Lesson 2: Noun Gender & Verb Conjugation
In this lesson you will learn your first two pieces of German grammar: You will learn something about noun gender and articles, and you will also get a first grasp of how to conjugate verbs in German.
Noun Gender & Articles
If english is the only language you know, then the grammatical gender can be a bit confusing at the beginning. Even other languages which have that often only have two different noun genders (like for example Italian or Dutch), but German even has three of them: masculine, feminine and neuter.
But what does that mean exactly? Let's look at the following English sentences and their german translations:
The table is new. Do you like it?
Der Tisch ist neu. Magst du ihn ("him")?
Do you see the spider? It is so big!
Siehst du die Spinne? Sie ("she") ist so groß!
Water is healthy, so I drink it often.
Wasser ist gesund, daher drinke ich es ("it") oft.
In the english sentences we have three times it, but in german we have male, female and neuter pronouns - even though we are not talking about persons! The reason behind this is that German genders everything. And with everything I mean that you have to learn the gender for every single noun. This will not only influence if it is refered to as he, she or it, it also changes the article - while english only has the, german has one for each gender which also change according to grammatical case! But let's look at the direct articles for the first two cases, the so called Nominativ and Akkusativ, which act like the english subject and direct object:
Nominativ (Subject)
Akkusativ (Direct Object)
Good news: In the Akkusativ case, only one article changes, but for feminine and neuter nouns it just stays the same as in the Nominativ case. But let's look at some examples to make it a bit more understandable:
Noun
Nominativ (Subject)
Akkusativ (Direct Object)
Masculine
der Apfel (apple)
Der Apfel ist lecker. (The apple is tasty.)
Ich esse den Apfel. (I eat the apple.)
Feminine
die Pizza (pizza)
Die Pizza ist lecker. (The pizza is tasty.)
Ich esse die Pizza. (I eat the pizza.)
Neuter
das Brot (bread)
Das Brot ist lecker. (The bread is tasty.)
Ich esse das Brot. (I eat the bread.)
One last thing about nouns for this lesson: Like you probably already saw, in German, all nouns are always capitalized, exactly like the word at the beginning of the sentence!
Conjugation - Present tense
Sadly, German has a lot of exceptions when it comes to verb conjugation. But for the beginning, let's look at the regular forms!
Regular Verbs
The most verbs in German and in -en. If you remove that -en, then you get the verb stem which is used to build the conjugated forms:
Example word: lernen (to learn), verb stem: lern-
1. Person Singular
ich lerne
I Learn
2. Person Singular
du lernst
you learn
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es lernt
he/she/it learns
1. Person Plural
wir lernen
we Learn
2. Person Plural
ihr lernt
you (pl.) learn
3. Person Plural
sie lernen
they learn
One more example with another regular verb:
Example word: machen (to make), verb stem: mach-
1. Person Singular
ich mache
I make
2. Person Singular
du machst
you make
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es macht
he/she/it makes
1. Person Plural
wir machen
we make
2. Person Plural
ihr macht
you (pl.) make
3. Person Plural
sie machen
they make
There are some verbs which are not really irregular, but due to the verb stem they cause very small exceptions.
First, there are some verbs, like for example heißen (to be called) which have an verb stem ending on s, ß, x or z. This causes the s in the second person singular to diappear:
Example word: heißen (to be called), verb stem: heiß-
1. Person Singular
ich heiße
I am called
2. Person Singular
du heißt
you are called
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es heißt
he/she/it is called
1. Person Plural
wir heißen
we are called
2. Person Plural
ihr heißt
you (pl.) are called
3. Person Plural
sie heißen
they are called
Next, if the verb stem ends in t, d, m or n, in some forms an e is added to make it pronounceable:
Example word: atmen (to breathe), verb stem: atm-
1. Person Singular
ich atme
I breathe
2. Person Singular
du atmest
you breathe
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es atmet
he/she/it breathes
1. Person Plural
wir atmen
we breathe
2. Person Plural
ihr atmet
you breathe
3. Person Plural
sie atmen
they breathe
Note: Before, we had lernen as a completely regular verb, even though it's verb stem ends with -n no e was added. If the stem ends with the consonant cluster lm, ln, rm or rn you don't need to add an extra e, you can just conjugate them normally!
