Auto. (air hah-te ain au-to) – He had a car.
Sie ging ins Kino. (zee ging ins kee-no) – She went to the cinema.
Wir lernten Deutsch. (veer lernten doitch) – We learned German.
Ich wollte einen Kaffee trinken. (ihh vol-te ai-nen kah-fay trin-ken) – I wanted to drink a coffee.
When to Use the Präteritum
Formal Writing: The Präteritum is commonly used in formal written German, such as news articles, reports, essays, and stories.
Certain Verbs in Spoken German: The Präteritum is frequently used in spoken German for the verbs sein, haben, and modal verbs, even though the Perfekt is generally preferred for other verbs.
Regional Preferences: In Northern Germany, the Präteritum is sometimes more common in spoken language than in Southern Germany or Austria.
Word Bank
Präteritum (pray-tay-ree-toom) – Simple Past (also called Imperfekt)
sein (zain) – to be
haben (hah-ben) – to have
gehen (gay-en) – to go
kommen (ko-men) – to come
finden (fin-den) – to find
essen (es-sen) – to eat
trinken (trin-ken) – to drink
Exercises
Conjugate the following regular verbs in the Präteritum: spielen, kaufen, arbeiten.
Conjugate the verbs sein and haben in the Präteritum.
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb in the Präteritum:
Ich ______ (sein) in Berlin.
Er ______ (haben) ein neues Auto.
Sie ______ (gehen) ins Kino.
Wir ______ (lernen) Deutsch.
Du ______ (wollen) einen Kaffee trinken.
Translate the following sentences into German using the Präteritum:
I was at home.
He had a cat.
She went to the store.
We learned German last year.
You wanted to travel to Italy.
Rewrite the sentences from Exercise 4 using the Perfekt tense.
That completes Chapter 11! You now know how to form and use the Präteritum. You understand that some verbs tend to be in the Präteritum more than others and when it is appropriate to use them.
Chapter 12: Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that add detail and color to your language. Adjectives describe nouns, while adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. In this chapter, we’ll learn how to use adjectives and adverbs effectively in German.
Adjectives (Adjektive)
Adjectives describe nouns, providing information about their qualities, characteristics, or attributes. In German, adjectives usually come before the noun they modify.
Adjective Agreement
One of the key features of German adjectives is that they must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. This means the adjective endings change depending on the gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular, plural), and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) of the noun.
Adjective Endings: A Simplified Overview
Adjective endings depend on whether a definite article (der, die, das) or an indefinite article (ein, eine) precedes the noun. If there is no article, a strong declension is used.
With Definite Articles (Der-Words): If a definite article (der, die, das, or their case-modified forms like den, dem, des) precedes the noun, the adjective takes «weak» endings. Generally, these endings are “-e» or “-en.»
With Indefinite Articles (Ein-Words): If an indefinite article (ein, eine, or their case-modified forms like einen, einem) precedes the noun, the adjective takes «mixed» endings, which are a combination of strong and weak endings.
Without Articles (Strong Declension): If there is no article before the noun, the adjective takes «strong» endings. In this case, the adjective endings indicate the gender, number and case of the noun.
Because it is complex, we will focus on adjective endings after definite articles in the Nominative, Accusative, and Dative cases in this chapter.
Adjective Endings After Definite Articles (Nominative)
Masculine: -e (Der kleine Mann – The small man)
Feminine: -e (Die kleine Frau – The small woman)
Neuter: -e (Das kleine Kind – The small child)
Plural: -en (Die kleinen Kinder – The small children)
Adjective Endings After Definite Articles (Accusative)
Masculine: -en (Ich sehe den kleinen Mann – I see the small man)
Feminine: -e (Ich sehe die kleine Frau – I see the small woman)
Neuter: -e (Ich sehe das kleine Kind – I see the small child)
Plural: -en (Ich sehe die kleinen Kinder – I see the small children)
Adjective Endings After Definite Articles (Dative)
Masculine: -en (Ich helfe dem kleinen Mann – I help the small man)
Feminine: -en (Ich helfe der kleinen Frau – I help the small woman)
Neuter: -en (Ich helfe dem kleinen Kind – I help the small child)
Plural: -en (Ich helfe den kleinen Kindern – I help the small children)
Common Adjectives
Here are some common German adjectives:
gut (goot) – good
schön (shön) – beautiful
groß (grohs) – big
klein (klain) – small
alt (ahlt) – old
neu (noi) – new
jung (yoong) – young
freundlich (froint-lihh) – friendly
interessant (in-te-res-sant) – interesting
wichtig (vihh-tihh) – important
billig (billig) – cheap
teuer (toi-er) – expensive
Examples Using Adjectives
Der kleine Hund ist süß. (dare klai-ne hoont ist züss) – The small dog is cute. (Nominative)
Ich sehe den kleinen Hund. (ihh zay-e den klai-nen hoont) – I see the small dog. (Accusative)
Ich gebe dem kleinen Kind einen Apfel. (ihh gay-be dem klai-nen kint ai-nen ahp-fel) – I give the small child an apple. (Dative)
Das ist ein schönes Bild. (das ist ain shö-nes bilt) – That is a beautiful picture. (Note: Here we used an indefinite article. This creates slightly different endings that will be covered in future lessons.)
Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives
Adjectives can be used to compare things. The comparative form compares two things, while the superlative form compares three or more things or indicates the highest degree of a quality.
Comparative: To form the comparative, add “-er» to the adjective stem. Sometimes, if a vowel is present it will become an umlaut.
schnell (fast) -> schneller (faster)
alt