Learning German language

[Steena]

This thread is an attempt to help all the people out there who learn or want to learn German. I am not yet sure if it will work out. But we’ll never know if we don’t try .

I have gathered some basics of the language, of course everybody else is welcome to contribute explanations about various matters. I believe there's still a lot to explain in the basic field!

And every learner is welcome to ask questions about the language and its use!
This is also a place for smaller misc. translations and questions you may have about the country and people in general.

If you want to try what you’ve already learned, you’re welcome to converse in this thread.
For song translations please stick to opening a seperate thread for your request.

[Steena]

I. The Basics/Grundlagen

ich - I
du - You
er, sie - he, she
wir – we
ihr – you (for friends)
Sie – you (formal)
sie - they

II. Basic vocabulary/Basisvokablen

Colors/Farben

blau - blue
rot - red
orange - orange
gelb - yellow
grün - green
grau - gray
weiß (or you can also write weiss) - white
pink - pink


Numbers/Zahlen

eins - one
zwei - two
drei - tree
vier - four
fünf - five
sechs - six
sieben - seven
acht - eight
neun - nine
zehn - ten
elf - eleven
zwölf - twelve

Countries/Länder

Spanien – España
Frankreich – France
Niederlande - Netherlands
Brasilien - Brazil
England - England
Finnland - Finland
Deutschland - Germany
Italien - Italy
Russland - Russia

Question Words/Fragewörter

Was - What
Wo/Wohin/Woher- Where/ To where/ Of where
Wer - Who
Welches/Welche/Welcher - which
Wie viel - How many
Wie - How
Um wie viel Uhr - At what time
Wann - When
Warum - Why

[Steena]

Conjugation of verbs/Kunjugation von Verben


One of the most important words is „sein“ – to be
It’s an irregular verb:

Present tense/Gegenwart

Ich bin - I am
Du bist - you are
Er/Sie/Es ist – he/she/it is
Wir sind - we are
Ihr seid - you are
Sie sind - they are

Past tense/Vergangenheit

Ich war – I was
Du warst – you were
Er/Sie/Es war – he/she/it was
Wir waren – we were
Ihr wart – you were
Sie waren – they were

Future/Zukunft

Ich werde sein – I will be
Du wirst sein – You will be
Er/Sie/Es wird sein – He/She/It will be
Wir werden sein – We will be
Ihr werdet sein – You will be
Sie werden sein – They will be



Next verb is a regular verb, „rennen“ – to run
This conjugation works for about 85% of the verbs

Present tense/Gegenwart

Ich renne – I run
Du rennst – You run
Er/Sie/Es rennt – he/she/it runs
Wir rennen – We run
Ihr rennt – You run
Sie rennen – They run

Past tense/Vergangenheit

Ich rannte – I ran
Du ranntest – You ran
Er/Sie/Es rannte – He/She/It ran
Wir rannten – We ran
Ihr ranntet – You ran
Sie rannten – They ran

Future/Zukunft

Ich werde rennen – I will run
Du wirst rennen – you will run
Er/Sie/Es wird rennen – he/she/it will run
Wir werden rennen – we will run
Ihr werdet rennen – you will run
Sie werden rennen – they will run

[black poison]

I want translated black poison !!!!!

[Steena]

Black Poison would be "schwarzes Gift"

[black poison]

schwarzes Gift

thanx bro

[Steena]

Some basic stuff just coming to my mind


Heute – Today
Gestern – Yesterday
Morgen – Tomorrow
Letzte Woche – Last week
Nächste Woche – Next week
Letzten Monat – Last month
Nächsten Monat – Next month

Wie viel Uhr ist es? – What time is it?
Es ist ... Uhr. – It’s .... o’clock.

Bitte – Please
Danke – Thanks
Entschuldigung – Sorry
Wie bitte? – What did you say?

