Indefinite Article in german: in this lesson you will learn the forms of the indefinite article in german. lesson in english. Ein, Eine
Indefinite articles Even though the German nouns can be masculine, feminine or neuter, there are only two forms of indefinite articles:
– Ein is the indefinite article for masculine and neuter nouns
ex: der Baum – ein Baum (a tree); der Garten – ein Garten (a garden); der Onkel – ein Onkel (an uncle)
das Haus – ein Haus (a house); das Boot – ein Boot (a boat); das Kind – ein Kind (a child)– Eine is the indefinite article for feminine nouns
ex: die Blume – eine Blume (a flower); die Suppe – eine Suppe (a soup); die Tante – eine Tante(an aunt) The plural indefinite article doesn’t exist in German:
articles: in this lesson you will learn The definite articles in german. In german there are three different genders for the article: masculine, feminine and neutral. lesson in english.
In English the only definite article is the, which is used for all nouns, singular and plural. On the contrary, in German nouns can be preceded by 4 different definite articles, according to gender –masculine, feminine or neuter – and number – singular or plural.
– The definite article for masculine singular nouns is der
– The definite article for feminine singular nouns is die
– The definite article for neuter singular nouns is das
– The only definite article for all plural nouns is die.
Ex: die Blume / die Blumen (the flowers); der Baum / die Bäume (the trees); das Kind / die Kinder (the children)
Generally speaking, a specific rule which allows to recognize the gender of a noun doesn’t exist. All you can do is memorize every new noun with its definite article. Nevertheless, there are some useful tips that help to guess nouns gender.
1) For example, it’s easy to assign the correct definite article to people’s common nouns.
Feminine Masculine
Die Mutter – The mother Der Vater – the father
Die Tochter – The daughter Der Sohn – the son
Die Oma – the grandmother Der Opa – the grandfather
Die Frau – the woman Der Mann – the man
*An exception is: das Mädchen – the girl, because in German the suffix -chen is generally used to form diminutives which are always neuter.
Compare:
Der Mann – the man and das Männchen – the little man
2) The names of seasons, months and days are masculine
3) The points of the compass are masculine too:
Der Norden – the North
Der Süden – the South
Der Osten – the East
Der Westen – the West
4) Car brands are also masculine.
Ex: Der Mercedes, der Volkswagen
5) Numbers and plant names are instead feminine.
6) Letters, notes and units are neuter
N.B. In German not only proper nouns, but also common nouns start with a capital letter.
Verb to be, personal pronouns, simple present of verb to be in german: in this lesson you will learn the verb to be in german, verb sein, in a formal and informal context. lesson in english.
Personal pronouns
German language is characterised by many personal pronouns because, unlike English grammar, it has four different cases. This lesson is about the personal pronouns of the first case, which are the simplest and the most important.
The pronouns are:
Ich – I
Wir – we
Du – you
Ihr – you
Er, Sie, Es – he/she/it
Sie – they
The plural pronoun Sie is used both as the equivalent of the English they and the formal way to address a stranger or an authority.
Simple present of to be
After memorizing personal pronouns, you can now have a look at the conjugation of the simple present of sein – to be
Ich bin– I am
Wir sind– we are
Du bist– you are
Ihr seid – you are
Er/Sie/Es ist– he/she/it is
Sie sind– they are
As the English to be, sein is an irregular verb. It is used in several fixed expressions, so here is a list of some of them:
Alphabet: in this lesson you will learn how to write, spell and pronounce alphabet in german. lesson in english. Das alphabet
The German alphabet is composed of 26 letters. There are 4 additional letters used when writing in
German but they are not included in our alphabet. These letters are:
Ä which is pronounced like “head”. An example of a German word with this letter is Gäste – guests
Ö which is pronounced like “blur”. An example: Hören – hear
Ü – its sound doesn’t exist in English. An example: Tür – door
ßit sounds like a sharp s as in “list”. An example: groß – big
The letters of our alphabet are the same as in English, only the pronunciation changes. I will first say the letter and afterwards give an example of a word starting with it. Let’s go!
What's your name? where are you from? in this lesson you will learn how to ask some question to peole in german in a formal and informal context, lesson in english. ich komme aus, mein name is
Introducing yourself
After asking someone how he/she is, you generally want to know something more about him/her, for example where he/she comes from.
How are you? is translated by Wie geht es dir? when talking to a friend or peer, and by Wie geht es Ihnen? if your interlocutor is a stranger or an authority. (see lesson 1)
The same distinction is made when you ask Where are you from? Woher kommst du? or Wo kommst du her? are used in informal contexts Woher kommen Sie? or Wo kommen Sie her? are used in formal contexts
A possible answer to this question would be: Ich komme aus München – I come from Munich.
You could also answer: Ich wohne in München or Ich lebe in München – I live in Munich.
