KAPITEL 2
Making nouns plural in German is more difficult than in English. There are several websites around which give suggestions for memorizing patterns, but Herr Taylor suggests just learning the plural form when you learn a new noun. Here are some charts that may help. Note, all plural nouns change their article from der/die/das to the plural die.
Type
1 2 3 4 5 Other examples: Rule #5 Rule #4 Rule #3 Rule #2 Rule #1 |
Plural signal
- -̈̈ -e -̈e -er -̈er -en -n -nen -s -s -nen -er -e - -̈ |
Singular
das Fenster der Garten der Tisch der Stuhl das Kind der Mann die Frau die Lampe die Studentin der Cousin das Auto die Lehrerin das Kleid das Jahr der Schuh der Becher der Bruder |
Plural
die Fenster die Gärten die Tische die Stühle die Kinder die Männer die Frauen die Lampen die Studentinnen die Cousins die Autos die Lehrerinnen die Kleider die Jahre die Schuhe die Becher die Brüder |
The chart below is a list of a lot of nouns you would find in the classroom. As you can see, they all have the plurals included. Look them over and practice memorizing the plurals to these commonly seen objects in a classroom.
Unplural form of the noun
das Buch das Heft das Papier der DVD spieler der Fernseher der Kuli der Schrank der Schuler die Lehrerin die Schulerin die Tafel die Tür die Uhr die Wand |
Plural form of the noun
die Bücher die Hefte die Papiere die DVD spieler die Fernseher die Kulis die Schränke die Schüler die Lehrerinnen die Schülerinnen die Tafel die Türen die Uhren die Wände |
Uhrzeit
Unlike in America, where we make use of a twenty-four hour day divided into two twelve-hour periods for our clocks, Germany’s time telling system uses all twenty-four hours in one period. You may also know this as “military time.”
You know how to count past twenty now, so telling time is relatively simple to learn. The German word for “clock” is “die Uhr” and “time” in German is “die Zeit” so, literally translated, “Uhrzeit” means “clock time.”
There are several phrases used in German to request and tell time. You can use “Wie viel Uhr ist es?” (Literally: How much time is it?) or “Wie spät ist es?” (Literally: How late is it or what time is it?)
When telling someone the time, always begin with “es ist” then proceed with the hour followed by “Uhr” and then the minutes passed.
Modell:
6:42am
“Wie spät ist es?”
“Es ist sechs Uhr zweiundvierzig.”
To say “until” or “before” (as in “ten before eight”), the word “vor” is used to describe minutes (Minuten) that have yet to pass. To say “after” (as in “ten after eight”), the word “nach” is used to describe minutes that have already passed.
Modell
3:09
“Es ist neun Minuten nach drei.”
3:49
“Es ist elf Minuten vor vier.”
Just as in English, sometimes it is easier in German to say “it is half past five” or “it is a quarter till 4.” In English, we use half past (as in half past seven). In German, “Halb” is used to say “half till” (as in half till eight). The word “Viertel” is used to describe a “quarter” (as in “a quarter past eight” or “a quarter till nine.”)
Modell:
5:30
“Es ist halb sechs.”
4:15
“Es ist Viertel nach vier.” oder “Es ist Viertel vor halb fünf.”
Übung 1
Answer the following questions.
1.) Um wieviel Uhr ist Ryan aufgewacht? (What time did Ryan wake up?)
___________________________________________________________________________
2.) Wann isst Ryan Mittagsessen?
___________________________________________________________________________
3.) Wann kommt Ryan nach Hause?
___________________________________________________________________________
4.) Wann isst du Frühstück? Mittagsessen? Abendessen?
___________________________________________________________________________
5.) Wie sagt man 8:45 am? 8:45 pm?
___________________________________________________________________________
Übung 2
Write a sentence auf Deutsch describing what you do during a typical day at each of the following times below. Since the time phrase comes first, make sure you put your verb in second position, followed by the subject.
Modell: Um 5:30 stehe ich auf.
