German Grammar Made Easy

275 Pages·2017·1.5 MB·English

by  Lisa Kahlen

German Grammar
Made Easy
German Grammar Made Easy is the ideal introduction to the
basics of German grammar for anyone new to the language
or looking to refresh their knowledge.
The Grammar features:
• concise and jargon-free explanations supported by
examples
• exercises throughout to reinforce learning
• a ‘fast-track’ option for more advanced learners
• a full answer key, making the Grammar ideal for self-
study.
A companion website is available at
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9781138120525/.
With over 200 additional exercises and audio, it provides
ample grammar practice for learners as well as the
opportunity to practise listening and pronunciation skills.
German Grammar Made Easy presents the essential patterns
and rules of the German language in a clear and accessible
manner. It is the ideal Grammar for those wishing to
supplement their learning and move beyond the
phrasebook level.
Lisa Kahlen has taught students at all levels, from children
in Germany to college students and university graduates in
Scotland. She has been writing German study books and
interactive teaching materials since 1991.
Grammar Made Easy
Series Editor: Rosi McNab
Titles in the series:
French Grammar Made Easy 2nd Edition
German Grammar Made Easy 2nd Edition
Italian Grammar Made Easy
Spanish Grammar Made Easy
Lisa Kahlen
second edition
german
grammar
made
easy
Second edition published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Lisa Kahlen
The right of Lisa Kahlen to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Hodder Education 2005
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kahlen, Lisa, author.
Title: German grammar made easy / Lisa Kahlen.
Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2017. | Previous edition:
London : Hodder Arnold, 2005. | Text in English and German. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016031275| ISBN 9781138120518 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781138120525 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315650487 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: German language--Grammar. | German language--Textbooks for foreign speakers--
English. | German language--Spoken German. | German language--Self-instruction.
Classification: LCC PF3112 .K34 2017 | DDC 438.2421--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031275
ISBN: 978-1-138-12051-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-12052-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-65048-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Futura and New Baskerville by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
A simple guide to the parts of speech 2
1 Verbs
1.1 Talking about what you do 4
1.1.1 What is the infinitive? 4
1.1.2 What is the stem of a verb? 6
1.1.3 The ‘persons’ of the verb 7
1.1.4 Weak verbs (regular verbs) 9
1.1.5 Strong verbs (irregular verbs) 11
1.1.6 Auxiliary verbs: sein – to be, haben – to have 13
1.2 Reflexive, separable and modal verbs 16
1.2.1 Reflexive verbs 17
1.2.2 Separable and inseparable verbs 22
1.2.3 Modal verbs 27
1.2.4 Fast track: verbs 35
1.3 The present tense 37
1.3.1 Talking about yourself: ich 38
1.3.2 Talking to someone younger or someone you
know well: du 41
1.3.3 Talking about someone or something else: er/sie/es 49
1.3.4 Talking about yourself and someone else: wir 52
1.3.5 Talking to someone else: Sie (you) 55
1.3.6 Talking to someone else: ihr (you) 59
1.3.7 Talking to more than one person: Sie (you) 61
1.3.8 Talking about other people and things: sie (they) 61
1.3.9 Fast track: present tense 63
1.4 The past tenses 67
1.4.1 The perfect tense 67
1.4.2 Formation of the perfect tense 67
vi 1.4.3 The auxiliary verbs: haben and sein 68
1.4.4 Verbs with haben and sein 69
1.4.5 Sentences with haben and sein 72
s 1.4.6 How to form the past participle 73
t
n 1.4.7 The past participle of strong verbs 77
e
nt 1.4.8 The past tense and word order 82
Co 1.4.9 Asking a question about the past 83
1.4.10 The simple past tense/imperfect tense 84
1.4.11 Formation of the simple past or imperfect tense 85
1.4.12 The use of modal verbs in the past tense 89
1.4.13 Fast track: past tense 91
1.5 Negatives, interrogatives and imperatives 92
1.5.1 Negatives: how to say what you do or don’t want
using nicht 92
1.5.2 Negatives: with kein and keine, etc. 95
1.5.3 Interrogatives: asking questions 97
1.5.4 Imperatives: giving orders, directions or instructions 102
1.5.5 Fast track: negatives, interrogatives and imperatives 105
1.6 The future tense and the conditional 107
1.6.1 The future tense with werden 107