Guten Morgen – Good morning
Guten Abend – Good evening
Auf Wiedersehen – Goodbye
Hallo – Hello

Ich habe eine Frage. – I have a question.
Kannst du mir helfen? – Can you help me? (informal)
Können Sie mir helfen? – Can you help me? (formal)

Wie geht es dir? – How are you? (informal)
Wie geht es Ihnen? – How are you? (formal)
Mir geht es gut. – I am fine.
Mir geht es nicht gut. – I don’t feel fine.

Was hast du heute gemacht? – What have you done today?

Ich liebe dich – I love you.
Ich mag dich – I like you.
Ich hasse dich – I hate you.

Was hast du gesagt? – What did you say? (informal)
Was haben Sie gesagt? – Was did you say? (formal)

[Lyssa]

ah think of somethinng

the days of the week / Wochentage

Monday = Montag
Tuesday = Dienstag
Wednesday = Mittwoch
Thursday = Donnerstag
Friday = Freitag
Sturday = Samstag
Sunday = Sonntag

Day = Tag
Sun = Sonne
Woche = week

Months of the year = Monate im Jahr

January = Januar
February = Februar
March = Mars
April = April
May = Mai
June = juni
July ) Juli
august = August
September = September
October = Oktober
November = November
December = Dezember

As you see, very close^^

[Cosmonaut]

I've been looking for orientation in my Turkish book. They do plural, negation and possessive pronouns in the first lesson (suffixes rather, but we don't have those here, so..)

So I'll try to explain some of them now.

Plural / Plural

There are many forms of plural and they, as far as I can tell, don't follow a particular pattern as to when which form is used. I think you'll just have to learn each noun with its corresponding plural form.

Let me just list them at first:

Das Auto - Die Autos / the car - the cars
Die Biene - Die Bienen / the bee - the bees
Das Fahrrad - Die Fahrräder / the bike - the bikes
Der Hund - Die Hunde / the dog - the dogs
Der Bruder - Die Brüder / the brothers - the brothers
Der Lehrer - Die Lehrer / the teacher - the teachers
Die Lehrerin - Die Lehrerinnen / the female teacher - the female teachers
Das Kleid - Die Kleider / the dress - the dresses
Das Museum - Die Museen / the museum - the museums
Das Prinzip - Die Prinzipien / the principle - the principles

That's all forms I can think of right now. The only pattern we can see is that plural always changes the article to 'die', which is a good thing to know, definitely.



Lets proceed to negative sentences.


Negation / Verneinung

We use two forms to make a sentence negative, i.e. with 'kein(e)' - 'not a' or 'none' and 'nicht' - 'not'.

Let me give some basic sentences:

Dein Auto ist grün - Your car is green.
Dein Auto ist nicht grün - You car is not green.

Deine Haare sind blond - Your hair is blonde.
Deine Haare sind nicht blond - Your hair is not blonde.

'nicht' is the most common form of negation. It can be used in 80 to 90% of all cases.

If, however, a noun with an indefinite article [i.e. ein / eine] needs to be negated, you have to use 'kein(e)'

example:
Ich kaufe eine Zeitung - I'm buying a newspaper or I buy a newspaper.
Ich kaufe eine Zeitung nicht - does _NOT_ work.
Ich kaufe keine Zeitung - I'm not buying a newspaper.


Hope you got the idea now.
---

Lets finish with possessive pronouns.


Possessive pronouns - Possessivpronomen

They are:

mein(e) - my
dein(e) - your
sein(e)/ihr(e) - his/her
unser(e) - our
euer(eure) - your

for the articles der / das and singular forms it's mein / dein / sein / ihr / unser / euer
for the article die and plural forms it's meine / deine / seine / ihre / unsere / eure

example:

Das Auto - the car
Mein Auto - Dein Auto - Sein Auto - Ihr Auto - Unser Auto - Euer Auto
Der Hund - the dog
Mein Hund - Dein Hund - Sein Hund - Ihr Hund - Unser Hund - Euer Hund
Die Mutter - the mother
Meine Mutter - Deine Mutter - Seine Mutter - Ihre Mutter - Unsere Mutter - Eure Mutter

and plural: Seine Hunde - Ihre Hunde - Unsere Hunde - Eure Hunde
or Seine Autos - Ihre Autos - Unsere Autos - Eure Autos

[baskarukebaskanoge]

Great thread, i must say. Although I've already known all of this (except that die Biene means bee and Gift means poison, how funny ), I must thank you.
Can't wait for next lesson!