Um 7:00-
________________________________________________________________
Um 11:15-
________________________________________________________________
Um 15:30-
________________________________________________________________
Um Sechs Uhr Zehn-
________________________________________________________________
Um Viertel vor Neun-
________________________________________________________________
Um Halb Zehn-
________________________________________________________________
Übung 3
Verb Conjugation
Remember this form: E-ST-T-EN-T-EN
Unlike English, German verbs require suffixes depending on the subject of the sentence. For example, “Ich schwimme” translates to “I swim”, while “Du schwimmst” translates to “You swim”. With each verb in a sentence, you must remove the “en” on the end of the verb and replace it with the following:
schwimmen– To swim
ich schwimme wir schwimmen
du schwimmst ihr schwimmt
er/sie/es schwimmt Sie schwimmen
In general, you take the stem of the verb and put the -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en endings on, like this:
ich e wir en
du st ihr t
er/sie/es t Sie en
practice conjugating the following regular verbs. Take off the en ending, and write down the stem and add the appropriate endings as above.
spielen - to play singen - to sing machen - to make/to do fliegen - to fly springen - to jump
Stem Changing verbs
Some verbs change stems depending on the subject of the sentence. If you remove the “en” from the German verb, you are left with the stem.
Modell: To have– haben– (stem) hab
The stem only changes in the “du” and “er/sie/es” form. There is no way to tell if a verb needs a stem change, you just have to remember which verbs need stem changes.
Here are some common stem changing verbs:
To see– sehen–(er/sie/es) sieht To eat–essen–(er/sie/es) isst
To give–geben–(er/sie/es) gibt To take–nehmen–(er/sie/es) nimmt
To read–lesen–(er/sie/es) liest To run–laufen–(er/sie/es) läuft
To drive–fahren–(er/sie/es) fährt To speak–sprechen–(er/sie/es) spricht
Übung 1
Conjugate the following verbs.
schwimmen
ich wir
du ihr
er/sie/es sie
gehen
ich wir
du ihr
er/sie/es sie
Übung 2
Translate from German to English and give the pronoun. (These are out of order)
spielen
spielst spielen
spiele spielen
spielt spielt
gehen
gehen gehst
geht gehen
gehe geht
Übung 3
Translate English to German. Give the pronoun. (These are in order)
Dance -tanzen
I Dance We Dance
You Dance Y'all Dance
He/She/It dances You Dance
In German, some verbs require an “e” buffer. These are verbs with stems ending in “t” or “d”, such as arbeit. Any time the verb ends in “t” or “d”, when conjugating du, er/sie/es, or ihr forms, it does require the buffer. For example, arbeitst is not correct. The correct answer is arbeitest. This is the du form.
work - arbeiten
I work We work
You work Y'all work
He/She/It works They work
find - finden
I find We find
You find Y'all find
He/She/It finds They find
Conjugating Sein
The verb “sein” (to be) has an irregular conjugation pattern. Instead of the usual E-ST-T-EN-T-EN, “sein” has a totally different form. “Sein” does not get an ending, but changes totally.
This example is incorrect:
Ich seine alt.
The word “sein” in the “ich” form changes to “bin.”
The correct sentence is as follows:
Ich bin alt.
Refer to the following chart when conjugating “sein”. In addition, there is a song that may help you remember this chart. It is to the tune of, “The Oompa Loompa Song”
The English and German charts of “to be”, or “sein” are as follows:
to be
I am we are
you are y’all are
he/she/is is they are
sein
ich bin wir sind
du bist ihr seid
er/sie/es ist sie sind
Übung 1
Complete the following sentences using sein.
1. Ich ___________alt.
2. Du ___________ jung.
3. Sie (they)________tot.
4. Er ____________ groB.
5. Wir ___________ froh.
6. Sie (she)___________schön.
7. Ihr ____________lustig.
8. Es ____________ schlecht.
Übung 2 (Review of adjectives)
What are the adjectives used in the previous sentences in English?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.