?QUESTION? !ANSWER!
Woher kommst du? / Wo kommst du her? Ich komme aus…
Woher kommen Sie? / Wo kommen Sie her? Ich wohne / lebe in…
It’s interesting to know where somebody is from, but it’s even more important to ask for his/her name and to introduce yourself.
To ask for someone’s name in German you say: Wie heißt du? This is the informal expression, while the formal one is Wie heißen Sie?The answer to both questions is the same:
Ich heiße … – My name is …
You could also say
Ich bin … – I am …
As an alternative, you can ask:
Wie ist dein Name? (informal) or Wie ist Ihr Name? (formal)
These are the literal translations of What’s your name? to which you will answer:
Mein Name ist ... – My name is …
To sum up:
Informal question
Formal question
Answer
Where are you from?
Woher kommst du?Wo kommst du her?
Woher kommen Sie?Wo kommen Sie her?
Ich komme aus…Ich wohne in…Ich lebe in…
I come from…I live in…
What’s your name?
Wie heißt du?
Wie heißen Sie?
Ich heiße…Ich bin…
My name is…I am…
Wie ist dein Name?
Wie ist Ihr Name?
Mein Name ist…
The whole conversation could be like this:
A: Guten Tag, wie geht es dir? – Good morning, how are you?
B: Es geht so, und dir? – So-so and you?
A: Mir geht es gut. – I’m fine
B: Wie heißt du? – What’s your name?
A: Ich heiße Sandra, und du? – I’m Sandra and you?
B: Mein Name ist Frauke – My name is Frauke
A: Woher kommst du? – Where are you from?
B: Ich komme aus Frankfurt und du? – I come from Frankfurt and you?
A: Ich komme aus Berlin – I come from Berlin
B: Tschüss – Bye
A: Tschüss – Bye
This is obviously an example of an informal conversation with a person you have just met in an informal context. It could be a dialogue between children, teens or young adults. From a certain age on you won’t use the informal register with people you have just met.
Greetings: in this lesson you will learn how to greet people in german in a formal and informal context, How to start a conversation with someone. lesson in english.
How to greet people in German? Among the greetings the word you will often hear to say Hi or Hello to someone is Hallo. It is clearly similar to the English greeting, and just like hello it is always used to greet peers, such as classmates, or people you know very well, like relatives and friends. In other words, this is an informal greeting. Formal greetings are instead more indicated when you are saying hello to a person you meet for the first time, as well as older people or someone in authority, for example a doctor, a teacher, a police officer.
So, you say:
– Guten Morgen until about noon; then, until 5 pm, the correct form is Guten Tag (both expressions correspond to Good morning).
– In the evening you use Guten Abend for Good evening.
– At night you finally say Gute Nacht. In general, if you want to say goodbye to someone, you can use Tschüss, which is more informal, or Auf Wiedersehen, which is its formal equivalent. Auf Wiedersehen literally means “see you again”.
To sum up, here is a short recap of how to greet people in German.
A STRANGER: Guten Morgen (until 12 am) – Guten Tag (until 5 pm) – Guten Abend (Good evening) – Auf Wiedersehen (See you) – Gute Nacht (Good night)
TALKING ON THE PHONE
When you answer the phone, you can greet people using the expressions above. While, if you want to end a conversation on the phone, you say Auf Wiederhören, which literally means “hear you again”. Some other useful expressions to say goodbye to your interlocutor are: – Bis dann! or Bis später! or Bis nachher! – See you later! – Bis bald! – See you soon! – Bis morgen! – See you tomorrow! German language, like many other languages, has different forms for addressing people you are close to and people with whom you don’t have an informal relationship, or whom you get to know in a more formal context, like at work. Therefore, when asking How are you? in German, it’s essential to consider who is your interlocutor. – Wie geht es dir?, which is usually shortened in Wie geht’s? is used with friends, relatives and peers – Wie geht es Ihnen? is used with strangers, older people, authorities. On the contrary, if you are asked Wie geht es dir? or Wie geht es Ihnen? the answer can be:
In German means…
Mir geht es gut I am fine. You can obviously say just Gut.
Mir geht es ganz gut I feel quite good
Mir geht es sehr gut I feel very good
Mir geht es schlecht orMir geht es sehr schlecht I’m not very wellI feel bad
Es geht so So-so, if you’re feeling neither good nor bad
Here are two short dialogues to resume the previous expressions.
A: Hallo, wie geht es dir? – Hello, how are you?
B: Mir geht es gut, und dir? – I’m fine and you?
A: Mir geht es auch gut, danke! – I‘m fine too, thank you! This is the informal version.
The formal one would be:
A: Guten Tag, wie geht es Ihnen? – Good morning, how are you?
B: Mir geht es gut, und Ihnen? – I am fine and you?
A: Danke, mir geht es auch gut! – I am fine too, thanks.
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