Last thing for this section: There are some verbs which do not end in -en, like for example lächeln (to smile). Even though they look different from other verbs they are pretty easy! To build the verb stem, just remove the -n:
Example word: lächeln (to smile), verb stem: lächel-
1. Person Singular
ich lächle
I smile
2. Person Singular
du lächelst
you smile
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es lächelt
he/she/it smiles
1. Person Plural
wir lächeln
we smile
2. Person Plural
ihr lächelt
you (pl.) smile
3. Person Plural
sie lächeln
they smile
You see, sometimes just an e disappears.
Some irregular Verbs
Like I said at the beginning of this lesson, German sadly has a lot of irregular verbs. Many of them can be groupt together because they follow a pattern, some you just have to learn by heart. Let's start with two very important verbs:
1. Person Singular
ich bin
I am
2. Person Singular
du bist
you are
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es ist
he/she/it is
1. Person Plural
wir sind
we are
2. Person Plural
ihr seid
you (pl.) are
3. Person Plural
sie sind
they are
haben (to have), Verb stem: hab-
1. Person Singular
ich habe
I have
2. Person Singular
du hast
you have
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es hat
he/she/it has
1. Person Plural
wir haben
we have
2. Person Plural
ihr habt
you have
3. Person Plural
sie haben
they have
And lastly we will look at one irregular conjugation pattern.
With some verbs, the vowel e changes into i in some conjugated forms. One example for that is the verb essen (to eat):
essen (to eat), Verb stem: ess-
1. Person Singular
ich esse
I eat
2. Person Singular
du isst
you eat
3. Person Singular
er/sie/es isst
he/she/it eats
1. Person Plural
wir essen
we eat
2. Person Plural
ihr esst
you eat
3. Person Plural
sie essen
they eat
Other verbs that follow that pattern are for example helfen (to help), geben (to give), sterben (to die), brechen (to break), treffen (to hit) and werfen (to throw).
Like I said, there are multiple irregular conjugation patters, we will learn about them in future lessons!
Exercises
1. Look up the following words in a dictionary). Which gender do they have?
2. Fill in the articles in the following sentences and translate them into english
a) Ich trinke das Wasser.
I drink the water.
b) Der Hund isst das Fleisch.
The dog eats the meat.
c) Die Katze trinkt die Milch.
The cat drinks the milk.
d) Das Brot ist lecker.
The bread is tasty.
e) Die Katze ist niedlich.
The cat is cute.
f) Der Mann lernt die Sprache.
The man learns the language.
g) Sie essen den Apfel.
They eat the apple.
3. Conjugate the following verbs
a) trinken (to drink)
ich trinke, du trinkst, er/sie/es trinkt, wir trinken, ihr trinkt, sie trinken
b) schreiben (to write)
ich schreibe, du schreibst, er/sie/es schreibt, wir schreiben, ihr schreibt, sie schreiben
c) gehen (to go)
ich gehe, du gehst, er/sie/es geht, wir gehen, ihr geht, sie gehen
d) helfen (to help) (conjugated like essen!
ich helfe, du hilfst, er/sie/es hilft, wir helfen, ihr helft, sie helfen
e) treffen (to meet/to strike) (conjugated like essen!)
ich treffe, du triffst, er/sie/es trifft, wir treffen, ihr trefft, sie treffen
f) suchen (to search for)
ich suche, du suchst, er/sie/es sucht, wir suchen, ihr sucht, sie suchen
4. Translate the following sentences
a) The dog searches for the cat.
Der Hund sucht die Katze.
b) The cat searches for the dog.
Die Katze sucht den Hund.
c) We drink the milk.
Wir trinken die Milch.
d) The cat helps.
Die Katze hilft.
e) The dog meets the girl.
Der Hund trifft das Mädchen.
f) You (sg.) go.
Du gehst.
g) They search for the pizza.
Sie suchen die Pizza.