nouns. For more details see Reference grammar 5.2.

SAYING WHAT YOUR OCCUPATION IS

Ich bin Arzt.	I’m a doctor. (male)
Ich bin Ärztin.	I’m a doctor. (female)

You will again notice the different endings in the two examples above. Here, the endings denote the difference between male and female professions. Sometimes we make the same distinction in English, e.g. the actor (der Schauspieler), the actress (die Schauspielerin), the waiter (der Kellner), the waitress (die Kellnerin).

The sign (¨) is known as an umlaut and can occur only above the vowels a, o and u. The addition of the umlaut alters the pronunciation.

SAYING WHERE YOU COME FROM

Ich bin aus Berlin.	I’m from Berlin.
Ich bin aus Deutschland.	I’m from Germany.

GIVING INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE

Er ist Lehrer.	He’s a teacher.
Sie ist Lehrerin.	She’s a teacher.

In English, we say: I am a doctor, He is a teacher. In German, you normally say the equivalent of: I am doctor, He is teacher.

But if you want to describe the person in more detail using an adjective, you do use the article (a, an, the):

Ich bin ein alter Arzt.	I am an old doctor.
Sie is eine gute Lehrerin.	She is a good teacher.

Er ist Schweizer.	He is Swiss.
Sie ist aus Zürich.	She’s from Zurich.

ASKING FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE

a) in a formal or polite way, using the polite pronoun Sie:

Sind Sie Deutscher?

Are you Germ...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• Meet the author
• Contents 
• Introduction
• How to use this book
• 1 Asking for and giving personal information
• 2 Introducing and identifying people, places and things
• 3 Expressing existence and availability
• 4 Expressing location
• 5 Talking about the present
• 6 Expressing likes and dislikes
• 7 Expressing wants and preferences
• 8 Expressing permission and ability
• 9 Expressing obligation and necessity
• 10 Asking for and giving opinions
• 11 Talking about habitual actions
• 12 Expressing possession
• 13 Giving directions and instructions
• 14 Making requests and offers
• 15 Describing people, places and things
• 16 Referring to future plans and events
• 17 Describing the past
• 18 Talking about the past
• 19 Describing processes and procedures
• 20 Reporting what was said and asked
• 21 Expressing conditions
• Reference grammar
• Key to exercises
• Glossary of terms
• Taking it even further
• German English vocabulary
• Copyright