(ains) – one
zwei (tsvai) – two
drei (drai) – three
rot (roht) – red
blau (blau) – blue
grün (grün) – green
Montag (mon-tahk) – Monday
Dienstag (deens-tahk) – Tuesday
Januar (yah-nu-ar) – January
Februar (fay-bru-ar) – February
Frühling (frü-ling) – Spring
Sommer (zo-mer) – Summer
Exercises
Count from 1 to 20 out loud.
What color is your shirt/dress/pants?
What is your favorite day of the week and why?
What month is your birthday?
Practice saying the days of the week and months of the year.
Chapter 3: Basic Grammar – Nouns, Articles, and Pronouns
In this chapter, we’ll begin to explore the fundamental building blocks of German grammar: nouns, articles, and pronouns. Understanding these elements is crucial for forming sentences and expressing yourself clearly. German grammar can seem a little daunting at first, but we’ll take it step by step and focus on the essentials.
Nouns (Nomen)
Nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas. In German, all nouns are capitalized. This makes them easy to spot in a sentence! For example:
Mann (man) – Man
Frau (frau) – Woman
Haus (haus) – House
Buch (buuh) – Book
Liebe (lee-be) – Love
Noun Gender: A Key Feature of German
One of the most distinctive features of German is that nouns have a grammatical gender. This means that every noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. The gender of a noun doesn’t necessarily correspond to the actual gender of the thing it represents (e.g., «girl» is neuter in German).
There are some patterns that can help you guess the gender of a noun, but often it’s best to simply memorize the gender along with the noun itself.
Definite Articles (Bestimmte Artikel)
The definite article is the word «the» in English. In German, the definite article changes depending on the gender of the noun:
Masculine: der (dare) – the
Feminine: die (dee) – the
Neuter: das (das) – the
Plural (for all genders): die (dee) – the
Examples:
der Mann (dare mahn) – the man
die Frau (dee frau) – the woman
das Haus (das haus) – the house
die Bücher (dee bü-her) – the books
Indefinite Articles (Unbestimmte Artikel)
The indefinite article is the word «a» or «an» in English. In German, the indefinite article also changes depending on the gender of the noun:
Masculine: ein (ain) – a
Feminine: eine (ai-ne) – a
Neuter: ein (ain) – a
Examples:
ein Mann (ain mahn) – a man
eine Frau (ai-ne frau) – a woman
ein Haus (ain haus) – a house
Important Note About Plural: There is no indefinite article in the plural in German. You simply use the plural noun.
Personal Pronouns (Personalpronomen)
Personal pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition. Here are the basic personal pronouns in German:
ich (ihh) – I
du (doo) – you (informal, singular)
er (air) – he
sie (zee) – she
es (es) – it
wir (veer) – we
ihr (eer) – you (informal, plural)
sie (zee) – they
Sie (zee) – you (formal, singular or plural)
Simple Sentence Structure: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
The basic word order in German sentences is generally Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), just like in English.
Ich (Subject) sehe (Verb) den Mann (Object). – I see the man.
Sie (Subject) liest (Verb) das Buch (Object). – She reads the book.
Word Bank
Mann (mahn) – Man (masculine)
Frau (frau) – Woman (feminine)
Haus (haus) – House (neuter)
Buch (buuh) – Book (neuter)
der (dare) – the (masculine)
die (dee) – the (feminine/plural)
das (das) – the (neuter)
ein (ain) – a (masculine/neuter)
eine (ai-ne) – a (feminine)
ich (ihh) – I
du (doo) – you (informal, singular)
er (air) – he
sie (zee) – she/they/you (formal)
es (es) – it
wir (veer) – we
ihr (eer) – you (informal, plural)
Exercises
What is the gender of the following nouns: Tisch (table), Lampe (lamp), Fenster (window)? (You might need to look them up in a dictionary!)
Fill in the correct definite article (der, die, das):
______ Katze (cat)
______ Hund (dog)
______ Auto (car)
Fill in the correct indefinite article (ein, eine):
______ Apfel (apple)
______ Banane (banana)
______ Computer (computer)
Choose the correct personal pronoun to replace the noun:
Der Mann liest. ______ liest. (The man reads. He reads.)
Die Frau singt. ______ singt. (The woman sings. She sings.)
Das Kind spielt. ______ spielt. (The child plays. It plays.)
Translate the following sentences into German:
I see the house.
She reads a book.
We are learning German. (Use «Deutsch lernen» for «learn German.»)
That’s Chapter 3 done! You’ve learned about nouns, articles, pronouns, and basic sentence structure.
Chapter 4: Verbs – Present Tense
Verbs are the action words in a sentence. They tell us what the subject is doing. In this chapter, we’ll focus on conjugating verbs in the present tense, which is used to describe actions happening now or habitual actions.
Verb Conjugation: The Basics
Verb conjugation means changing the form of a verb