1.6.2 Future tense using the present tense 109
1.6.3 The conditional: I would – Ich würd/Ich hätte 111
1.6.4 How to form the conditional 111
1.6.5 Polite requests and useful phrases: hätte gerne 113
1.6.6 Fast track: the future and conditional 115
1.7 Useful expressions using verbs 116
1.7.1 Special uses of haben 116
1.7.2 There is/are: es gibt 117
1.7.3 To know: wissen, kennen 118
1.7.4 To like: mögen and gerne 120
1.7.5 To remember: sich erinnern 120
1.7.6 To take: nehmen or bringen 121
1.7.7 More negative expressions 122
1.7.8 Since: seit 123
1.7.9 Fast track: useful expressions using verbs 124
1.8 Word order 126
1.8.1 Word order 1: Subject verb object using the present
tense 126
1.8.2 Word order 2: Subject verb object using the imperfect
tense 127
1.8.3 Word order 3: Subject verb object + vii
second verb/past participle etc. 128
1.8.4 Word order 4: Inverted word order: Time/manner/
place, verb, subject, object 129 s
t
1.8.5 Word order 5: Time, manner, place in longer sentences 131 n
e
1.8.6 Word order6:Co-ordinating conjunctions: nt
o
and – und, but – aber 132 C
1.8.7 Word order 7: Subordinating conjunctions:
because – weil, that – dass 136
1.8.8 Word order 8: Talking about the past using
subordinate clauses 140
1.8.9 Word order 9: The position of the direct and
indirect object 142
2 Nouns and Determiners
2.1 Nouns and gender 146
2.1.1 Nouns and der, die, das 147
2.1.2 Some useful ways to tell whether a noun is masculine,
feminine or neuter 148
2.1.3 Different forms for the masculine and feminine 151
2.2 Nouns in the plural: die 152
2.2.1 Nouns which add -s in the plural 153
2.2.2 The plural of masculine nouns 153
2.2.3 The plural of neuter nouns 154
2.2.4 The plural of feminine nouns 155
2.2.5 Nouns which remain the same in both the singular
and plural 156
2.3 Determiners and cases 157
2.3.1 The: der, die, das and cases 160
2.3.2 A: ein, eine, ein and cases 161
2.3.3 Kein: not a, not any, no and cases 163
2.4 My, your, his, her, etc. 165
2.4.1 My: mein/meine 166
2.4.2 Your: dein/deine 167
2.4.3 His: sein/seine/seinen and her: ihr/ihre/ihren 169
2.4.4 Our: unser/unsere/unseren 170
2.4.5 Your: Ihr (polite form) 171
2.4.6 Your: euer 173
2.4.7 Their: ihr 174
2.5 More determiners 174
2.5.1 Which?: Welche? 174
2.5.2 Each/every: jeder 175
2.5.3 Other determiners 176
viii 2.6 Fast track: nouns and determiners 176
s 3 Pronouns
t
n
e
nt 3.1 Ich, du, er, sie, es – I, you, he, she, it: subject
o
C pronouns 179
3.1.1 Ich – I: the first person singular 180
3.1.2 Du – you: the second person singular 180
3.1.3 Er/sie/es – he/she/it: the third person singular 180
3.1.4 Wir – we: the first person plural 182
3.1.5 Ihr – you 182
3.1.6 Sie – you (polite form) 182
3.1.7 Sie – they: the third person plural 183
3.2 Me, you, him, her, it, us, them 184
3.2.1 Personal pronouns in the accusative (direct object) 185
3.3 Mir – to me, ihm – to him, ihr – to her 186
3.3.1 Personal pronouns in the dative (indirect object) 187
3.3.2 Verbs which are followed by the dative 189
3.3.3 Word order of pronouns: direct + indirect 190
3.4 Reflexive pronouns 191
3.5 Pronouns and the imperative 192
3.6 The one who, which, whose: relative pronouns 194
3.6.1 Relative pronoun replacing the subject (nominative) 195
3.6.2 Relative pronoun replacing the direct object
(accusative) 196
3.6.3 Relative pronoun replacing the indirect object (dative) 196
3.6.4 Relative pronouns: deren and dessen (whose) 197
3.7 Who? whom? – Wer? wen? wem? wessen? 197
3.8 Das ist meiner – it’s mine, it’s yours 198
3.9 Fast track: pronouns 199
4 Adjectives ix
4.1 What is an adjective? 201
4.1.1 How to use adjectives 201 s
t
4.1.2 Adjectives placed after the noun they are describing 202 n
e
4.1.3 Adjectives which come in front of the noun 203 nt
4.1.4 Adjectives after der, die, das, die and dieser (this) 203 Co
4.1.5 Adjectives after the indirect article 206
4.1.6 Adjectives describing a noun which has no article 209
4.2 Big, bigger, biggest: the comparative and
superlative 211
4.2.1 The comparative 211
4.2.2 The superlative 212
4.2.3 Saying as (big) as 216
4.2.4 Fast track: adjectives 217
5 Adverbs
5.1 Formation of adverbs 219
5.1.1 Some more useful adverbs 220
5.1.2 Structure of a sentence beginning with an adverb 221
6 Prepositions
6.1 Recognising prepositions 223
6.2 German prepositions 223
6.2.1 Prepositions followed by the accusative case 224
6.2.2 Prepositions followed by the dative 227
6.2.3 Two-way prepositions 231
6.3 Useful prepositional phrases 235
6.3.1 Useful expressions to tell you where someone or
something is in a building 235
6.3.2 Saying where you live 235
6.3.3 Expressions of time 236
Appendix 1: Common irregular verbs 237
Appendix 2: Pronunciation 242
Answers 246