German Grammar

gern vs. lieber vs. am liebsten

gern: indicate you like doing something
lieber: indicate you prefer doing one thing over another
am liebsten: indicate you like doing something the most

Es gibt

there is/are
the reverse means is there; always takes accusative case

Modal Verb Definition

provides guidance on how other verbs should be contextualized

The Six Modal Verbs

dürfen: to be allowed to
können: to be able to
mögen: to like/be fond of
müssen: must/to have to
sollen: should/to be supposed to
wollen: to want to (to demand) 

Modal Verb four Characteristics

1. Act on other verbs, causing them to be unconjugated and moved to the end of a sentence or clause
2. Have no endings in first and third person singular
3. Usually have a vowel change in singular (exception: sollen)
4. Have no umlauts in the singular 

Conjugation of können (Modal Verb)

ich: kann
du: kannst
er/es/sie/xier: kann
wir: können
ihr: könnt
sie/Sie: können

Conjugation of wollen (Modal Verb)

ich: will
du: willst
er/es/sie/xier: will
wir: wollen
ihr: wollt
sie/Sie: wollen

gern/gerne Use

add adverb gern after the verb to indicate that we enjoy doing the action of the verb

Use for Modal Verb mögen

we use this modal verb to indicate we like nouns

mögen Conjugation

ich: mag
du: magst
er/es/sie/xier: mag
wir: mögen
ihr: mögt
sie/Sie: mögen

German Verb Moods

indicative mood (what happens), imperative mood (commands), subjunctive mood (hypothetical)

Subjunctive Mood Verbs

möchten (would like) and hätten (would have)

möchten Conjugation

ich: möchte
du: möchtest
er/es/sie/xier: möchte
wir: möchten
ihr: möchtet
sie/Sie: möchten

hätten Conjugation

ich: hätte
du: hättest
er/es/sie/xier: hätte
wir: hätten
ihr: hättet
sie/Sie: hätten

möchten oder hätte gern

If you would like “to do” something, use möchten and the verb you like to do
If you “would like” a noun, you can choose. Hätte gern is considered more polite. So, you will use it in transactional situations (when ordering in a restaurant, stores, etc.)

Preposition Cases

use the accusative case

Prepositions

bis: until
durch: through
für: for
ohne: without
gegen: against
um: around

sollten Conjugations

ich: sollte
du: solltest
er/es/sie/xier: sollte
wir: sollten
ihr: solltet
sie/Sie: sollten

Uses for sollten

modal verb used for expressing that you, or others, should/ought to do something

Indicating Temperature

use “ist” before the temperature number to indicate it is singular/1
use “sind” for any other degree

How to express frequency

how often you do something can be expressed by adding the following adverbs to a sentence

Frequency Adverbs

immer: always
meistens: mostly, usually
oft: often, frequently
manchmal: sometimes
selten: rare(ly)
nie: never

Frequency Adverb Placement

usually placed right after the conjugated verb

tragen Conjugations

ich: trage
du: trägst
er/es/sie/xier: trägt
wir: tragen
ihr: tragt
sie/Sie: tragen

Official Time Rules

replace colon between hours and minutes with the word Uhr and drop the “s” for the number “eins”

Colloquial Time Definition

base on 12 hours instead of 24 hours

Colloquial Time Rules

drop the word Uhr and use vor, nach, or halb

5 past/after

fünf nach

10 past/after

zehn nach

15 past/after

Viertel nach

20 past/after

zwanzig nach

5 before half to

fünf vor halb

half

halb; German speakers read 7:30 as “half eight”

5 after half to

fünf nach halb

20 minutes to

zwanzig vor

15 minutes to

Viertel vor

10 minutes to

zehn vor

5 of

fünf vor

Separable Prefix Verbs

start with a preposition
the conjugated stem takes the second position and the prefix moves to the end of the clause

Inseparable Prefix Verbs

start with be-, ent-, er-, ge-, miss-, ver-, and zer-

Separable Prefix Verb Examples

ab-, an-, auf-, ein-, mit-, unter-, über-, um-, and zu-

The seven verbs without standard endings in present tense

tragen, laufen, sprechen, fahren, sehen, mögen (update)

Vowel Changing Verbs Location

the vowel change occurs in the du- and er/es/sie/xier- forms

Vowel Changing Verbs Vowel-Change

au → äu
a → ä
e → i
e → ie

Subjects vs. Direct Objects

subjects (control the conjugation of verbs) are in the nominative case
direct objects are in the accusative case

Nominative Case

Role: Subject
r-words: der/ein
s-words: das/ein
e-words: die/eine
plural: die/none

Accusative Case

Role: Direct Object
r-words: den/einen
s-words: das/ein
e-words: die/eine
plural: die/none

Definite Articles

der, das, die, den

Indefinite Articles

ein, ein, eine, einen

Possessive Articles

sein, sein, meine, deinen

Negative Articles

kein, kein, keine, keinen

Pronouns in Accusative (Direct Object)

me: nich
you: dich
him(it): ihn
it: es
her(it): sie
nb: xien
us: uns
you all: euch
them/you all: sie/Sie

Pronouns in Nominative (Subject)

I: ich
you: du
he(it): er
it: es
she(it): sie
nb: xier
we: wir
you all: ihr
they/you all: sie/Sie

pronouns in the nominative and accusative case

um, im, and am

um: for specific times
im: for months, season, and years
am: for days, parts of days, and dates

wann questions

when?; answer these with um, im, or am

wie lang and von wann bis wann questions

how long? & from when until when?; answer these with von…bis or —

Ordinal Numbers

numbers 1 to 19 add t and endings
numbers 20 and above add st and endings

How to state what day something happens

use the preposition am and the ordinal number with the ending -en

How to say the date

use der and the ordinal number with the ending -e

Comparative (Who’s faster, nicer, taller, etc. than the others(s)?)

adjective + er and the word als (than)
mehr (more) is not used for comparatives

Comparative for items that are the same

use the word so, an adjective, and the word wie (so (adj.) wie)

Superlative (Who’s the fastest, nicest, tallest, etc. of all)

the word am and an adjective + sten
adjectives ending with a -t or -s sound, or with a vowel, form the superlative with an e before sten

Comparative vs. Superlative Adjective Conjugations

many one-syllable adjectives containing the vowels a, o, or u add an umlaut in these forms

German Verb Parts

consist of two parts: a verb stem and an ending