Аlexander Chekhanovski

German Unlocked. Your Complete Guide to B2 Proficiency


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(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