![]() ![]() Traditionally, German students are introduced to lots and lots of separate charts for all the words that take declensions. The bolded letters themselves (<– the small changes!) are the declensions.Īnd that is how the meaning of the sentences changed even though the word order didn’t! Declensions, The Smarter Way In these examples, all of the words with bolded letters on the end are different forms of ‘the’. (‘The man gives to the woman the child’)ĭe m Mann gibt di e Frau da s Kind. The words with bolded letters that come in front of the nouns are the ones that change - do you see it?ĭe r Mann gibt de r Frau da s Kind. Rather, the words that come in front of nouns indicate “who is doing what to whom” because of their declensions !Ĭheck out those same two sentences translated to German. In German, however, we don’t know which noun is in which ‘slot’ because of the word order. In English, we know “who is doing what to whom” because of word order.īoth of these sentences use the exact same components, but the meaning is changed because the word order is changed! How Sentences Work in German There are different ways of stringing information together so that it makes sense. It’s missing crucial elements that tell us how the man, the child, and the woman relate to each other. We couldn’t just say The man the child the woman, right? But, don’t worry, we’ll go over this step-by-step! Why does German use declensions?ĭeclensions matter because you can barely say anything beyond ja, nein, and hallo! without working with declensions. Whew! If you’re not already familiar with some of these concepts, this can sound a little overwhelming. Since declensions tell us the gender & case of each noun, declensions change dependent on if a noun is masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural AND dependent on if the case is nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive. And the gender of the noun is an inseparable feature of the noun that has to come along for the ride. The case of the noun is how we know what role in the sentence it’s playing. The information that is packed into declensions tell us the gender & case of the noun. German is an inflected language: we know who is doing what to whom in a sentence because of the declensions that ‘flag’ the role (e.g. ![]() In this way, English & German are very different.Įnglish is a analytic language: we know who is doing what to whom in a sentence based on word order. German uses declensions to provide crucial information about the nouns in a sentence - so that we can know who is doing what to whom. You can barely say anything beyond hallo without using declensions! The German language as such can’t exist without them. how to always know which declension you needĭeclensions are vital.why declensions patterns bring much needed organization.working with ONE chart (not 10) for declensions.we wish you the best and having an enjoyable experience with Learning German online. Not only that, also if you face any problem with translation you can download the Magical German Keyboard. In addition for more lesson, visit German Grammar section. Then at last you can also improve your German online with Learning German App. □ Listen (but: Das Papier ist alle./Wo ist das Holz für den Kamin?) Use an article when talking about specific materials.Įxample: □ Listen Papier wird aus Holz hergestellt. Papier, Holz, Wasser, Milch, Eisen, but only in a general context. Equalisations/identifications using the verbs sein/werdenĮxample: □ Listen Ich spiele Klavier/Tennis.□ Listen (but: Wir machen Urlaub in der Schweiz.) die Schweiz, die Türkei, die USAĮxample: □ Listen Wir machen Urlaub in Österreich. the names of most countries except for e.The table below displays a list of the most common preposition and article contractions. When a preposition is placed in front of a definite article, the two are contracted into one word. This table provides a simple overview of the declension of definite and indefinite articles the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases in German grammar. when we’ve already mentioned something, or assume it to be already knownĮxample: □ Listen Das Eis schmeckt ihr sehr gut.when we’re talking about something specificĮxample: □ Listen Lena ist die Freundin von Franz.The indefinite articles are ein ( masculine, neuter) and eine ( feminine). In English grammar, the article does not change its form, however, in German grammar, the article changes its form to indicate the gender, number and case of a noun. They can be definite: der, die, das (the) or indefinite: ein, eine (a, an). Learn about articles in German grammar with Learning German App online. Articles in German Grammar are used with nouns. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |