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.

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
NOMINATIVE	der Herrn	die Herren
ACCUSATIVE	der Herrn	die Herren
DATIVE	dem Herrn	den Herren
GENITIVE	des Herrn	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	bald	gern	gut	hoch	nach	viel
Comparative	eher	lieber	besser	hocher	naher	mehr
Superlative	am ehesten	liebst-	best-	hochst-	nachst-	meist-

PREPOSITIONS

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

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

DATIVE VERBS

antworten	answer
befehlen	command
begegnen	meet
danken	thank
dienen	serve
fehlen	feel
folgen	follow
gefallen
gehorchen	obey
gehoren	belong
gelingen	succeed
glauben	believe
helfen	help
leid tun
passen	fit
passieren	happen
raten	advise
schmeken	taste
verzeihen	pardon
weh tun

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

DATIVE ADJECTIVES

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

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

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

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.

Daβ - 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. (eβt!)

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	Out of, from, made of
Ausser	Besides, except, out of
Bei	At the home of, near, at, with
Gegenuber	Opposite, across from
Mit	With, by (vehicle)
Nach	To, after, according to
Seit	Since, for (temporal)
Von	From, by, of, about, of (relationship)
Zu	To, at, for

ACCUSATIVE

Bis	Until, as far as, by
Durch	Through
Entlang	Along
Fur	For
Gegen	Against, about, around (approx.)
Ohne	Without
Um	Around, at (time)

TWO-WAY

An	At, to, on
Auf	On top of, at, to
Hinter	Behind
In	Inside,into, to
Neben	Beside, next to
Uber	Over, above
Unter	Under
Vor	In front of
Zwischen	Between

GENITIVE

(an)statt	Instead of
Trotz	In spite of
Wahrend	During
Wegen	On account of
Auserhalb	Outside of
Innerhalb	Inside of
Oberhalb	Above
Unterhalb	Under
Diesseits	On this side of
Jenseits	On that side of
Meinetwegen	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	Die Tur wird von ihm geoffnet
Simple Past (Prateritum)	Die Tur ist von ihm geoffnet
Present Perfect (Perfekt)	Die Tur ist von ihm geoffnet worden.
Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt)	Die Tur war von ihm geoffnet worden
Future	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