[Luvya]

Maybe some basic syntax?

In German, the usual sentence order is: Subject - Verb - Object.
Example: Ich lese ein Buch. (I read a book.)
Very similar to English, isn't it?

You can put as many objects as you want into a sentence.
Example: Ich lese morgens im Bett ein Buch. (I read a book in bed in the morning.)
The order of the objects is not strict. You could also say:
Ich lese im Bett morgens ein Buch.
Ich lese morgens ein Buch im Bett.
Ich lese ein Buch morgens im Bett.
Just keep in mind that the focus is on the last object you cite. So it depends on wheter you want to point out that you read a book, that you read in bed or that you read in the morning.

What about questions?
There are two types of them.
1.) Yes/No Questions
They follow the order: Verb - Subject - Object
Example: Liest du ein Buch? (Do you read a book?)
2.) Questions with a question wordare basically the same, just with a question word in the first place.
Example: Wann liest du ein Buch? (When do you read a book?)

Now the tricky part: subordinate clauses. Ever heard the rumour that the verb is in the very last position in German? Well, this is where that rumour comes from.
Indeed, a subordinate clause would look like that: Ich lache, wenn ich ein lustiges Buch lese. (I laugh when I read a funny book)
The main clause (Ich lache) is fine: the order is subject - object. The subordinate clause stars behind the comma with a conjunction (wenn) followed by the order Subject - Object - Verb.

Ask me if you got any questions =)

[Vlad]

HI,

I've stumbled upon this expression in German and I can't figure it out...if anyone could help me I would greatly appreciate it

So, die Ausdruck ist: "wo gibts denn sowas"

What does it mean, when is it used, when it should not be used ...?

Danke sehr !

Vlad

[Steena]

Hi Vlad

"wo gibt's denn sowas" would be something like "where can you find that?!?" in English it's an expression of surprise I'd say. I would even use it to say "What's that?!?" in terms of surprise/astonishment where you already know what the thing in front of you is.

[Maviii]

thank you steena to open this new sub
its great idea to help all of us learning languages beside
the other threads here which do the same

but i feel that its so hard to learn germany language i donno why
although i was good in it in my childhood
but i forget many words
... but still know some
i know how to count and i know to sing a song too hehehe
but i donno how to write it or what deos it exactly means
anyway .. i wish i can learn alittle germany here
and remind what i forget

also there is other thing
where can i hear the spelling of the words & letters
coz u know its hard to begin if i donno how every letter spelled
thanks alot again
keep doing this good job my friends

[Steena]

Maviii for the pronounciation I just found this (for me rather funny ) site:
http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~joyce1/abinitio/pronounce/
I don't know if it will be helpful for you but it's worth a try
and if you ask questions we'll do our best to help you anyways!

[Maviii]

am sure you`ll all help me
i have no doubt in this
thank u my friend

i`ll try this site now & i hope it`ll help me

[louchi]

oh great job Steena in teaching German even it's not your first language ( right ?)
may I suggest to teach them how to read in German too ?
cause when it comes to reading in German ..some letters will definitely shock you...
I took German courses for 4 months, and I would like to help and maybe submit something about how to pronounce every single letter

[Steena]

@louchi: go ahead and post whatever you like I guess people will find it helpful! I'll think of something ...

... and it is my first language

[louchi]

Originally Posted by Steena

@louchi: go ahead and post whatever you like I guess people will find it helpful! I'll think of something ...

... and it is my first language

oh sorry mate ..didn't know that ..Sorry for the Wrong Assumption
if it's your first language i'm sure you're more qualified to teach them the pronounciation ...i'm just a newbie .
why don't u start telling them the combination of letters for example :
if a german word starts with "SP" the "S" is pronounced like "sh" in english
eg: " sprechen sie deutsch ? " is actually pronounced " sh-prechen .... "
and if a german word starts with "ST" the "S" is pronounced like "sh" in english
eg: " auf der Straße " is actually pronounced " sh-trasse"
and that the W in german is pronounced V in english eg: "woher kommen sie ? " is pronounced " vo-her kommen zi " in english
and how to pronounce "ch" inside german words eg: "buch" is actually pronounced "bukh" ( kh is a lettre that doesn't exist in english .. it sounds like you are trying to spit or snoring ) sorry for the disgusting example

thank you

[Nene]

Steena, well done on opening this thread! Especially because German language is quite challenging regarding the grammar...

This will help a lot of people including myself!

[guess.who.bebek]

what about pronunciation ? can someone help me

[slotzi]

Ich finds cool das sich auch leute die sonst nix mit deutsch zu tun habe sich acuh damit mal befassen

[simplyme]

is it true, that english and german are sister languages? I took a year of german, 10 yrs ago, and the verbs were very similar. most verbs were just like in english, the only difference is that they take an -EN at the end.

i'd love to learn this language, and i know the basics, but i'd like somebody to explain me the grammar. it's been so long, that i've forgotten most of it.

[Lyssa]

Yes German and English are linked that's true^^

Is there any specific grammar point you'd like to know? Like you said you have some basics, I don't really know where to start in explanations XD
Maybe the best way is to give us sentences where you hesitate for us to correct and explain the rule

[muge]

hallo jedermann, ich könnte deutsch ehemals, aber leider hab ich vergessen manche dinge. so, meine fragen sind:

1) was war der unterschied mit konj 1. und 2. ich erinnere, dass konjunktive 1 eine form ist, dass wir in kindergeschichten usw benützen. und konj 2 eine form wie zum beispiel in englisch " i would, i could". es tut mir leid dass ich diese formen vergessen habe. könnt ihr bitte diese forme für personal pronomen machen als ich, du, er/sie/es, wir ihr sie Sie?

und ich hoffe dass ihr die message versteht

vielen dank!

[muge]

anyone???

[Cosmonaut]

Hey Müge, nice to see you over on our forum!

The problem I encounter when trying to help you is that I haven't a clue and secondly that hardly anyone does ever use it right (I just read a wiki article to find out what Konjunktiv is, lol)

First chance to help you after you've translated so many things in the Turkish section and now I can't do it, aww -- maybe wait for Steena, she's probably smarter regarding the German language than I am

[muge]

thank you cosmonaut, even wanting to help is something precious to me, i really appreciate that.. well when i was in highschool, i learnt german and study it for 7 years, but even my english is better than my german, can you believe it so, i m trying to remember and improve my german, i started with this question.. i think this is my only problem about grammer, but i really have to improve my "wortschatz".

[Lyssa]

Well, for the verb "sein"

Konj I is:

Ich sei
du sei(e)st
er/es/sie sei
Ihr seiet
sie seien
Sie seien

Konj II is:

ich wäre
du wärest
er/es/sie wäre
wir wären
ihr wäret
sie wären
Sie wären

Now about the difference it's harder to explain when you should use one or the other XD In my German book they say:
Konj I is to express:
- indirect speech
- simultanity
- a wish
Konj II:
- in place of Konj I (due to confusions possibility)
- for a wish that seems impossible
- to be polite

[muge]

ah, thank you so much. i will make some examples in order to see if i get them correctly or not, can you control them:

er hat mir gesagt dass Stefan 22 Jahre alt sei. (konj 1)
ich würde in Atina leben. ( konj 2, a wish)

are they correct?